UP CLOSE is a platform for creative encounter and shared learning — a project by Freunde von Freunden with Lukas Feireiss.
UP CLOSE is built on a simple belief: that the most meaningful learning happens between people — through shared stories, shared spaces, encounters, and shared experiences. Much of what shapes a creative life is not learned through formal instruction, but through encounters: a mentor, a collaborator, a mistake, a conversation that stays with us.
Drawing on fifteen years of access to creative practitioners worldwide, UP CLOSE brings together makers, thinkers, and educators across a series of connected formats — from intimate dinners to public evenings and a growing learning platform. It is a space for asking how creative people learn, what they pass on, and how lived experience can become shared knowledge.
The most meaningful learning happens between people.
Creative careers are rarely built in classrooms. The moments that define how we work, think and make — they come from people, from collaborations, from failures and unexpected conversations. UP CLOSE creates the conditions for exactly that kind of exchange.
UP CLOSE is about how creative knowledge travels: through people, practice, and the spaces we make to meet.
Many rooms. One culture of learning.
UP CLOSE takes many forms — intimate dinners, open public gatherings, and masterclasses that keep evolving. Whatever the format, the aim stays the same: opening space for knowledge to move across generations, practices and disciplines.
Dinner
12 guestsA carefully curated, intimate conversation format for twelve selected creatives, focusing on personal perspectives and stories.
Arena
150 guestsA dynamic public format for up to 150 guests, where six creative voices share their insights and a moderated conversation opens the exchange between the stage and the audience.
Masterclasses
OngoingIn-depth live and digital learning formats that emerge from these encounters, making practical knowledge from creative practitioners accessible over time.
150 guests. 6 speakers. One open conversation.
G02 / Friends Space \ Berlin-Kreuzberg \ September 2026Tickets
UP CLOSE WebsiteSix voices. Six disciplines.
One conversation.
ARENA 01 brings together six speakers from different creative fields — each with a distinct story about how they learned, who taught them, and what they now pass on.
Sam Chermayeff
Architect and founding partner of June14 Meyer-Grohbrügge & Chermayeff (Berlin / New York), exploring new forms of living through spatial innovation.
Thomias Radin
Berlin-based artist across performance, visual art and the dance floor — exploring the body, belonging and collective experience as forms of knowledge.
Mazda Adli
Psychiatrist, neuroscientist and stress researcher. Medical Director of the Fliedner Klinik Berlin and author of Stress and the City.
Miriam Davoudvandi
Journalist, author, podcaster and trained psychologist connecting mental health, social justice and contemporary culture through personal narrative.
Joy Denalane
Award-winning singer-songwriter blending soul, R&B, jazz and hip-hop — one of Germany's most influential contemporary musicians.
Paulina Schulz
DJ and curator navigating electronic music, community and creative culture — spaces where shared experience becomes its own form of learning.
Over 15 years of creative culture.
Freunde von Freunden has been one of the leading global creative platforms for over 15 years — intimate portraits of the architects, artists, designers, musicians and chefs shaping contemporary culture. We believe in inspiration from human to human.
A global community built over 15 years of editorial work and genuine relationships.
Deep capability in photo, video and written narrative that gives the room lasting form.
An audience that shows up because the curation is genuine. Trust no media spend can replicate.
UP CLOSE — a collaboration.
Lukas Feireiss is a Berlin-based curator, writer, and educator working at the intersection of architecture, art, and spatial theory. He works in the international mediation of contemporary cultural reflexivity beyond disciplinary boundaries, and is the curator and editor of numerous books and exhibitions, teaching at universities worldwide.
Known for his distinct “curatorial gaze,” his practice moves fluidly between disciplines — connecting ideas, people, and environments through a lens of care and curiosity. For Lukas, curation is not merely a professional output; it is a fundamental act of cura — of care.
Already in motion. The window is now.
Dinner 01 ✓
12 guests · R36 Loft. First voices confirmed, community established.
Curation & production
Speaker confirmation and programme development underway.
Campaign & ticketing
FvF marketing campaign launches; ticket allocations open.
UP CLOSE Arena 01
150 guests · G02 / Friends Space · 6 speakers · open conversation, drinks.
Content & next steps
Editorial published · evaluation · Arena 02 planning.
Reserve your spot.
G02 Friends Space · Berlin-Kreuzberg · dinner & drinks included · limited to 150 places
Arena 01 · G02 Friends Space, September 2026
Impressum
Verantwortlich für den Inhalt nach § 55 Abs. 2 RStV.
Friends of Friends Freunde von Freunden Publishing UG
Glogauer Str. 2
10999 Berlin, Germany
Vertretungsberechtigter Geschäftsführer: Philipp Solf
Fon: +49 (0)30 278 794 90
E-Mail: contact@freundevonfreunden.com
HRB 176957 B
Freunde von Freunden nehmen den Schutz der privaten Fotografien unserer Gäste ernst und möchten, dass sich der Leser beim Besuch unserer Seite wohlfühlt. Wir respektieren die Privatsphäre, die uns ein wichtiges Anliegen ist, bei allen unseren Geschäftsprozessen. Wir gehen mit den Daten sorgsam um und geben auch auf Anfrage keine Adressen unserer Gäste bekannt.
Datenschutzerklärung
Informationen zur Verarbeitung personenbezogener Daten gemäß DSGVO.
Verantwortlich im Sinne der DSGVO ist die Freunde von Freunden Publishing UG, Glogauer Str. 2, 10999 Berlin. Bei Fragen zum Datenschutz: contact@freundevonfreunden.com.
Für die Reservierung von Plätzen für UP CLOSE ARENA 01 verarbeiten wir die angegebenen Daten (Name, E-Mail, Anzahl der Gäste, Ticketart) zur Durchführung des Veranstaltungsvertrags (Art. 6 Abs. 1 lit. b DSGVO). Die Daten werden nach der Veranstaltung gelöscht, soweit keine gesetzlichen Aufbewahrungsfristen bestehen.
Sie haben das Recht auf Auskunft, Berichtigung, Löschung, Einschränkung, Datenübertragbarkeit und Widerspruch sowie ein Beschwerderecht bei einer Aufsichtsbehörde (Art. 15–21 DSGVO).