The Rumor Was Never the Weak Version of the Truth

ACUD Galerie Presented A Charm of Powerful Trouble in Berlin

ACUD Galerie presented A Charm of Powerful Trouble, curated by Colette Patterson, through September 20, 2026.

The exhibition brought together work by Anastasia Sosunova, Jingyi Li, Josefin Arnell, Raphaël Delannoy, Roger Muñoz, Florian ∞ Emden, Katie Shannon, TLC23 and Lic. Sniffany. 

Anastasia Sosunova wired a working security camera into a torn nest of foil and loose cable in a ceiling corner.

Roger Muñoz Rivas mounted an epoxy-putty head with synthetic hair and a glass meth pipe onto an empty champagne bottle for a work titled Head. Josefin Arnell filled an adjoining room with hay and fairy lights for the 25-minute video Beast and Feast, and Jingyi Li worked two embracing figures into filet lace in cotton thread for New Heaven 04. 

Raphaël Delannoy combined ceramic, carved wood, carved wax and cable in The Anxiety Calls, the Corpse Hangs Up. 

TLC23presented SHITBRICKHOUSE through etched metal bars and shoes fitted with metal caps, while Florian ∞ Emdenshowed the laser-printed We Can Build This Thing Together: A Call and Answer Poem. Lic. Sniffany contributed the video Hens, and Katie Shannon was represented by Star Dancer and Creepy Speed Guys and DEVOCORPOSTO (Neven Gallery).

Exhibition Text by Emma Schunack

Hey sweetie..!

You won't believe what I'm about to tell you… Let me guide you through broken narratives, unstable images and intimate gestures. As you enter the realm of soft murmurs, powerful trouble begins to unfold. Here, where illicit knowledge travels between lips. Morphed by each tongue, it becomes something that holds us together. A fragile chain, passed on and created by hidden and collective effort.

Shhh… This gossip can save you.

Powerful Trouble. Brushed aside, written off as trivial, feminine, and unprofessional, gossip has always been a vital mode of transmitting knowledge, signalling danger and building solidarity. Sharing what cannot be spoken aloud, forming female* alliances, finding resources to counteract male dominance. Our whispers may relentlessly disrupt reputation and supremacy.

I'm not allowed to tell you this but… (come closer as I whisper into your ear). We drift on the borderline of what is embraced and what is denied. Spreading myths around this city. Watch precious rumours circulate.

As a source of social bonding and empowerment, gossip has long been a vital resource for groups that have limited or no access to the public sphere. Hidden talk can maintain community cohesion in the face of oppression through the network of gossip¹, creating alternative cultures. Tools of resistance.

Don't be scared. Sleeping with your windows open and your doors unlocked. You embody the missing piece. As my name passes through you. I know it does. I breathe secrets into your ear. Creeping in warmly.

The experience is both physical sensation and social intercourse. I keep your name in my mouth. I chew on it, I spit it out, now suck it back in. This gossip can save you.

So I keep whispering…

Text by Emma Schunack

¹ Mladen Dolar, Gossip, 2024.