​Awen Presents Nathalie De Corte & Bhavna Shivayogimath: Vicious Whimsy

​Join us as we open the doors of Awen for the vernissage of Vicious Whimsy, an exhibition by Nathalie De Corte and Bhavna Shivayogimath.

​The title contains its own contradiction: the playful and the sharp, the tender and the rebellious, the dreamlike and the unsentimental. 🪡

​Within the exhibition, two artistic worlds seem to bloom into one another: Nathalie’s large-scale abstractions, full of movement, rhythm, and natural forms; and Bhavna’s vivid, symbolic works, where bodies, pleasure, and nature collide in lush and unexpected ways. 🌿

​We invite you to join us on Sunday high above the city for a drink, conversation, and to spend a little time in a garden that is beautiful, unruly, and not entirely innocent. 🥀

​Details

​📅 Date: Sunday, May 24
🕛 Time: 12:00—19:00h
📍 Location: Awen, Strausberger Platz 19
🥂 Refreshments will be served

​The exhibition will remain on view until 10 July 2026.

​The exhibition forms part of the full fashion experience WITHIN THE SPHERE. iii : Vicious Whimsy, presented by Maison Divo at Awen this June. 🪞 Tickets for the sphere are available now.

​About the Exhibition

​Vicious Whimsy brings together the work of Nathalie De Corte and Bhavna Shivayogimath, two artists whose practices meet in a charged space between delight and confrontation.

​Both artists are drawn to nature, but neither treats it as a gentle backdrop. In De Corte’s large-scale abstract paintings, nature becomes an energetic grammar: roots, currents, petals, weather systems, and imagined scripts seem to move through the canvas. Her works do not describe the natural world so much as translate its inner movement.

​Shivayogimath’s work enters nature through the human body, through memory, longing, pleasure, and release. Her paintings and mixed-media worlds are filled with bodies, patterns, symbolic environments, and lush colour, carrying both the intensity of dreams and the tension of waking life.

​Together, the two practices create a dialogue between the field of becoming and the lived experience of being inside it. Whimsy appears here as movement, tenderness, fantasy, and strange delight. Its viciousness lies not in cruelty, but in rebellion: a refusal of the idea that beauty must be polite, that rest must be passive, that nature must be separate from us, or that imagination is merely decorative.

​At Awen, Vicious Whimsy becomes an invitation into a more daring kind of enchantment: one that restores perception, sharpens desire, and makes room for unruly forms of vitality.

​About the Artists

​Nathalie De Corte is an independent artist based in Belgium and a lecturer in painting at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts de Liège. She works primarily in large-scale painting and has developed a practice rooted in lyrical abstraction. Her work has been presented in numerous solo and group exhibitions across Europe and China.

​Bhavna Shivayogimath is a Berlin-based artist working across mixed media painting, photography, murals, and film. She graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and has developed a multidisciplinary practice that moves between visual art, community-led experiences, and moving image work. Her work has been shown in artistic and cultural contexts in Berlin and beyond.

​About Maison Divo

​Established in 2024, Maison Divo, founded by Waiton Farrell, curates fashion experiences that weave together the realms of fashion and art. Presented in intimate venues and focused on women, queer, or trans-led brands and artists, Maison Divo invites clients from many different backgrounds to engage with designers and artists in elevated direct relationships.

​About Awen

​Awen is a unique creative space dedicated to fostering meaningful connections through art, conversation, and community. Located in the heart of Berlin at the top of the iconic Henselmann Tower, our space hosts a variety of curated events, including exhibitions, salons, performances, dinners, and immersive experiences. As a non-profit, open canvas concept, we welcome collaboration and encourage artists and creatives to bring their unique visions to life in our space. At Awen, we believe in the power of creativity to inspire, connect, and enrich the community.