Saints, sinners, and steel
On Halloween night, Berlin’s newest concept store-slash-underworld, .exe archive, opened its doors to mark the beginning of Catholic Guilt’s month-long artist residency. The night was one of great costumes.
For the unfamiliar: Catholic Guilt is Ella Jackson’s multidisciplinary world of chainmail, sculpture, and sonic experimentation, self described as “ecclesial armour to wear for the impending apocalypse”. Her work lives between chaos and devotion, and is inspired by religion, decay, and dreams of faraway lands that might’ve once existed.
Throughout November 2025, Ella Jackson will inhabit the space, transforming the .exe archive studio into a metallic womb. Visitors can drop by to witness her process: sculptural works emerging from heaps of chainmail, wire, and patience. On 22–23 November, she’ll host chainmail workshops, teaching the traditional techniques behind her intricate, relic-like pieces, and a rare chance to get your hands blessed (or blistered) by the craft itself.
Photographed by Beyza Agim, the opening night captured Berlin’s underground in full metamorphosis — angelic, grotesque, divine. See the best looks below.
Words by Pykel van Latum
Images by Beyza Agim
