Productions and Event Overview
total #103 |-| Year: 2024 (#11) |-| Year: 2023 (#48) |-| Year: 2022 (#34) |-| Year: 2021 (#10)
>>> 2024 <<<
#11 • [20. Apr 2024] “Mely Kiyak hat Kunst #3: »Ich habe keine Angst. Ich habe gar nichts.« – Talk”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/mely-kiyak-hat-kunst-03: Mely Kiyak hat Kunst is the title of a new series at the Gorki. Because when we are at our most heartbroken, that is precisely the right time for honour and beauty. Art can point out, reveal, amuse, take us to highs and lows, but it doesn’t have to. Art doesn’t have to do anything. That is what makes it sublime and free. Our theatre columnist will invite her artist friends and those that she admires. Every evening is a goodie bag.
The guest for the second edition of the conversation series will be Lütfiye Güzel, Germany’s foremost underground poet. No one else can sing of death, loss and gaps in a way that’s as fittingly frugal with words and powerful. Her merciless perspective on life is tender, her wit is apt and devilish. Lütfiye and Mely will read, discuss and, if need be, »sit on the edge of the bed and age into themselves.«
#10 • [28. Mar 2024] “Prosa der Verhältnisse #27: »Schauergeschichten« / »Schreiben als Beruf« – Panel”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/prosa-der-verhaltnisse-27-schauergeschichten-schreiben-als-beruf: Deniz Utlu and Péter Nádas, one of the most important authors in European contemporary literature, talk about his latest novel, Rémtörténetek (Horror Stories), and about his poetology. The novel is a polyphonic tale of life in a Hungarian village on a river, with all of its inhabitants. A panopticon of characters driven by resentment and malice with spirits buzzing all around them. The conversation also gives insights into his craft, addressing aspects such as »silent poetics«, as he describes them in his book Writing as Career: that which is no longer in the text, the omissions, struck-through passages. A conversation about how we tell stories, the power of language, about light and shadow.
With
Péter Nádas
Curated and presented by
Denİz Utlu
#09 • [22. Mar 2024] “WE ART HERE! – Show”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/we-art-here: The WE ART HERE! show is a diverse, intercultural stage for young artists, both emerging and established. Gianni Jovanovic (known as the co host of Drag Race Germany) and Oyindamola Alashe, the authors of Ich, ein Kind der kleinen Mehrheit, host the show and bring a multitude of different talents to the stage. The programme is a mix of stand up comedy, song, spoken word, dance and other art forms.
With Nadja Benaissa, Tan Caglar, Fetsum, JNNRHNDRXX, Katrin Langensiepen, Anissa Loucif, Mal Elévé, Shayne Stubbs, Lea Streisand, Vanessa Vu & Ahmad Katlesh
Moderation Oyindamola Alashe & Gianni Jovanovic
#08 • [19. Mar 2024] “Mely Kiyak hat Kunst – Correctiv – Talk”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/mely-kiyak-hat-kunst-02: Mely Kiyak hat Kunst is the title of the Gorki’s new series that’s all about good and pleasant chats. Every evening is a goodie bag and, to put it together, our theatre columnist will invite her artist friends or people that she admires.
For the March edition, CORRECTIV is her guest. ANETTE DOWIDEIT, deputy editor in chief of the research collective, and JEAN PETERS (formerly of the Peng!-Kollektiv), current investigative journalist at CORRECTIV and former graduate of clown school, will mull over the blurry boundaries between investigative theatre and theatrical journalism.
Using mustaches and wigs to save democracy has been the most effective method to date in the fight against fascism of recent decades. More effective than all the warnings, admonitions and open letters. The »Geheimplan gegen Deutschland« (Secret Plan Against Germany) uncovered by CORRECTIV, in which so-called well-behaved and normal citizens planned deportations, has motivated, up to now, 3 million citizens to take to the streets in protest across Germany.
#07 • [18. Mar 2024] “Volkslieder aus Anatolien – Concert”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/volkslieder-aus-anatolien: Berlin Saz Evi music school creates a place for Turkish music. Since 2005 Berlin Saz Evi has been teaching students of all ages to play the bağlama – long and short necked lutes. This concept has garnered them a reputation far beyond the city limits of Berlin and they welcome all music enthusiasts. Berlin Saz Evi and a choir will bring music from Anatolia to the Gorki.
with
BERLİN SAZ EVİ + CHOR
#06 • [20. Feb 2024] “Es Brennt – Berlin Premiere – Screening + Talk”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/es-brennt: Es brennt (It’s Burning) is the title of film director Erol Afşin’s feature film debut, which was shown at the Munich Film Festival in 2023 and is now celebrating its premiere at the Gorki in Berlin. An Arab family living in Germany is insulted and attacked in the playground. A court hearing ensues, but this changes everything. The film is »a reflection on the tragic and cyclical nature of violence and discrimination in our world, inspired by real events that took place in Germany«, says Afşin, who has been involved with the Gorki as an actor since its origins in Ballhaus Naunynstraße.
Film, German, 2022, 89min
With English subtitles
Q&A with Erol Afşin
Moderated by Lutz Knospe
Cast: Halima Ilter, Kida Khodr Ramadan, Emir Kadir Taşkın, Nicolas Garin, Brigitte Zeh, Volker Meyer-Dabisch, Patrick Joswig, Katharina Palm, Lulu Hacke, Yusuf Celik, Rana Farahani, Sandra Maren Schneider, Lousion Cornu, Malick Bauer, Sohel Altan Gol, Zeynep Bozbay
#05 • [17. Feb 2024] “Mely Kiyak hat Kunst #1 – Panel”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/mely-kiyak-hat-kunst: Mely Kiyak hat Kunst is the title of the new series at the Gorki. Because when we are at our most heartbroken, that is precisely the right time for honour and beauty. Art can point out, reveal, amuse, take us to highs and lows, but it doesn’t have to. Art doesn’t have to do anything. That makes it sublime and free. Our theatre columnist will invite her artist friends and those that she admires. Every evening is a goodie bag. For the launch of this new discussion series, Mely Kiyak’s guest will be Tocotronic musician and author Dirk von Lowtzow. These two friends will read excerpts of their texts and discuss the following question: »where is our art at home?«.
Mely Kiyak in conversation with Tocotronic musician and author Dirk von Lowtzow
#04 • [10. Feb 2024] “Erinnern heisst Verändern – Panel”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/and-now-hanau: Conversation with family members of »Initiative 19. Februar Hanau« Emiş Gürbüz, Said Etris Hashemi, Armin Kurtovic, Hayrettin Saraçoğlu und Vaska Zlatevaaus .
Moderation Özlem Gezer
#01+2+3 • [09.-11. Feb 2024] “And Now Hanau – sitespecific Guestperformance + regular Guestperformance”
↪ https://www.gorki.de/en/and-now-hanau: On February 19th, 2020, a racist murdered nine people in Hanau: Fatih Saraçoğlu, Gökhan Gültekin, Hamza Kurtović, Kaloyan Velkov, Mercedes Kierpacz, Said Nesar Hashemi, Sedat Gürbüz, Vili Viorel Păun and Ferhat Unvar. Together with the »Initiative 19. Februar Hanau«, the playwright, director and doctor Tuğsal Moğul poses questions in And Now Hanau about the many mistakes the police, the public prosecutor’s office, politicians and the media made before, during and after the attack. The perpetrator from Hanau escaped a trial and conviction by taking his own life; no legal proceedings will take place. That is why Moğul deliberately chooses public venues at the heart of city life: we are presenting And Now Hanau first in the Willy-Brandt-Saal in the city hall in Schöneberg and then in Studio Я for two more performances. To accompany the performances, a series of events will be held in cooperation with the »Initiative 19. Februar Hanau« and the German Trade Union Confederation.
The Berlin premiere at Schöneberg City Hall takes place in cooperation with the respective district representatives for people with disabilities, for participation and integration, and for queer lifestyles and against right-wing extremism, as well as the women’s and equal opportunities commissioners.
A co-production of the theatres Münster and Oberhausen together with Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen, in cooperation with the Maxim Gorki Theatre Berlin
>>> 2023 <<<
#48 • [22. Dez 2023] “Deniz Göktas – Stand Up Comedy”
↪ www.gorki.de/de/deniz-goektas-0: Deniz Göktaş was born in 1994 in Ankara. Graduated from METU, Psychology. He wrote for the Uykusuz Magazine between 2020 and 2023. While running the podcast series I Have No Time for Deniz Göktaş, he has been also doing politically charged stand-up comedy in recent years. Following the success of his Youtube special Selam Selam, Deniz Göktaş will be presenting his new show at the Gorki.
#47 • [10. Dez 2023] “Liberation Day – Film Screening and Panel”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/liberation-day: On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of North Korea’s independence from Japan, the ex-Yugoslav cult band Laibach becomes the first foreign rock group ever to perform in North Korea in 2015. This sounds absurd, as Laibach itself was controversial and even banned in the country where the group was formed. A film team, including co-director Morten Traavik, who organised the concert, accompanies Laibach on their journey to what is still the most isolated country in the world and documents the rehearsals, which are repeatedly interrupted by technical breakdowns and requests for changes from several censors. Finally, Laibach play cover songs from The Sound of Music in front of 1,500 hand-picked and only moderately enthusiastic listeners. Meanwhile, propaganda loudspeakers are set up on the border between the two Koreas, pointing out the increasing international tensions.
Film screening followed by Q&A with Ivan Novak (Laibach) and Daniel Miller, moderated by Boris Buden
#46 • [10. Dez 2023] “Reporter without Borders: Handover of the peace dove to the Russian initiative OVD-Info – Award Ceremony and Panel”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/reporter-ohne-grenzen-ubergabe-der-friedenstaube-an-die-russische-initiative-ovd-info: On 10. December, Reporter ohne Grenzen (RSF) presents the Goldene Friedenstaube to the Russian human rights and media project OVD-Info. The award honours the initiative’s many years of commitment to investigating politically motivated repression. Since its foundation in 2011, OVD-Info has published news about arrests, violations of freedom of assembly and the suppression of protests. OVD also provides legal aid for politically persecuted people.
The Goldene Friedenstaube Human Rights Prize has been awarded since 2008 to institutions and individuals who are committed to international understanding and human rights. After one year, the respective award winner passes on the Goldene Friedenstaube to another institution worthy of the award. This is intended to create a global peace network. The laudatory speech will be given by Alice Both, editor of Die Zeit and former Moscow correspondent. This will be followed by a panel discussion with journalist Grigory Okhotin and human rights lawyer Violetta Fitsner from OVD-Info as well as Gemma Pörzgen from Reporter ohne Grenzen project
With: Alice Bota, Grigory Okhotin, Violetta Fitsner, Gemma Pörzgen
#43+44+45 • [16/17/18. Nov 2023] “Mass for Yugoslavia – Guestperformance”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/mass-for-yugoslavia: Although it has been history for more than 30 years, Yugoslavia is still used as a scarecrow for threatening anybody who refuses to accept the logic of national identities and remembers that across the present borders of former socialist republics still live humans and monsters like us. Someone not so well-intended, might add: some of us live in EU and some of us outside of it, with no prospect of joining it.
Most of us understand each other without translators, although national linguistic politics did everything imaginable to convince us that we can’t understand each other without subtitles.
Under those circumstances, what do we do with the culture that has been known as the Yugoslav one? We bury it deep in the mass-grave of our memories? And then wait for somebody to come and dig it out, expose its disembodied parts for identification?
Mass For Yugoslavia is a theatrical exhumation of the corpse of Yugoslav culture and embodiment of its different ghosts. It stands in the twilight zone between failed socialist dreams and realized capitalist nightmares. The play performs an autopsy of some of the most iconic Yugoslav art-works, showing us a paradox of fraternal love verging on mortal hatred, a paradox that was called Yugoslavia. It runs on the tension of what Yugoslavia might be and what it turned into. Between nostalgia for Yugoslavia and proscription of its memory, we choose neither.
No spoken text, music in Italian, Hungarian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, English, Slovenian Greek, German with English surtitles
With Uroš Kaurin, Jerko Marčić, Nika Mišković, Draga Potočnjak, Matej Recer, Blaž Šef, Primož Bezjak/Vito Weis
A guest performance from Mladinsko Theater Ljubljana.
International co-production: Mladinako Theatre, Ljubljana; Croatian National Theatre Ivan pl. Zajc, Rijeka; BITEF, Belgrade; MOT, Skopje
#42 • [04. Nov 2023] “An Anti-War Center – Lecture Performance”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/an-anti-war-center: In this lecture performance, Ana Miljanić, (co-founder and director of the CZKD) traces the social, cultural, and political changes of the last three decades that have influenced the work of the Center for Cultural Decontamination (CZKD) in Belgrade. The Center is a non-profit cultural institution founded in 1994 in response to the need to articulate and sustain anti-war activities. Today, the Center clearly recognizes different circumstances at all levels of political life, from civil society to global political events. In collaboration with curator Ana Sladojević, Ana Miljanić reflects on what it means for an independent public institution to be political today, based on the Center’s archives.
In English, Followed by a Q&A with Oliver Frljić
#41 • [01. Nov 2023] “LAIBACH – Mi Kujemo Bodočnost (We Forge the Future) – Concert”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/konzert-laibach: We Forge the Future was the name of the Laibach performance that took place on 23/April 1983 as part of the XII. Music Biennale Zagreb. As a result of a fierce public and media campaign against the group, Laibach was formally banned in Yugoslavia until 1987. The group was founded in 1980 in Trbovlje, an industrial coal-mining town in central Slovenia. For the performance at the Gorki Theatre, Laibach will add to the programme new interpretations of songs they were supposed to perform in Trbovlje in 1980 with Rdeči revirji (Red Districts), their first multimedia project, which was meant to challenge the blatant contradictions of the political and cultural situation in the country, but which was banned. These interpretations were released on 1/January 2023 on the album Sketches of the Red Districts (GOD Records).
#40 • [31. Oct 2023] “Cement Beograd – Guestperformance”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/cement-beograd: Cement is a text in turmoil: starting from the revolutionary upheavals in the USSR in the 1920s, via the struggle between the emancipatory aspirations of its characters and their anchoring in traditional family relationships, it turns to the love relationship of the main characters Dasha and Gleb Chumalov. In this way, the influence of social relations is broken down to the most intimate level.
Inspired by the East German playwright Heiner Müller, Sebastijan Horvats’ production, which he developed with Milan Ramšak Marković, is set in present-day Belgrade. The relationship between trauma and memory, political dementia, as well as the conflicts inscribed in our bodies are some of the motifs that characterise this work. The play won the »Mira Trailović« Grand Prix at the 54th BITEF Festival, and Miodrag Krstovic won the »Raša Plaović « award in the »Best Actor« category of the Belgrade Theatres 2020/2021.
In Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian with English surtitles
With Milena Zupančič, Miodrag Miki Krstovic, Mina Nenadovic, Milan Zarić, Ivan Zablaćanski, Isidora Simijonović, Marija Pikić, Milos Lazarov
A guest performance from Belgrade Dramatheatre.
#39 • [29. Oct 2023] “The relevance of Non-Alignment today – Panel”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/the-relevance-of-non-alignment-today: In a world deeply affected by climate crisis, nuclear threat, wars and the rise of nationalisms, there has been a renewed interest in the relevance of Non-Alignment today. Originally it was a response to the bi-polarization of the world during the Cold War with the creation of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) uniting countries and struggles against imperialism, colonialism, racism, occupation and all sorts of foreign agression. Today, we don’t live in a bipolar world anymore and yet the world is still close to a nuclear catastrophe or a new world war. Thus the question of Non-Alignment also confronts us with new challenges. This timely discussion gathers leading scholars on NAM and will dive not only into its history, accomplishments and contradictions. The question of the talk with Dubravka Sekulić, Paul Stubbs and Srećko Horvat is not only what we can learn from the Non-Aligned Movement, but also about what its relevance is today.
#38 • [28. Oct 2023] “A Hole in the Soul _ Everything you wanted to know about socialist Yugoslavia (but were afraid to ask) – Lecture”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/a-hole-in-the-soul: Borrowing its title from a self-portrait documentary of the legendary Yugoslav filmmaker Dušan Makavejev from the 1990s, the lecture will dive into the history of socialist Yugoslavia from its creation out of the ruins of WWII to ist collapse in the bloody war of the 1990s. Starting from the guerrilla fight and antifascist resistance, through the main pillars of the Yugoslav socialist system such as self-management and Non-Aligned Movement, Srećko Horvat will explore the achievements, contradictions and failures of socialist Yugoslavia.
#37 • [22. Oct 2023] “Four Faces of Omarska // Public Session #3 – Deferred Action, a Retrospective Archeology for the Cinema of Sudan – Panel”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/four-faces-of-omarska-public-session-3: The session brings into discussion remnants of Sudanese Cinema through the urban archipelago of remaining open-air cinemas in Khartoum. It looks back at the history of social, political, and economic conditions after Sudan’s independence in 1956 and how this artistic phenomenon and its urban manifestations reveals today. Exploring cinema’s emergence as a political space, especially under the influence of various socialist movements led by the Sudanese Socialist Union (SSU) in the 1970s and 1980s, the program includes film screenings by The Sudanese Film Group founded in 1989.
Anousheh Kehar, Philipp Sattler and Milica Tomić will be in conversation with Abdelrahman Elbashir guest.
#36 • [21. Oct 2023] “Four Faces of Omarska // Public Session #2 – Broken Violence – Panel”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/four-faces-of-omarska-public-session-2: Thinking about the multilayered history of the Omarska mine, the session brings into view how globalisation and local dynamics shape ethnic violence and resistance. It focuses on affective labour as protest and rebellion, which goes beyond trauma management and explores traumatic knowledge as a challenge to the ethno-capitalist governance of life.
Anousheh Kehar, Philipp Sattler and Milica Tomić will be in conversation with Arjun Appadurai and Jasmina Husanović.
#35 • [20. Oct 2023] “Four Faces of Omarska // Public Session #1 – The Construction of Law and Self – Panel”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/four-faces-of-omarska-public-session-1: The session raises questions about the history of art practices that have sought to address the trauma of war and economic transition in the post-Yugoslav space. It asks how memory becomes history, and how individual knowledge and traumatic experience catalyze legal formations into international legal paradigms. The guests will discuss the war and the post-Dayton Bosnian state through the paradox of waste as social wealth.
Anousheh Kehar, Philipp Sattler and Milica Tomić will be in conversation with Ivana Bago, Nusreta Sivac and Damir Arsenijević.
#34 • [14. Oct 2023] “Long Live The War! – Performance”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/long-live-the-war: After living in pre-war, war, and post-war societies in Yugoslavia and Croatia, Siniša Labrović came to Berlin in 2018 to escape the permanence of neurosis. Then, however, the war in Ukraine and revisionist and xenophobic forces caught up with Europe, reminding Labrović of the pre-war situation he experienced. For his performance Long live the war! he thus invites participants to take part in five military disciplines. In each discipline, an expert jury will award the best with a medal. The credo of the performance is: heroes must be recognized and deserve glory.
Performance by
Siniša Labrović
#33 • [07. Oct 2023] “Imagining a “better” post-Yugoslav society – Panel”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/imagining-a-better-post-yugoslav-society: Based on the works Zenica Trilogy and Vedo artist Danica Dakić and curator Amila Puzić discuss the utopian potential of art in our present and the poetic and political act of taking responsibility. (How) can the works set in two cities in contemporary Bosnia be read as an imagination of a »better« post-Yugoslav society?
Conversation with
Danica Dakić, Amila Puzić
#32 • [29. Sep 2023] “Activating “Four Faces of Omarska” – Talk & Lecture”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/activating-four-faces-of-omarska-0: The first Public Session of Four Faces of Omarska at the 6th Berliner Herbstsalon will present the new iteration of the exhibition. Milica Tomić, Anousheh Kehar, Philipp Sattler and Amel Beslagić will introduce and guide the audience through the exhibition, each of them taking a specific look at the interlinked history of the Omarska site in its –discontinuities and continuities. They will delve into the research material that sheds light on the ethnicization of society, privatization processes, political-economic organizations of land use, and exploitative labor practices within post-war societies. While discussing theoretical, methodological, and practical challenges in presenting visual documentations of collective investigative processes, the activation of the exhibition will feature a conversation with Dubravka Sekulić, including a discussion of her research contribution I am building a house, yet I own not a single stone (Kuću gradim, a kamena nemam).
#31 • [01. Sep 2023] “Uprooted – EVZ Conversations! – Panel”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/uprooted: The Russian war of aggression in Ukraine has had horrific consequences for many children. As a particularly vulnerable group, they are especially affected – suffering from violence, traumatization, fleeing and displacement. Families, entire childhoods, are destroyed. According to the 2023 OSCE report and human rights organisations, thus far some hundreds of thousands of children have been abducted and taken to Russia.
What does the war mean for the children of Ukraine? How can universal children’s rights be upheld in the midst of a war? How can civil society in Europe support affected children? What legal consequences must be faced by those responsible?
Conversation in English with simultaneous translation into German.
Die Veranstaltung ist Teil der Diskussionsreihe EVZ Conversations! In Kooperation mit der Stiftung Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft
With
Marieluise Beck, Anna Lenchovska
And
Dr. Andrea Despot, Dr. Elīna Šteinerte
Moderation
Mattia Nelles
#30 • [21. June 2023] “‘Gezi – Ten Years After’ – Trans X Istanbul – Screening + Talk”
↪ www.gorki.de/de/trans-x-istanbul: How does hate murder develop? The film accompanies Ebru, a trans woman from Istanbul who fights against the displacement and murder of her companions. She has experienced exclusion from state, society and family in her own life. She wants to change Turkish society with humor, self-irony and political acumen. She meets Margarethe, a 85-year-old German retired nurse and establishes with her a retirement home for trans people. The film shows how hate speech develops to hate murder in a structure with many different components. Urban transformation of Istanbul and the protests around the Gezi Park in 2013 resonate throughout the film.
DEU, 2014, 109 min | Regie Maria Binder
#29 • [23. June 2023] “‘Gezi – Ten Years After’ – Köcek – Screening + Talk”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/kocek: The film stars Müjde Ar as the intersex character Caniko. Caniko plays ball with the men in the neighborhood and makes music in the streets with the all-male mobs. One evening, while drinking and having fun in a tavern, Acenta Rıza’s men kidnap Caniko. When they attempt to rape them, they realize they have a penis and stab them. Caniko is hospitalized and is made a woman through forced surgery without their consent. Starting a new life, Caniko takes the name Raziye and starts working as a dancer at Naciye’s, who runs a brothel. Having difficulty adjusting to womanhood, Raziye meets Adnan, a football player she knew from her old life.
TUR, 1975, 82 min | Regie Nejat Saydam
Q & A with Yunus Ersoy & Anthony Hüseyin
Moderation Sinem Deniz
#28 • [25. June 2023] “‘Gezi – Ten Years After’ – Benim Cocuğum – Screening + Talk”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/benim-cocugum: What happens when your child comes out? My Child is a feature documentary about parents of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans individuals in Turkey, intimately recounting their personal experiences. In the documentary, which takes the viewer to five homes in Istanbul, families of LGBT individuals talk about their own parenting experiences, their children’s periods of growing up and coming out, the difficult paths they went through in coping with this process, how they shared this situation with their own families, and the processes in which they relearned what it takes to be a parent. Their experiences share common themes of denial, trauma, helplessness, fear, shame, acceptance and rebirth. They talk about how they had nothing to prepare them for this experience. Neither any of the parenting manuals, nor what was passed down to them from their elders, nor the education they received in schools addressed what it might be like to be the parent of an LGBT child.
TUR, 2013, 82 min | Regie Can Candan
Moderation Sinem Deniz
#27 • [25. June 2023] “‘Gezi – Ten Years After’ – Annemin Kaburgasi – Reading + Talk”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/annemin-kaburgasi: Was there really an essence that made me who I was? Had my body, my voice, my tongue, the place I called home changed, had I become a different person? However, I had gradually brought out the person I was, despite everything and everyone who tried to destroy it.
My Mother’s Rib is the story of those who are proud of their identity, those who live love freely, those who know the language of immigration best, those who challenge the social domination over sexuality, those who are tired of stereotypical values and uniform lifestyles.
Burçin Tetik responds to the divisive discourses and the language of anger that surrounds our lives with all the colors of the rainbow. Original, sensitive, brave… As in that famous song, somewhere above the rainbow, all the way up…
#26 • [27. May 2023] “‘Gezi – Ten Years After’ – Medz Bazar – Concert”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/konzert-collectif-medz-bazar-0: The band Collectif Medz Bazar was founded in Paris in 2012. In their stage shows, Armenian, Kurdish, Turkish, Arabic and Persian song traditions meet explosive rhythms and pop elements. The group combines traditional repertoire with original compositions full of musical and textual creativity. On stage, Collectif Medz Bazar offers a successful balance between tempered instruments and music from the modal traditions, Middle-Eastern percussions and Parisian voices of various origins.
Collectif Medz Bazar: Ezgi Sevgi Can, Shushan Kerovpyan, Vahan Kerovpyan, Elâ Nuroğlu, Marius Pibarot, Nicolas Vercambre
#25 • [3. June 2023] “‘Gezi – Ten Years After’ – Mengene – Concert”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/konzert-mengene: The rock band Mengene combines ethnic music styles with alternative and modern rock. Mengene will delight audiences with their »Deyiş«, Alevi musical narratives, compositions and new interpretation of Turkish folk songs.
With Onur Akova, İrfan Akpınar, Barış Atay, Mehmet Kartal, Mişel Kocamahhul, Nihat Mugil
#24 • [26. May 2023] “‘Gezi – Ten Years After’ – Aylin Aslim & Doğan Duru – Concert”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/konzert-aylin-aslim-und-dogan-duru: Since her 2000 debut album Gelgit, Aylin Aslım has been writing and singing original songs and has released four solo albums and many singles to date. In her songs, Aslım touches on social issues such as women’s rights and and has, among other things, contributed her music to the soundtrack of the film Gegen die Wand. She has been performing for more than 25 years. Doğan Duru is a founding member of the rock band Redd. As a tenor, he also worked in opera houses in Italy and Turkey.
#23 • [6. June 2023] “‘Gezi – Ten Years After’ – Avzer – Performance”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/avzer: Avzer… 2013… A child who lives on the streets… One morning he wakes up and experiences a day that nobody can imagine. He doesn’t really understand what’s going on. But he never really tries to understand it either.The play tells the story of the Gezi resistance from the perspective of Avzer, a street child. Avzer/Mustafa is a child who was left by his mother in the orphanage at the age of three. As he grew older, he ran away and started living on the streets. He slept in the then-under-construction Sakarya Ankara City Hall. One night he goes to sleep and when he wakes up, he encounters a completely different Kızılay. He is swept away by the crowd, the enthusiasm, and the atmosphere of brotherhood.
With Ahmet İlker Ergin Technical Director Ahmet özer Dramaturge Egemen Kalyon Music Ömer Sarigedik Project Assistant Sezer Gündüz
#22 • [7. June 2023] “‘Gezi – Ten Years After’ – Üftade – Performance”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/uftade: Üftade means, in its literal sense, someone who is addicted and dependent on the help of others. It also means someone who longs for past days after experiencing disasters. At the same time, »Üftade« is the name of the street where a theater was located, only 100 meters away from Gezi Park… In the 2010s, many small theaters were opened in Istanbul. Founded particularly by young people, these theaters completely changed the system and revolutionized the understanding of »new« theater. These theaters in Beyoğlu played an important role during the Gezi resistance in 2013. They tried to bring their revolution onto the stage because there could not be a better stage than Gezi for these theaters that had something to say about the world, life, and the country. Üftade is the story of a small theater that was located right next to Gezi Park at that time. It is the story of a theater that was transformed into a hospital by the resistors, where the injured found refuge and doctors could work. During the Gezi resistance, this theater did what it did best: heal wounds, heal people, and give them some breathing room.
With Ahmet Özer, Sandra Ruffin, Ufuk Tan Altunkaya Music Coşkun Akmeriç Project Assistant Sezer Gündüz Dramaturg Egemen Kalyon
#20-21 • [26. + 27. May 2023] “‘Gezi – Ten Years After’ – Eviction – Public Action by Omer Krieger”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/eviction-public-action-by-omer-krieger: Every year millions of people all around the world are evicted from their homes by forces of state and capital. At the same time confl icts about public space are intensifying. People stand up for their human right for housing. Moving on a spectrum between the aesthetic and the political, the spectacular and the useful, the documentary and the forthcoming, this action serves as a space to learn and exchange practices of togetherness and collective resistance.
Eviction is a project by Omer Krieger, produced by the Curatorial Collective for Public Art, and presented at the Maxim Gorki Theater. The Berlin edition is supported by the National Performance Network, and its mediation programme by the Federal Agency for Civic Education. It premiered at the Israel Festival, Jerusalem in September 2022.
by Omer Krieger
project management: Lianne Mol & Yael Sherill, Curatorial Collective for Public Art
performers: Laure Fleitz, Katherine Maria Gorsuch, Yulia Mezhetskaya, Marcos Zoe Nacar, Rima Nasereddin, Victor Manuel Gonzalez Reyes, Luana Rossetti, Melodi Yüce
movement choir: Cochon de Cauchemar, Kate Manias, TL Morrison, Alina Koval, Nyemba M’membe, Ivy Fleur, Anna Blume, Louis-César Brunhy, Fei Kaldrach, Heli, Annika Utzelmann, Mahalia Horvath, Amanita Zinaida Vulvina, Käthe Lange, Juliane Harbst, Gelsomino
dramaturgy: Yael Sherill
additional choreography & rehearsal management: Tomer Zirkilevich
set design: Franz Thöricht & Jascha Kretschmann
costume design: Anna Mirkin
sound design: Binya Reches
production management: Uwe & Silke Buhrdorf, die wellenmaschine
assistant director: Filip Rutkowski
dramaturgy assistance: Clemens Zoller
stunt coordination: Florian Hotz
project administration: Lianne Mol
video: Rebellab
Note: Depiction of police violence. Physical contact with the performers may occur.
#19 • [26. May 2023] “‘Gezi – Ten Years After’ – Opening Intervention”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/opening-intervention: Collective public action commemorating 90 years to the book burning in May 1933 .
#15-18 • [03./10./17./24. June 2023] “‘Gezi – Ten Years After’ – The Yurt. Resilience in Practice – Workshops”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/the-yurt: Raising your voice, opposing injustice, countering disinformation. All of these things are required for social change and humanitarian work. But the results can barely be detected, the battles aren’t going to be over tomorrow. How can we make our activism and engagement sustainable? To keep the »spirit of Gezi« alive in Berlin, the Yurt serves as a place to fill yourself up with new energy, have creative discussions, and practice both self-care and care for the community with workshops and conversations all around Peter Steudtner’s »hammock of solidarity«.
#14 • [26. May 2023] “‘Gezi – Ten Years After’ – Painting the Decade – Exhibition”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/painting-the-decade: The wall installation of Berlin-based painter Timur Çelik brings together decisive moments of oppression and hope that have shaped the collective memory of Turkish society and portraits of the main protagonists in the political struggle against the authoritarian regime in the recent past.
#13 • [26. May 2023] “‘Gezi – Ten Years After’ – Silivri. Prison of Thought | Silivri Müzesi – Exhibition”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/silivri-prison-of-thought-silivri-muzesi: Silivri, the high-security prison for men outside Istanbul, is more than a prison. It is a symbol, not only for the precarious situation of critical thinkers in authoritarian systems, but also for their fighting spirit which is nearly impossible to break. Because thinking continues behind walls as well. Numerous journalists, intellectuals and human rights activists are held in Silivri, which is known as the »largest journalist prison«. »What you see is not merely a prison cell, it is much more a miniature of Turkey, the largest journalist prison in the world« (Can Dündar).
Silivri Müzesi (2023) takes its title from the utopian hope back in 2021 that, in the 100th year of the Republic of Turkey, Silivri prison will have turned into a museum. In virtual reality, however, the museum is already open and allows visitors to enter various places, such as an individual prison cell or the room from which prisoners must all too often participate in their trials merely through video.
#12 • [26. May 2023] “‘Gezi – Ten Years After’ – The Gezi Trial + the Gezi Seven – Exhibition”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/the-gezi-trial-the-gezi-seven: The Gezi trial is the embodiment of hostile criminal law. Within the scope of this case, actions which, in an average democratic country, would amount to gathering and marching in demonstration, have been criminalized due to certain »political motives« at the highest level of the state. Due to the gaps, irrational inconsistencies, and arbitrary specifications they contain, the indictments have done irreparable damage to Turkey’s justice system. Eight people who are alleged to have organized the demonstrations were sentenced to 18 years in prison under TCK 312/1, one of the most severe charges in the Turkish Criminal Code (»attempting to overthrow the government of the Republic of Turkey or prevent it from performing its duties by use of force and violence«), with one sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment. There is an ongoing threat of prosecution, or – more accurately – punishment, for nine individuals for whom an arrest warrant has been issued. Despite ten years having passed since the events, dozens of people who took part in the investigation led by specially authorized prosecutors have yet to appear before the court and are said to be in the »second chamber«, and are still facing the same threat of punishment.
#11 • [26. May 2023] “‘Gezi – Ten Years After’ – Biz Zalime Güleriz Bizim Orada – Exhibition”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/biz-zalime-gueleriz-bizim-orada: For decades the language of the protests at Taksim Square were shaped by determinism and heroism. But when the masses took the full control of the square in June 2013, a completely different voice emerged: through the chants of the ultras groups, jokes borrowed from the long humour-magazine tradition, queer slang, pop-songs, and meme-culture, the events took a truly carnivalesque character. With a selection of caricatures and magazines from the period, KAHVEHANE will pay tribute to the joyful, lively and gay side of the whole »Gezi adventure«.
#10 • [26. May 2023] “‘Gezi – Ten Years After’ – Museum of small things – Exhibition”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/museum-of-small-things-and-more-programm: Over the last decade, the authoritarian regime in Turkey has imprisoned hundreds of critical journalists, academicians, activists and opposition politicians. The documentary exhibits that are presented in the lightsalon and adjoined rooms give an insight into the repression that marked Turkey’s recent history. Whereas Can Dündar’s Prison of Thought, a replica of a prison cell at the high-security Silivri prison, illustrates the claustrophobic reality of confinement, the video installation Museum of Small Things, conceived by Dündar and Hakan Savaş Mican, trace the prisoners’ striving to defy intimidation. To support the ridiculous narrative that the Gezi Revolt was not a genuine protest by the masses but an external conspiracy against the government, the judicial system, tightly controlled by Erdoğan, also punished a group of public figures with trumped-up charges. Courtroom sketches, expert reports, folders with court documents and a video documentary describing the crucial aspects of the Gezi trial are part of the material that exposes the ruthless revanchism of the regime.
#08+09 • [31. Mar & 1. Apr 2023] “Archivo Madre – Lecture Performances”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/archivo-madre: Archivo Madre is a lecture-performance program where migrant artists from different countries in Latinoamérica investigate their own archives around motherhood. During six months, six women from Argentina, México, Chile, and Colombia (among others) have created their lecture-performance as a result of this collective workshop process.
Curated by Lola Arias
Dramaturgy and Production Lola Arias Company: Laura Cecilia Nicolás
Production Karne Kunst: Marcela Villanueva, Belén Marinato
Lecture-Perfromances by and with Jasmine Bakalarz, Laura Jimenez, Anna Marsical, Nicol Rivera Aro und Laura Santos
Archivo Madre ist ein Projekt des Sorora e. V. in Zusammenarbeit mit der Lola Arias Company und Karne Kunst, gefördert durch die Prozessförderung des Fonds Darstellende Künste.
#07 • [08. Mar 2023] “Eren – Screening + Panel”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/eren: Eren portrays a woman who has been fighting for fundamental rights and peace in Turkey for more than 30 years. As a lawyer and human rights defender, Eren Keskin is one of the main actors and plaintiffs for women’s, LGBTQIA+ and minority rights, opposing torture and sexualized violence. Her strong sense of justice knows no taboos, shaking even the foundations of the Turkish state. Now she has been designated an enemy of the state and has to defend herself. She faces a life sentence in more than a hundred criminal cases. How much time she has left in freedom, she doesn’t know. At any moment she could disappear behind bars forever.
Documentary by Maria Binder D, 2023, 95min, Turk. OV with german and english subtitles. Followed by film discussion with Dr. Hilal Alkan, Maria Binder Moderation Birgit Michaelis. In Kooperation mit Amnesty International, Kotti e.V., Film Five und Cornix Film.
#05-06 • [02. + 03. Mar 2023] “The Last Word – Stage Performance”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/the-last-word: The performance is based on last words of women accused of political crimes in Russian courts. Their outspoken message in a court room becomes the only matter of free speech one can imagine in contemporary Russia. The performance gathered »last words« of defendants such as Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Alla Gutnikova, Sasha Skochilenko, Zarifa Sautieva and others to shine light on their courage and to paint a picture of Russia’s current regime.
By: Anna Narinskaya
An idea by: Alisa Khazanova
Directed by: Maxim Didenko
#04 • [16. Feb 2023] “Songs of Gastarbeiter”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/songs-of-gastarbeiter:
With their Songs of Gastarbeiter compilations, AYKU documented their parents’ music, which was part of the daily lives of millions of people in this country but remained completely unknown to the broader German public. They are an important part of the social and economic achievements of this generation whose work is still underrated. Pioneers who used their music to address their living and working conditions and were shrewd observers of German society and politics.
#03 • [16. Feb 2023] “AŞK, MARK VE ÖLÜM (LIEBE, D-MARK UND TOD) – Screening + Panel”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/ask-mark-ve-olum-liebe-d-mark-und-tod:
At the beginning of the 60s, people from Turkey brought not only their manpower to Germany but also their language, culture and music. A lively music scene emerged which had its roots in Anatolia, but its heyday was in Germany. It’s still onmipresent today. Cem Kaya’s gripping documentary was awarded the Panorama Audience Award at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival. – Talk with Cem Kaya after the screening.
Documentary, D, 2022, 96 min
#02 • [05. Feb 2023] “Zekamerone – Panel + Reading”
Maxim Znak, a brilliant lawyer and prominent member of the Belarusian opposition, was arrested in autumn 2020 and sentenced to ten years in prison in September 2021. In his Zecameron (from »zek«, the Russian acronym for prisoner), written in the first year of his imprisonment, he recounts his new daily routine in a way that’s pithy, ironic and surprisingly funny. His stories bear witness to resistance and self-empowerment, to the processes, both quiet and loud, of going mad.
In Cooperation with Suhrkamp Verlag and the publication OSTEUROPA
By: Maxim Znak
With: Tatsiana Khomich, Herta Müller, Katharina Raabe, Volker Weichsel
#01 • [09. Jan 2023] “Was darf Tucholsky? – Panel + Reading”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/was-darf-tucholsky:
Kurt Tucholsky, master of mockery and writer, was born on January 9th, Tucholskystraße is right around the corner and our theatre columnist Mely Kiyak is the current Tucholsky prize laureate – that’s already three reasons for the Gorki to remember, together with the Kurt Tucholsky Society, one of the most astute and critical writers of the Weimar Republic, and talk about what it means to use world affairs as material. Incorporating politics and contemporary history into satire, film, live comedy and columns has been a fixed part of Germany’s artistic tradition ever since Tucholsky, at the very latest. Mely, Fatih and Max are all part of this tradition, but hopefully they’ll disagree anyway. About when political thought in art turns into silly kitsch or when it hits at the core of art, namely its aspiration to tell stories of people and life.
In Cooperation with the Kurt Tucholsky-Gesellschaft
With: Mely Kiyak, Fatih Akin And Mehmet Yılmaz
Moderation: Max Uthoff
>>> 2022 <<<
#33-34 • [30. + 31. Dec 2022] “The Last Word – Stage Performance”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/the-last-word: The performance is based on last words of women accused of political crimes in Russian courts. Their outspoken message in a court room becomes the only matter of free speech one can imagine in contemporary Russia. The performance gathered »last words« of defendants such as Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Alla Gutnikova, Sasha Skochilenko, Zarifa Sautieva and others to shine light on their courage and to paint a picture of Russia’s current regime.
By: Anna Narinskaya
An idea by: Alisa Khazanova
Directed by: Maxim Didenko
#32 • [02. Dec 2022] “Maryam Zaree ‘Born in Evin’ – Screening & Panel”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/born-in-evin: In her directorial debut Born in Evin (2019), director and actress Maryam Zaree, born in 1983, searches for answers to the history of the violent circumstances surrounding her birth in one of the most infamous political prisons in the world: Evin in Teheran. Attempting to break the silence in her family around the imprisonment, she observes this place, where the participants in the recent protests have been jailed and not that long ago, in October 2022, several political prisoners died in a major fire. Her film was honoured with the Compass Perspective Award at the 2019 Berlinale and received the German Film Award for Best Documentary in 2020.
A discussion with Maryam Zaree and journalist Gilda Sahebi will follow the screening
#31 • [22. Nov 2022] “Prosa der Verhältnisse #25 – Mohamed Mbougar Sarr “Menschen, Erinnerungen, Geheimnisse.” – Book presentation”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/prosa-der-verhaltnisse-25: Mohamed Mbougar Sarr was born in Dakar in 1990 and grew up in Senegal before studying literature and philosophy in France. He has already published three novels, for which he has been awarded the Prix Stéphane Hessel and the Grand Prix du Roman Métis, among other honours.
In a conversation on the Studio stage, two authors, Mohamed Mbougar Sarr and Deniz Utlu, will reflect on the writing of contemporary literature. They will focus on the creation of literature in exile, texts by African authors in the diaspora, and the search for truth. Selected passages will be read from Sarr’s Prix Goncourt-winning novel, The Most Secret Memory of Men, before it celebrates its Germanlanguage release at the Literary Colloquium Berlin on 24/November 2022.
In this, his latest book, Sarr tells the story of a young Senegalese writer in Paris, whose life and views on literature are completely changed after he comes across a text by the forgotten »Black Rimbaud,« T. C. Elimane.
With Mohamed Mbougar Sarr
Curated and presented by Denİz Utlu
Text samples read by Abak Safaei-Rad
The series Prosa der Verhältnisse is organized in cooperation with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.
#30 • [22. Nov 2022] “AZADÎ in Progress – Panel Discussion”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/azadi-in-progress: Ever since 22-year-old Jina Mahsa Amini was murdered on September 16th, Iranians have been taking to the streets. Even though people are imprisoned, tortured and killed every day, the protests continue and have grown into a revolution: people of all ages and educational backgrounds, in rural areas and cities, calling for an overthrow of the regime.
The rights of LGBTQIA+ people are also at stake. In September lesbian activists Zahra Sedighi (Sareh) und Elham Choubdar were sentenced to death for “corruption on earth by promoting homosexuality.”
Our discussion asks: What role is Germany playing? What could solidarity look like in light of the censorship, internet shutdowns – and sanctions? What needs to happen for AZADI to become a reality?
Panel with Shadi Amin, Bijan Djir-Sarai, Nargess Eskandari-Grünberg, Julia Franck and Hengameh Yaghoobifarah.
Moderation: Ronya Othmann
This event is produced in cooperation with PEN Berlin and 6Rang (Iranian Lesbian and Transgender Network).
#29 • [18. Nov 2022] “Prosa der Verhältnisse #24 – Aslı Erdoğan “Requiem für eine verlorene Stadt” – Book presentation”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/prosa-der-verhaltnisse-24: Aslı Erdoğan is a writer, human rights activist, particle physicist and former political prisoner. Her novel Requiem für eine verlorene Stadt (Requiem for a Lost City), now newly published in German, is a poetic and melancholic love letter to the city of Istanbul. It follows a nameless heroine as she goes into exile from her Turkish homeland, giving some insight into how the protagonist thinks and feels about politics, feminism and culture.
Aslı Erdoğan is an artist in residence at the Maxim Gorki Theater for the 2022/23 season.
By and with Aslı Erdoğan
Curated and presented by Denİz Utlu
Text samples read by Lea Draeger
The series Prosa der Verhältnisse is organized in cooperation with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.
#28 • [27. Oct – 6. Nov 2022] “Silivri” & “Museum of small Things” on Tour at Festival “Nachbarschaften” at Thalia, Hamburg
↪ www.gorki.de/en/silivri-prison-of-thought: Silivri, the high-security prison for men outside Istanbul, is more than a prison. It is a symbol, not only for the precarious situation of critical thinkers in authoritarian systems, but also for their fighting spirit which is nearly impossible to break. Because thinking continues behind walls as well. Numerous journalists, intellectuals and human rights activists are held in Silivri, which is known as the »largest journalist prison«. The renowned journalist Can Dündar, former editor-in-chief of the Cumhuriyet newspaper, also served time there.
Living in exile in Berlin, Dündar curates an abstracted, nearly true-to-scale reproduction of a cell – a room 3.94 meters long by 3.71 meters wide, cramped and hostile to life. The cell, designed by Shahrzad Rahmani as a free-standing, transparent object, references more than the individual fate of the occupant. In addition to well-known prisoners such as Ahman Altan, Osman Kavala, Peter Steudtner and Deniz Yücel, countless other intellectuals were, and are, held in cells of this kind. SİLİVRİ. prison of thought confronts visitors with a political reality in which journalists, artists and human rights activists are imprisoned for their work, their art, their words, their thoughts.
»What you see is not merely a prison cell, it is much more a miniature of Turkey, the largest journalist prison in the world« (Can Dündar).
↪ www.gorki.de/en/museum-of-small-things: The museum of small things by Can Dündar and Hakan Savaş Mican tells the stories of political prisoners in Turkey with everyday objects – most of these objects come from the »world’s largest prison for journalists«, Silivri prison, where Can Dündar was imprisoned as well. The seemingly little things from the daily lives of 12 prisoners – a song hummed over the telephone, a letter in a bottle, or an undershirt used as a screen – serve as the starting point for actors Sesede Terziyan and Taner Şahintürk to invoke something much larger: Thoughts cannot be locked away. Or as Ahmet Altan wrote: »They can walk through walls, effortlessly.« The journalist Can Dündar collected the stories of Osman Kavala, Selahattin Demirtaş or Deniz Yücel and many more, who were or are currently in prison in Turkey, writing them down in order to underline their creativity and strength in situations that appear hopeless. By telling their stories he alludes to the situation of all political prisoners in Turkey who have been and will be imprisoned unjustly.
»You will all see, once again, that no ban, no repression, no isolation will ever be capable of limiting a thinking mind.« (Can Dündar)
The stories were written down and curated by journalist Can Dündar, the video-installation museum of small things was directed by Hakan Savaş Mican.
The 5. Berliner Herbstsalon 2021 – 2022 presents stronger still. exhibition – installation – talks, a project encompassing the prison no. 5 exhibition with works by Zehra Doğan, the SİLİVRİ. prison of thought and museum of small things installations, both curated by Can Dündar, and the witness exhibition with works by Timur Çelik.
stronger still was conceived on the occasion of Re:Writing the Future by Allianz Kulturstiftung.
In the series of 5. Berliner Herbstsalon 2021 – 2022.
Funded by the State of Berlin, Hauptstadtkulturfonds within the framework of Re:Writing the Future.
#27 • [10. Oct 2022] Bertolt Brecht: Flüchtlingsgespräche – ARTE-Moviepremiere | Talk
↪ www.gorki.de/en/bertolt-brecht-fluchtlingsgesprache: Anyone can become a refugee. More than eighty years ago, hundreds of thousands of people were forced to flee Germany at the risk of their lives. The German poet and theater maker Bertolt Brecht was one of them. From France to Denmark, Sweden, Finland, once across the Soviet Union to the USA: Along the individual stages of escape, renowned theater makers and authors such as Can Dündar, Jürgen Kuttner, Shermin Langhoff, Éric Ruf and Katharina Thalbach pursue the question of the extent to which Brecht sought to use the experience of foreign countries and exile for himself as an artist. A moving journey through time that leads directly to our own present. Film screening and discussion with film director Hedwig Schmutte, Can Dündar and Katharina Thalbach.
#26 • [30. Sep 2022] Delaine Le Bas: “Beware of Linguistic Engineering” – Closing Event
↪ www.gorki.de/en/beware-of-linguistic-engineering-closing-event/2022-09-30-1800: For the closing of the exhibition »Beware of Linguistic Engineering«, Delaine Le Bas and Hugo Santos present a co-performance with new costumes.
#20-25 • [01. Sep – 11. Sep 2022] Festival: IN EXILE. QUEERWEEK22
#25 • 11. Sep 2022 // Photophobia • Sanni Est
#24 • 11. Sep 2022 // Prosa der Verhältnisse #23
#23 • 10. Sep 2022 // “Heimat” • Queerdos
#22 • 10. Sep 2022 // “Queer in Queer and Exile: Filmic Perspectives on Queerness and (Post-)Migration”
#21 • 04. Sep 2022 // “Florida! You kill me!” • Nana Schewitz
#20 • 03. Sep 2022 // “Endless Reading Night”
#19 • [30. May 2022] 11. Amnesty International Human Rights Award – Award Ceremony
↪ www.gorki.de/en/award-ceremony-11-amnesty-international-human-rights-award: The Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO) is to receive the Human Rights Award 2022 from the German section of Amnesty International. The award will be conferred in recognition of EHRCO’s selfless human rights advocacy in Ethiopia, which it engages in at great personal risk.
PRESENTATION
Aline Abboud
PRESENTER
MARY LAWLOR UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders
ARTISTS
Gungun Feat. Feven Yoseph
Baiba Skride
PARTICIPANTS
Dan Yirga
Markus N. Beeko
Befekadu Hailu
Fisseha Tekle
Dr. Martin Moryson
Swetlana Gannuschkina (Tbc)
#18 • [29. May 2022] Delaine Le Bas – “Beware of Linguistic Engineering” – “Afternoon Tea #3” – Panel
↪ www.gorki.de/en/sunday-afternoon-tea-3: In the series Sunday Afternoon Tea, Delaine Le Bas invites artists, curators and researchers to drink tea in the Gorki Garden and talk about the power of art and language.
#17 • [28. May 2022] Delaine Le Bas – “Beware of Linguistic Engineering” – “After Eight Club #3” – Live DJ Set
↪ www.gorki.de/en/after-eight-club: Dance to the tunes of Delaine Le Bas who within the series After Eight Club invites her music-friends from the U.K. to play cross-genre music exploring Delaine´s Playlist of international subculture.
#16 • [27. May 2022] Delaine Le Bas – “Beware of Linguistic Engineering” – “Performing Friday #3” – Performance
↪ www.gorki.de/en/performing-fridays-3: In a joint performance with Hugo S. Santos and Estera Sara, Delaine Le Bas revives the spirit of St Sara Kali George, a fictive patron saint merging mythical figures revered in three different cultures, St Sara, St Kali and St George. Through an indeterminate sexuality and an unidentifiable geographical origin, and drifting between the cultural codes of Afro-Brazilian tradition, Hindu tales and iconographies of Roma communities across Europe, St Sara Kali George joins in the minoritarian struggle against the oppressions of modern day capitalist world. In costumes created by Le Bas the figure of St Sara Kali George uses its wisdom to break away with binary clichés and to form a future of the many. Due to the pandemic, the work has been shown during the Berlin Biennale 11 without its performative aspect, but now, after two years, St Kali George becomes a »living sculpture« roaming at the Gorki.
#15 • [03. May 2022] Reporter ohne Grenzen: Pressefreiheit in Afghanistan – Book Presentation & Panel
↪ www.gorki.de/en/reporter-ohne-grenzen-pressefreiheit-in-afghanistan: Many still clearly remember the images of the Afghan people hoping to be rescued at the Kabul airport. But today we hear little about what has happened in the country since the Taliban seized power. German photographer Johanna-Maria Fritz has travelled Afghanistan multiple times and contributed her photos to the book Fotos für die Pressefreiheit (Photos for the Freedom of the Press), which will be released on World Press Freedom Day on May 3rd. At the book presentation we’ll discuss the current state of affairs with Fritz, the Afghan journalist and sociologist Shikiba Babori, and the Afghan television reporter Abdulhaq Omeri.
An event by Reporter ohne Grenzen e.V. in cooperation with the Maxim Gorki Theatre
#14 • [01. May 2022] Delaine Le Bas – “Beware of Linguistic Engineering” – “Afternoon Tea #2” – Panel
↪ www.gorki.de/en/sunday-afternoon-tea-2: In the series Sunday Afternoon Tea, Delaine Le Bas invites artists, curators and researchers to drink tea in the Gorki Garden and talk about the power of art and language.
#13 • [30. Apr 2022] Delaine Le Bas – “Beware of Linguistic Engineering” – “After Eight Club #2” – Live DJ Set
↪ www.gorki.de/en/after-eight-club: Dance to the tunes of Delaine Le Bas who within the series After Eight Club invites her music-friends from the U.K. to play cross-genre music exploring Delaine´s Playlist of international subculture.
#12 • [29. Apr 2022] Delaine Le Bas – “Beware of Linguistic Engineering” – “Performing Friday #2” – Performance
↪ www.gorki.de/en/performing-fridays-2: In a Co-Performance, Delaine Le Bas and Hugo S. Santos invigorate the exhibition with an eclectic performance, calling the audience up to »Beware of Linguistic Engineering«. Excerpts of media reports mingle with running thoughts on the current political situation are interwoven with a haunting soundscape by Justin Langlands, while the performers tirelessly resist powerlessness through the recreation of art and spirit.
#11 • [08. Apr 2022] Pretty Loud – Concert
↪ www.gorki.de/en/roma-day-concert: How will we be able and willing to practise freedom, love and self-empowerment in the future? PRETTY LOUD’s Roma Rap provides a possible answer to these questions. The feminist Rap-group from Zemun (Serbia) challenges patriarchal structures in art and society in a self-confident and artistically innovative way. An evening for and about a new self-image of the young Roma generation.
#10 • [03. Apr 2022] Delaine Le Bas – “Beware of Linguistic Engineering” – “Afternoon Tea #1” – Panel
↪ www.gorki.de/en/sunday-afternoon-tea-1: In the series Sunday Afternoon Tea, Delaine Le Bas invites artists, curators and researchers to drink tea in the Gorki Garden and talk about the power of art and language. For the opening weekend, artistic director Shermin Langhoff and curatorial advisor of the Gorki, Erden Kosova, will be guests of Delaine Le Bas.
#9 • [02. Apr 2022] Delaine Le Bas – “Beware of Linguistic Engineering” – “After Eight Club #1” – Live DJ Set
↪ www.gorki.de/en/after-eight-club: Dance to the tunes of Delaine Le Bas who within the series After Eight Club invites her music-friends from the U.K. to play cross-genre music exploring Delaine´s Playlist of international subculture.
#8 • [01. Apr 2022] Delaine Le Bas – “Beware of Linguistic Engineering” – “Performing Friday #1” – Performance
↪ www.gorki.de/en/performing-fridays-1: In a Co-Performance, Delaine Le Bas and Hugo S. Santos invigorate the exhibition with an eclectic performance, calling the audience up to »Beware of Linguistic Engineering«. Excerpts of media reports mingle with running thoughts on the current political situation are interwoven with a haunting soundscape by Justin Langlands, while the performers tirelessly resist powerlessness through the recreation of art and spirit.
#7 • [31. Mar 2022] Delaine Le Bas – “Beware of Linguistic Engineering” – Exhibition
↪ www.gorki.de/en/delaine-le-bas-exhibition: The British artist Delaine Le Bas, who has already participated in previous autumn salons and was featured in the most recent Berlin Biennale, shows a radical change in her practice with her latest works. From Thatcherism to Brexit, Le Bas adopts an intersectional perspective in tracing the way language is constructed by neoliberal politics, while it reproduces existing exclusions and influences collective consciousness. She also invites the cultural sector to a self-critical discourse, because in Europe, it’s only the language about socially and legally disadvantaged minorities, such as the Romani and Sinti peoples, that has changed, while neither the broader society’s view of them nor their socio-economic and legal living conditions have. By sharing her text-based paintings and drawings, her diaries, experiences, thoughts and views on today’s societal unease, Le Bas creates a very personal universe in which critique becomes a matter of collective urgency. Complementary to the show, Le Bas invites co-performers, theoreticians, curators, activists and artists to frame the exhibition in three different recurring formats. 31/March – 26/June/2022
#6 • [17. Feb 2022] “Fokus Hessen – Reading”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/fokus-hessen-0: Theatre-maker Tuğsal Moğul presents the first material from his new play about the murders in Hanau in 2020. His NSU play, Auch Deutsche unter den Opfern (Germans Also Among the Victims, 2015), serves as its foil.
#5 • [10. Feb 2022] “Prosa der Verhältnisse #22 – Fatma Aydemir “Dschinns” – Book presentation”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/prosa-der-verhaltnisse-22: In the hope of a different, better life, Hüseyin worked hard in Germany for thirty years to finally fulfil his dream for himself and his family: owning a flat in Istanbul. But then on the day of the move, he has a heart attack and dies without ever being able to begin this other life. His family travels from Germany for his funeral, five fundamentally different people with very disparate ways of life and yet connected through the deep secrets, longings and scars they carry. Sasha Marianna Salzmann in conversation with Fatma Aydemir on her new novel, Dschinns (Jinns), which, full of power, beauty and melancholy, traces the history of a family and, in the process, takes a look deep into the past decades, as well as far into the future.
#4 • [03. Feb 2022] “Prosa der Verhältnisse #21 – Navid Kermani “Jeder soll von da, wo er ist, einen Schritt näher kommen. Fragen nach Gott” – Book presentation”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/prosa-der-verhaltnisse-21: On his father’s death bed, someone makes a promise: namely to pass on his understanding of his Islamic religion to his daughter. After the funeral he talks of God. He takes his daughter’s questions with him into his day and answers them while she’s at school. Night after night they talk about eternity, the black light, the centre of the world and much more.Deniz Utlu in conversation with Navid Kermani on his new book, Jeder soll von da, wo er ist, einen Schritt näher kommen. Fragen nach Gott (Everyone should come, from where they are, a step closer: Questions about
God), which approaches, with amazement, openness and enchantment, the fundamental topics of religion: life and death, impermanence and eternity.
#3 • [23. Jan 2022] “Lea Draeger – Wenn ich euch verraten könnte – Book presentation”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/buchpremiere-wenn-ich-euch-verraten-konnte: In her debut novel, Gorki actor Lea Draeger recounts the history of a family whose roots overshadow the present. Little by little a kaleidoscope emerges of wounds and speechlessness which shape the lives of grandmother, mother and daughter – they are all desperate and cruel, sad and yet strong. The daughter, however, will succeed in overcoming these inherited traumata.
#2 • [19. Jan 2022] “Medz Bazar – Concert”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/konzert-collectif-medz-bazar: The Hrant Dink special will conclude with a concert from the band Collectif Medz Bazar, in which Armenian, Kurdish, Turkish, Arabic and Persian song traditions mingle with pop elements.Collectif Medz Bazar was born through the meeting of eight musicians, who sing and play original arrangements of traditional music from Anatolia, the Caucasus, the Balkans and other regions. While the group’s music is rooted in this traditional repertoire, Collectif Medz Bazar also plays original compositions, which are the fruit of group sessions full of musical creativity and lyric writing. On stage, Collectif Medz Bazar offers a successful balance between tempered instruments and music from the modal traditions, Middle-Eastern percussions and Parisian voices of various origins (Armenian, Turkish, and Franco-American), inspired from Asia Minor’s or Iran’s folk music, as much as it is from Caucasian rabiz, rhythms of Thrace, with touches of Venezuelian music, operette, hip-hop, jazz and bluegrass.
#1 • [19. Jan 2022] “Hrant Dink (Ge)Denken – Stage Performance”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/hrant-dink-gedenken: 12 years ago, on 19 January 2007, Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was shot in Istanbul in front of the building that housed his Agos newspaper. Even though the murderer has been convicted and condemned, the masterminds in the government machinery have yet to be held accountable. And there are reasons why. Hrant Dink always stood for reconciliation between Armenians and Turks, was relentless in making the perpetrators’ responsibility for the genocide a subject of discussion and tirelessly demanded the democratisation of today’s Turkey.
Can Dündar, former editor in chief of »Cumhuriyet«, has compiled a selection of Hrant Dink’s texts, contrasting them with transcriptions of the trial of the murderers.Framing the evening programme are two films, a panel discussion and a concert. The short film Swallow’s Nest (2007) by Bülent Arınlı tells of the Armenian orphanage near Istanbul, which Dink established. Focusing on an Armenian choir in Paris, the film The Choir (1996) gives an impression of life in the diaspora. In a conversation in Studio , two of Dink’s long-term associates – the family lawyer Fethiye Çetin and Karin Karakaşlı, an author at Agos – make reference to the contemporary situation in Turkey and beyond. Following the discussion, Stepan Gantralyan and Meline Popovian present songs of love, suffering and longing in their unique mixture of Armenian poetry.
>>> 2021 <<<
#10 • [12. Dec 2021] “Offener Prozess – Matinee”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/offener-prozess-matinee
#9 • [10. Dec 2021] “Rechte Räume – Website Launch”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/rechte-raume-in-berlin-mitte
#8 • [28. Nov 2021] “Fokus Hessen – Reading + Panel”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/fokus-hessen: Theater-maker Tuğsal Moğul provides insight into an emerging play about the racist terrorist attack of February 19, 2020 in Hanau. His NSU play Auch Deutsche unter den Opfern (Germans Also Among the Victims, 2015) serves at its foil. In a following conversation moderated by Heike Kleffner with Niculescu Păun, the father of Vili-Viorel Păun, who was murdered in Hanau, and Ahmed I., who was stabbed in the back near Kassel in 2016, Hessen comes into focus, where both Halit Yozgat, Walter Lübcke were murdered by Nazis and the so-called “NSU 2.0” appears to be located.
#7 • [27. Nov 2021] “Türken, Feuer – Reading + Panel”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/turken-feuer: A house goes up in flames. Five people die, three children and two women. Teenagers from the neighbourhood set the fire. The case is the subject of a flurry of media coverage, suddenly the little city is famous, but then everyone moves on to other stories. For the survivors and those killed by the attack, this night does not fade away. The mother who jumped out of the window and tried to protect the baby with her body keeps talking about when she jumped and the moment of her death. The mother of one of the perpetrators tells of the silence that weighed on their flat, the knowledge that something happened, the doubt about his guilt. The relatives who survived the fire see the flames in front of them every day, feeling the heat, smelling the smoke. Everyone stays imprisoned in their experience, their pain – and yet they seek communication, encounters, the possibility of a conversation.The arson attack in Solingen in 1993 is the starting point for türken, feuer (turks, fire). Reaching beyond the medial logic of attention and exploitation, Dündar searches carefully and precisely for a language for what happened, in which all perspectives are taken into consideration, and through this retains a painful timeliness.
#6 • [14. Nov 2021] “Rap, (post-)migrantisches Leben und Deutschland – Panel”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/rap-post-migrantisches-leben-und-deutschland: Feminist and anti-racist perspectives on rap and (post-)migrant life in Germany. Together they look not only at current conditions but also into rap history.
#5 • [13. Nov 2021] “Inventur 3.0 – Screening + Panel”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/inventur-30: In 1975 Yugoslav director Želimir Žilnik created an important work in the migrant culture of remembrance with his film Inventur – Metzstraße 11. The film records Žilnik’s interviews with guest workers from southern Europe, as they report on their lives from a stairwell in Munich. In Inventur 2.0 (2021) Pınar Öğrenci references this work and updates it for today: in a stairwell in Chemnitz, people mainly from the Middle East and Asia tell their stories.In a conversation following the screenings of both films, Pınar Öğrenci reflects on the changes that took place between the two films and what has happened since.
#1-4 • [6. / 7. / 13. / 14. Nov 2021] “Rechte Räume – Kritische Stadtspaziergänge durch die Berliner Mitte – Guided City-Tours”
↪ www.gorki.de/en/rechte-raume: The concept of a city tour that critiques racism and anti-Semitism, which has been continually developed and tested across multiple cities, enters a new phase.Using the Gorki as a starting point, multiple editions explore Berlin’s Mitte district: the programme includes, for example, Berlin’s city palace, the Marx-Engels Forum, and the Berlin state courthouse in Mitte. In addition to examining identitarian architecture of remembrance and vestiges of the colonial and National Socialist eras, these city tours also pursue questions regarding far-right crime scenes in urban spaces.The history, present and future of this district in the city centre will be observed and contextualized together. In the process, a wealth of architectonic-urbanist, city history and academic positions will be referenced. The tours showcase experts, artists and alliances from Berlin who remind us of repressed, forgotten and built-over histories, or make them visible in the first place.
The Young Curators Academy is funded by:
