Art | Theatre | Academy

26 October – 17 November 2019

Maxim Gorki Theatre, Palais am Festungsgraben,
Zeughauskino, Haus der Statistik and public spaces

Free admission
(except for theatre performances)

Organised by Shermin Langhoff with Aljoscha Begrich, Çağla Ilk (Exhibition), with Erden Kosova, Ong Keng Sen, Irina Szodruch (Young Curators Academy), with Rebecca Ajnwojner (Conference) and Elena Sinanina (team management and artistic assistance)

www.berliner-herbstsalon.de

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De-heimatize it! The 4. Berliner Herbstsalon
New perspectives on belonging beyond Heimat and nation

The fourth edition of the Berliner Herbstsalon (Berlin Autumn Salon) is an interdisciplinary
festival with theatre, art and discourse beyond »Heimat«. For three weeks the Gorki invites salon attendees to the centre of Berlin to listen to the polyphony of international Berlin artists, and develop new perspectives on belonging: through an exhibition of 40 artists, five theatre premieres, additional visiting productions and other performances. For the first time, the programme includes both a conference and an academy for young professionals in the culture industry around the world.

»Heimat« (roughly: homeland) is currently experiencing a boost in popularity, it’s arrived in the
mainstream and is no longer just being discussed by conservatives and the right. But Heimat as a
political concept has a long and violent history. The worldwide victory march of autocrats, nationalism and neo-liberal regimes shows once more that Heimat always also means nation and »fatherland« – a patriarchal-authoritarian idea that is incapable of including everyone.

»De-heimatize it!« thus expresses the need of the hour. The 4. Berliner Herbstsalon asks: How can
affiliations be thought of in different ways? From feminist-intersectional perspectives, the salon
presents artistic examinations of the entanglement of different means for exclusion – as well as the artistic resistance against it. The participating artists invite visitors to discover new ideas of commonality beyond traditional hierarchies.

For 23 days the Gorki Theatre, Palais am Festungsgraben, Zeughauskino, Haus der Statistik and
other locations in the city will serve as a platform for thinking of culture in a radically diverse way. The 4. Berliner Herbstsalon counters hierarchical categorizing with a multi-perspective, interdisciplinary show of mostly women artists: art, theatre, activism and discourse find their way together, in order to celebrate complexities, multiplicities and solidarity.

A R T
Exhibition of works by visual artists between theatre, performance and activism

Visitors can explore the exhibition in the Maxim Gorki Theatre, Palais am Festungsgraben, Haus der Statistik and additional locations in public space, all with free admission.

The works of around 40 artists from around the world show the diverse resistance against exclusion and marginalisation – and open up new visions beyond narrow corsets of belonging. The Berliner Herbstsalon continues its collaboration with artists like Grada Kilomba, Banu Cennetoğlu, Danica Dakić and Mehtap Baydu and expands these with new positions such as those from Candice Breitz and Larissa Sansour.

Many artists follow up on themes that they’ve previously addressed at the Gorki: Grada Kilomba writes over European myths with a new video installation; Marta Górnicka’s feminist chorus sings against the patriarchy; Delaine Le Bas makes the persecution of Romnija visible with her Witch Hunt (2009-2019) installation and opens up a space for today’s feminists in a temple of a pre-patriarchy goddess; Sanja Iveković’s work is located around the demolished 1926 memorial for Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht; and Danica Dakić’s Zenica triology uses the largest theatre of the former Yugoslavia to tell stores of people today. Tanja Ostojić’s Lexicon of Tanja Ostojić (2011-today) is an installation that connects the life journeys of women with the same name. Banu Cennetoğlu condenses her own art production, private daily life and political activism into one comprehensive video documentation. Mehtap Baydu develops a radical, physical duration performance; Regina José Galindo tackles the subject of violence against women in her works, mostly in public space, and Šejla Kamerić grapples with her own body, which serves as a surface for others’ projections.

Further significant locations are also hosting artworks in the exhibition. Thus, for example, Yael Bartana’s video work Tashlikh (2017) – the staging of a cleansing ritual in front of a background of traumatic experiences – will be screened in the Zeughauskino; and the Haus der Statistik on Alexanderplatz will become a place of artistic-historical confrontation with the era of 1989 to the present day: This is where works by Henrike Naumann, who deals with right-wing extremism in mainstream society in Tag X (2019), and Lola Arias (Audition for a Demonstration) (2019) will be hosted.

>> Exhibition<<  
Free Admission
26 October – 17 November
Mon – Fri: 4 – 10 p.m., Sat + Sun: 12 – 10 p.m.
Location: Maxim Gorki Theater, Palais am Festungsgraben, Zeughauskino, Haus der Statistik, Scotty e.V. 
Opening: 26 October, 8.30 pm

With Morehshin Allahyari, Chiara Baldini / Rafael Kozdron, Yael Bartana, Damian Le Bas, Delaine Le Bas, Mehtap Baydu, Luchezar Boyadjiev, Candice Breitz, Banu Cennetoğlu, Danica Dakić, Silvina Der Meguerditchian, Lea Draeger, Atom Egoyan, Regina José Galindo, Marta Górnicka, Anke Hannemann*, Sanja Iveković, Alfredo Jaar, Šejla Kamerić, Natasha A. Kelly, Grada Kilomba, Katarzyna Kozyra, Alanna Lockward, María Paula Maldonado*, Donna Miranda, Henrike Naumann, Julieta Ortiz de Latierro*, Tanja Ostojić, Ceylan Öztrük, Yael Peri*, Elena Quintarelli, Oliver Ressler / Martin Krenn, Larissa Sansour / Søren Lind, Farzane Vaziritabar*, Claire Waffel*, Ina Weise* among others
* Public Art and new Artistic Strategies (MFA) der Bauhaus-Universität Weimar

T H E A T R E 
An energetic programme connects feminism and resistance

What does it mean in the year 2019 to be a woman in societies that are shaped by sexism, racism and classism? The energetic, feminist theatre and performance programme positions itself against patriarchal ideas of nation and identity.
Five works for the stage will celebrate their Gorki premieres during the Herbstsalon – they all consider the world with a feminist perspective. In Jedem das Seine, Marta Górnicka tells of how the bodies of women are instrumentalised under fascism and reinvigorated nationalism. Author Sivan Ben Yishai and director Sasha Marianna Salzmann pursue the question of what traces serving the »fatherland« leaves in the bodies of women soldiers in Oder: Du verdienst deinen Krieg (Eight Soldiers Moonsick). With Rewitching Europe, Gorki resident director Yael Ronen develops perspectives of resistance and officially ends the patriarchy. Around its world premiere she curates a multi-day programme in the Goddess Temple in the Gorki Garten. This is where artists such as Daniel Cremer in The Miracle of Love, transport the audience into a queer utopia. And in the Berlin premiere of Hass-Triptychon – Wege aus der Krise (Direction: Ersan Mondtag), Sibylle Berg shows us our dystopian reality.

26.10., 19.30 Uhr, Bühne, Berliner Premiere  
Jedem das Seine 
Von Marta Górnicka unter Verwendung neuer Texte von Katja Brunner
Regie: Marta Górnicka  
Eine Produktion der Münchner Kammerspiele in Koproduktion mit dem Maxim Gorki Theater

26 October, 7:30 p.m., Mainstage, Berlin Premiere
Jedem das Seine
By Marta Górnicka, including new texts by Katja Brunner
Direction: Marta Górnicka
A Münchner Kammerspiele production, co-produced by the Maxim Gorki Theatre

26 October, 6 p.m., Studio Я, World Premiere
Oder: Du verdienst deinen Krieg (Eight Soldiers Moonsick)
By Sivan Ben Yishai
Direction: Sasha Marianna Salzmann

1 November, 8 p.m., Mainstage, World Premiere
Rewitching Europe
By Yael Ronen & Ensemble
Direction: Yael Ronen

1 November, 6 p.m., Goddess Temple, Berlin Premiere
The Miracle of Love / Das Wunder der Liebe
By and with Daniel Cremer
A production from the Künstlerhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt, co-produced by the Maxim Gorki Theatre and the Theater im Bauturm. A commission from the Frankfurter Positionen 2019, an initiative of the BHF-Bank Stiftung

17 November, 7:30 p.m., Mainstage, Berlin Premiere
Hass-Triptychon – Wege aus der Krise
A therapy in three panels by Sibylle Berg
Direction: Ersan Mondtag
A Maxim Gorki Theatre production, co-produced by the Wiener Festwochen

During the Herbstsalon, two productions directed by Oliver Frljić are appearing as guest performances: Imaginary Europe (Schauspiel Stuttgart, performance on 7 November, 8 p.m.), whose multi-lingual ensemble embarks on a quest to find a theatrical utopia, and Medea, a production from the Slovene National Theatre Maribor (8 November, 7:30 p.m.) that presents the ancient myth as an emancipatory experiment. Another guest performance is visiting from Warsaw: Malina, by and with Marta Malikowska (26–27 October).
The 4. Berliner Herbstsalon’s theatre programme will be rounded out with feminist-intersectional plays from the Gorki’s repertory, including Die Verlobung in St. Domingo – ein Widerspruch by Necati Öziri against Heinrich von Kleist, Stören by Suna Gürler & Ensemble, Common Ground by Yael Ronen & Ensemble and Tyskland by White on White. 

A C A D E M Y 
First edition including a »De-heimatize Belonging« conference and Young Curators Academy

Under the title De-heimatize Belonging, the conference that’s kicking off the Herbstsalon defines itself as a discursive intervention. The Young Curators Academy is a platform: by and for activists, theatre-makers, curators and other professionals active in the arts and culture, feminist and queer, working under difficult economic or political conditions around the world. They come from Morocco, Vietnam, Palestine, Senegal, Albania, USA, Cuba and Taiwan. In public events they’ll share their experiences with the audience.

>>> De-heimatize Belonging Conference <<<
25–27 October 2019
Location: Humboldt-Universität Berlin, Maxim Gorki Theater
Initiated by Shermin Langhoff, hosted by Bilgin Ayata (Universität Basel), Naika Foroutan, Damian Ghamlouche (HU Berlin), Julia Roth (Universität Bielefeld), Gabriele Dietze (HU Berlin), Emilia Roig (Center for Intersectional Justice), Rebecca Ajnwojner (Maxim Gorki Theater)
Programme and live stream available here

>>> Young Curators Academy <<<
26 October–4 November 
Launch: 26 October, from 8:30 p.m.With 35 young professionals in arts and culture from around the world
Public presentations in the Young Curators Academy Marathon on 26–28 October.
More here

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P R E S S

+    Tour for the press on 24 October, 11 a.m., Maxim Gorki Theatre

+    Opening on Saturday, 26 October 

• 6 p.m. Studio Я
  World premiere: Oder: Du verdienst Deinen Krieg (Eight Soldiers Moonsick)
• 7:30 p.m. Mainstage
  Berlin premiere: Jedem das Seine
• Followed by the opening of the exhibition.
  – with tours through the 4. Berliner Herbstsalon

Press Contact: 
Press Office Maxim Gorki Theatre: Xenia Sircar and Sonja Vogel 
presse@gorki.de, Tel.: +49 30 20221 355, +49 151 16254212

Denhart v. Harling (Visual Art): dh@segeband.de, Tel.: +49 179 4963497 

Press Photos
High-resolution press pictures can be found here

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The 4. Berliner Herbstsalon is funded by the Senate Department for Culture and Europe and the Schöpflin Foundation.
The Young Curators Academy is funded by the Capital Cultural Fund, the German Federal Foreign Office and the Allianz Kulturstiftung.
The De-heimatize Belonging conference is a project from the Maxim Gorki Theatre together with the Humboldt Unversität zu Berlin / Berlin Institute for Integration and Migration Research (BIM) as part of the 4. Berliner Herbstsalon in cooperation with the Center for Intersectional Justice funded by the Federal Agency for Civic Education.
Specific projects within the 4. Berliner Herbstsalon in cooperation with Kulturprojekte Berlin GmbH, Zeughauskino, Deutsches Historisches Museum and Bildmuseet, Umeå University, Sweden.