AT SILENT GREEN: A WEEKEND OF FEMALE EMPOWERMENT

After launching in 2019, Female to Empower is back this weekend at Silent Green for its third edition, diving deep into musical improvisation and exploring its influence on artistic and social emancipation over the last five decades. From free jazz and experimental improvised music to DIY punk culture and electronic beats, the festival looks at how improvisation has played a pivotal role in shaping the narrative of female musicians in a male-dominated industry. Among the featured artists are post-punk icons Gina Birch and Lesley Woods, renowned improvising musicians Farida Amador and Violeta García, transdisciplinary sound artists Elsa M’bala aka AMET and Ale Hop, as well as the avant-garde electronic trio Contagious. To paint as comprehensive a picture as possible, Female to Empower brings together musicians, all-female bands, and network activists from different generations and diverse musical milieus. Panels and talks, live concerts, and a documentary film program delve deep into the biographies and working worlds of the musicians involved. Don’t worry about snacks and drinks; Mars is the restaurant bar of Silent Green, which serves delicious seasonal dishes and cocktails and is open all evening. On Sunday they also offer their weekly Moules Frites night. You can still find tickets for both days, but don’t wait too long!

Text: Kate Foran / Photos: Vera Marmelo, Outernational Berlin & Enid Valu

Silent Green, Gerichtstr.35, 13347 Berlin–Wedding; map
Female to Empower 2023 14.–15.10.2023

@silent.green

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Restaurants

MAIYARAP — AUTHENTIC THAI NOODLE SOUPS ON ORANIENSTRASSE

If you’ve already shifted into fall mode and just want to lie under the covers all day, then it’s the season for warm soups again. And there’s currently no better place for that than Maiyarap on Oranienstraße. Since the end of July 2023, Don, who you may already know from Tossakan, has been serving Thai noodle soups here. At Maiyarap, things are a little different, but there’s one thing both places have in common: Don’s curiosity and willingness to experiment in the kitchen. How does it all taste? The best way to find out for yourself is to try one of his six “Gieuw Tiew” noodle soups. Whether with tofu, chicken leg or beef rib, each soup is served with homemade broth, fresh Thai herbs and rice ribbon noodles and delivers on texture, taste – and spiciness! For the latter, you can decide for yourself what you’re comfortable with – from not spicy to Thai spicy, it’s all there. At Don’s, soups also lend inspiration to creative beverages. For example, the “Tom Kha Sour” cocktail, based on Tom Kha soup (obviously) – a refreshing cocktail with rum, coconut milk, lemongrass, chili and coriander.

For delicious non-alcoholic options, there’s a selection of “home mades”: for example, the Cha Manao, a black tea from Thailand with sugar and lime, or the Nam Manao, a lemonade made with soda, lime and mint. And even those who aren’t in the mood for soup will get their money’s worth here with the small dishes: Steamed and deep-fried dumplings, corn patties and crispy pork belly (the absolute No.1 – next to Don and the noodle soups). One thing Don and I agree on is that the best dishes are often created late in the evening in the kitchen, when there’s not much left in the fridge, but our appetite is bigger than ever. Improvising has taught him to make a lot out of a little. We’re not talking about fine dining here, but food that reminds you of good home cooking. And so, in his noodle bar, come the most delicious soups, which make the cold days not only bearable, but one more reason to go out.

Text & Photos: Robyn Steffen

Maiyarap, Oranienstr.200, 10999 Berlin–Kreuzberg; map
Mon–Thu 12–15h, 17–22h, Fr–So 12–22h

@maiyarapberlin

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Activities

INTO THE WOODS — ON THE TRAIL OF MUSHROOMS IN THE MIDDLE OF BERLIN’S FORESTS

At the end of September 2023 we were able to accompany Moritz from “Into the Woods” on one of his mushroom collecting workshops southeast of Berlin. The location was communicated to us only a few days before the workshop. We had high expectations – and the excitement and anticipation were even higher. You won’t read anything here about richly laden baskets full of chestnuts, porcini, red caps or chanterelles – because the light autumn rain in the last few days has done quite little for the forest floor after 6 weeks of drought and summer heat. As contradictory as it may sound, that is not what this mushroom workshop is mainly about. Moritz worked successfully in commercial photography until a few years ago, before he made the decision to devote himself entirely to his passion – the forest and its creatures, and especially the world of mushrooms. And he wants to share this knowledge with everyone in his workshops. How can you identify mushrooms by the trees or soil conditions under which they grow? How do fungal spores behave and what exactly is a mycelium? In turn, what does this have to do with the Tokyo subway system? Moritz’s wealth of knowledge seems to be immeasurable and so he has an exciting anecdote to tell about every find, whether inedible or edible mushroom.

In addition to a mushroom basket and a knife, you will need a lot of patience and calm. With awareness exercises we left the daily routine behind us together with Moritz and discovered the silence and beauty of the forest. By the way, Moritz is not only a professional mushroom picker, but also a professional forest bather, called “Shinrin Yoku” – he also offers regular workshops for forest bathing. After a few hours in the forest, stocked with a variety of mushrooms, a delicious curly hen, colorful leaves, special lichens and berries, Moritz invited us to enjoy homemade onion tart, hawk mushroom, sourdough bread with porcini butter and coffee on his garden terrace. To conclude our workshop, we spread out our collected treasures on a large cardboard – Moritz snapped a photo as a souvenir. Whether it’s a mushroom picking workshop, forest bathing or retreat in Brandenburg, Moritz’s passion not only makes the activities fun, but you’ll also go home with plenty of new knowledge!

Text: Laura Luisa Iriondo / Photos: Moritz Schmid

Into the Woods
The next mushroom collecting workshops take place on 22.10. and 05.11.2023. You can book your spot here.

@intothewoods_mushrooms

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Guests, Culture

ROSE-COLORED STORMS: KATHARINA ZIEMKE’S EXHIBITION UNWETTER AT HUMBOLDT UNIVERSITY — RECOMMENDED BY TINA ROEDER

Images from disaster zones reach us daily in the news, mostly on our smartphones. They burn themselves into our collective eye. Pictures of pictures of catastrophes can now be seen at the Humboldt University in Berlin. In her exhibition there, “Unwetter,” painter Katharina Ziemke presents a series of oil and watercolor paintings that are beautiful and terrible at the same time. Dreamlike catastrophic: pink palm trees fanning in the strong wind or devastation and streams of water becoming ornaments. Wind and water become whiplashes. An aesthetic approach to climate change and at the same time a wake-up call. Katharina Ziemke pursues various forms of artistic practices such as performance, video art and theater, using science as material for her work. The videos on view in the exhibition are also performed by the artist as live painting performances. She already did this in a similar way at the Schaubühne for the production of Thomas Ostermeier’s “Professor Bernhardi.” It was precisely this collaboration that inspired her methodology of “performing” watercolor paintings before the public, where time plays an important role and the process is recorded. Transience is inherent in the work, after they are created, they are wiped away. Quite as mercilessly as storms do. A poetic contemplation, the climate crisis as a burning issue before the eyes, in a place of knowledge and research.

Tina Roeder is a designer, artist and curator in Berlin. A highlight of this year’s Gallery Weekend was her exhibition “Conceptual Substance” at Eternithaus. She is currently initiating the interdisciplinary talk series “Conceptual Conversations”, where conceptual practices and projects are presented and new synergies are woven.

Text: Tina Roeder / Credits: Katharina Ziemke

Exhibition “Unwetter” at Lichthof Ost of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10117 Berlin–Mitte; map

Mon–Fri 09–21h, Sat 09–17h. The exhibition runs until 10.11.2023.

@katharina_ziemke
@tinasroeder

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Events, Shops

RECORD POP-UP AND ARCHIVE SALE — FROM VINYL RECORDS, MAGAZINES AND T-SHIRTS TO EVENTS

Buying a music magazine? Sounds a bit like a relic of the nineties. After all, today, with streaming services calculating our tastes, emerging music talent reaches us almost by accident. But maybe you want to learn more about the people who produce your favorite tunes. Maybe you feel that having printed material between your fingers is a true luxury – and reading time is an escape. Or are you simply a vinyl fan? Well, Record Magazine might be something for you. Founded in 2016 in New York City, Record Magazine is a bi-annual print publication featuring long-format interviews and sophisticated photos of musicians and music aficionados, taken in their homes and studios. You can immerse yourself in and feel inspired by the lives of others. Responsible for the content is Karl Henkell, who moved to Kreuzberg in 2021, and now the magazine is also making a stop here, so to speak, and is hosting a pop-up in the middle of Neukölln. Of course you can also take the magazine itself with you – you can browse through the previous issues and if you belong to the true fan circle (or will soon), grab a few treasures, from the obligatory tote bag (of course) to the hoodie or the “Record x Spaghetti Rug”, which could become the perfect accessory in your living room. For all vinyl fans, records from Tom of England and Bell Towers and books from Public Possession, Efficient Space, Terraforma and Bar Part-Time await you. But most of all, of course, the pop-up is an opportunity to get in touch with other people in real life and socialize. For this purpose, there will also be events in the coming weeks that you shouldn’t miss: DJ sessions, including drinks from Bar Sway, Café Pop-Ups, film screenings and much more. Plus, we already know: There’s sure to be some good music going on.

Text: Mary Linh Tran / Photos: Hayley Morgan

Record Pop-up Shop + Archive Sale, Ossastr.1, 12045 Berlin–Neukölln; map
22.09–10.11.2023, Mon – Sat 11–19h.

@record_berlin

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Language

AT SILENT GREEN: A WEEKEND OF FEMALE EMPOWERMENT

MAIYARAP — AUTHENTIC THAI NOODLE SOUPS ON ORANIENSTRASSE

INTO THE WOODS — ON THE TRAIL OF MUSHROOMS IN THE MIDDLE OF BERLIN’S FORESTS

ROSE-COLORED STORMS: KATHARINA ZIEMKE’S EXHIBITION UNWETTER AT HUMBOLDT UNIVERSITY — RECOMMENDED BY TINA ROEDER

RECORD POP-UP AND ARCHIVE SALE — FROM VINYL RECORDS, MAGAZINES AND T-SHIRTS TO EVENTS