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ON THE TRAIL OF MODERNISM: THE JEWISH MUSEUM BERLIN REMEMBERS FORGOTTEN FEMALE DESIGNERS
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ON THE TRAIL OF MODERNISM: THE JEWISH MUSEUM BERLIN REMEMBERS FORGOTTEN FEMALE DESIGNERS

What connects Friedl Dicker and Maria Luiko? Both were successful Jewish female artists among the most respected talents of the 1920s and 1930s. Dicker was born in Vienna and studied at the Bauhaus in Weimar before making a name for herself as an interior designer. Luiko came from Munich and regularly exhibited there as an artist. Her work was diverse — she illustrated books for writer Ernst Toller and designed theater puppets. Today, their work is known to few. Their lives and careers came to an end at the hands of the National Socialists. Dicker was murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp, and Luiko in Fort IX in Kaunas. In a comprehensive group exhibition, the Jewish Museum Berlin commemorates the pair, along with over 60 other Jewish craftswomen, designers, and painters who paved the way for subsequent generations as pioneers in their disciplines.

Silversmith Emmy Roth was one of the first women in Germany to pass the master craftsman’s examination in the male-dominated field. Her tea and coffee pots are so elegant and minimalist that they could still be used in Berlin cafés today. Children’s book author and painter Tom Seidmann-Freud, niece of Sigmund Freud, was part of the dazzling artistic scene around the Romanisches Café in Charlottenburg and created fairy tales so expressionistically that they still inspire adults today. Curator Michal Friedlander traces their lives with an eye for detail and a wealth of knowledge. We get to know women who fought against social conventions, were politically active, and unwaveringly pursued their art and life dreams. In addition to well-known figures such as textile artist and Bauhaus teacher Anni Albers, it’s the women of the so-called “lost generation” who can be rediscovered today (10.07.) at 17h in the Jewish Museum Berlin to music by the Balagan Sisters. So that names like Friedl Dicker and Maria Luiko do not remain unknown in the future.

Text: Laura Storfner / Photos: Jens Ziehe / Credit: Emmy Roth, Kaffee- und Teeservice, Berlin 1931, Silber, getrieben; Horn; Jüdisches Museum Berlin, Inv.-Nr. 2010/143/0; Western Regional Archives, State Archives of North Carolina; Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg

Jewish Museum Berlin, Lindenstr.9-14, 10969 Berlin-Kreuzberg: map

“Defiance. Jewish Women and Design in the Modern Era” 11.07.–23.11.2025. Opening Thu 10.07. from 19h  (exhibition open from 17h), free admission on the opening night.

@juedischesmuseumberlin

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POWER, MORALITY & THE COLLAPSE OF A FAMILY — THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG, NOW ON MUBI
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POWER, MORALITY & THE COLLAPSE OF A FAMILY — THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG, NOW ON MUBI

A film about power, morality, and family disintegration. Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig portrays how political repression penetrates the very heart of society. Now and then, it overcomes me — usually creeping in in the morning, tightening its grip in the afternoon, and arriving in full force by evening — the longing for a truly great film. Anyone familiar with that feeling will know the small but nagging follow-up question: What should I watch? Lucky are those who have a Mubi subscription right now and haven’t yet seen Mohammad Rasoulof’s Oscar-nominated masterpiece The Seed of the Sacred Fig, which is currently available on the platform. Shot in utmost secrecy, the film tells the story of Iman (Missagh Zareh), a devout lawyer appointed as an investigating judge at the Revolutionary Court during the 2022 protests in Iran.

At first glance, it seems to be a promotion, but it quickly reveals a moral abyss. He is expected to sign off on death sentences without knowing the names or charges involved. While the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement gains strength outside, tensions rise within Iman’s family. His daughters, Rezvan (Mahsa Rostami) and Sana (Setareh Maleki), grow increasingly sympathetic to the protests, while his wife, Najmeh (Soheila Golestani), tries to hold the family together. When Iman’s service weapon goes missing, the already fragile family dynamic tips. Mistrust becomes suspicion. Control turns to violence. The family flees to the countryside, but even there, the pressure doesn’t ease. What unfolds is an intense chamber drama that exposes how authoritarian violence creeps into the most intimate spaces. Rasoulof uses deliberately sparse, powerful imagery to portray the inner disintegration of a man torn between power and guilt, faith and reality. The sacred fig symbolizes a regime whose roots reach into every aspect of life. The Seeds of the Sacred Fig captivates with outstanding performances and a keen visual sensibility. It’s real cinema and the perfect film for a cool summer night, when all you want is to sink into the sofa for three hours and let yourself be carried away by the sheer power of storytelling.

Text: Hilka Dirks / Stills: The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Mubi 

The Seed of the Sacred Fig Tree

You can try Mubi free for 30 days via this link.

@mubideutschland

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BERLINISCHE GALERIE TURNS 50 — EVERYONE’S INVITED
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BERLINISCHE GALERIE TURNS 50 — EVERYONE’S INVITED

The Berlinische Galerie is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and it’s doing so all summer long. Cee Cee readers will already know the BG Summer Festival is in full swing, with workshops, performances, exhibition openings (like the one tonight, 10.07.2025 at 19h), and plenty of festivities. This Sunday, 13.07.2025, the celebrations will reach their peak with the festival’s main event: a full day of art, music, and making. Inside the museum, guided tours led by curators offer fresh perspectives on familiar works, from feminist icon Hannah Höch to the architectural treasures in the collection, and even the museum’s history. Prefer doing over listening? Outside, hands-on activities await. Water painting on asphalt, a pop-up photo studio, textile art under the poetic title “What Does the Dandelion Dream Of?”, plus open woodcut and screen printing workshops.

Between it all are concerts by the KiezChor with beloved 80s and 90s hits, conversations with school students on Berlin’s art history, and a performance by collectif blitzbereit, who pick up on the movements of museumgoers and turn them playfully upside down. The new exhibition opening today will be open and free to all. “Staged Self” presents Marta Astfalck-Vietz’s photographic stagings, blurring role play with the joy of experimentation. In “Hero”, Monira Al Qadiri explores the fossil fuel oil and its geopolitical dimensions, with large-scale murals, videos, and sculptural installations. And outside? Drinks, street food, sunshine, and, of course, birthday cake. Because what’s a party without it? Happy birthday, dear BG!

Text: Inga Krumme / Photos: Thi Thuy Nhi Tran

Berlinische Galerie, Alte Jakobstr.124–128, 10969 Berlin–Kreuzberg; Stadtplan

@berlinischegalerie

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ART IN A STATE OF TRANCE: BÖHLER & ORENDT TRANSFORM SPREEPARK
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ART IN A STATE OF TRANCE: BÖHLER & ORENDT TRANSFORM SPREEPARK

What does it feel like to become immersed in someone else’s dream? Artist duo Böhler & Orendt takes this question for their new exhibition Böhler & Orendt – Doom Snoozers at Spreepark Art Space, opening Sunday (13.07.2025). At the invitation of curator Ellen Blumenstein, they’ve created an installation where visitors become sleepwalkers. Jill – a virtual dormouse – takes us by the paw and leads us through surreal dreamscapes, much like Alice’s White Rabbit. Jill’s voice functions as an audio guide, accompanying us through a course that shifts between dark sci-fi moods and wonderland-like fantasies. Space and time dissolve, categories blur. What interests Böhler & Orendt is what emerges from the longing that lies between human and nature, culture and imagination.

The immersive experience begins with a series of drawings, prints, and sculptures – some created specifically for the Spreepark Art Space. The exhibition floats between dream and reality, and also between analog and digital. With this project, the duo shows a first glimpse of their upcoming video installation Towards Humanity!, which will become a permanent feature at the grand reopening of Spreepark in 2027. Here too, Böhler & Orendt will follow dream logic, bringing the park’s trees to life and letting nature speak through screens. But before that, let’s follow Jill’s voice and walk with her through floating castles and endless possibilities.

Text: Laura Storfner / Credit: Spreepark Art Space; Böhler & Orendt

Spreepark Art Space, Kiehnwerder Allee 2, 12437 Berlin–Treptow; map

Böhler & Orendt – Doom Snoozers 13.07.–02.11.2025

@spreeparkartspace
@boehlerorendt

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ART IN DIALOG: THE BERLINISCHE GALERIE OPENS MONIRA AL QADIRI & MARTA ASTFALCK-VIETZ
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ART IN DIALOG: THE BERLINISCHE GALERIE OPENS MONIRA AL QADIRI & MARTA ASTFALCK-VIETZ

What separates and what connects two artistic positions when almost a century lies between them? In the double opening of the Berlinische Galerie, the staging of supposedly invisible stories meets the big stage of the present. Model, photographer, and director Marta Astfalck-Vietz could do it all. In the dazzling and turbulent 1920s, she created a body of work in which self-staging was the central motif, without the works revolving around her alone. Female identity, gender roles, and stereotypes are central themes in her artistic practice. To this end, she stages herself and others, with sequins, wigs, or without any clothes at all. Sometimes sensitive and thought-provoking, often humorous and raunchy. “Staged Self” is the name of the show, and the title fits. On display are her photos, including those from her long-standing friendship and collaboration with Heinz Hajek-Halke, her lesser-known watercolors of plants, and selected photographs of contemporaries. On the same evening, “Hero”, Monira Al Qadiri‘s exhibition about her long-standing engagement with the global oil industry, will open.

Al Qadiri developed a site-specific installation for the Berlinische Galerie, consisting of a large mural, objects, and video. In it, oil tankers become floating representatives of the oil industry and its toxic legacy. The Kuwaiti artist works in speculative scenarios inspired by science fiction, pop culture, and her biography. Both openings are part of the BG Summer Festival, the Berlinische Galerie’s summer-long birthday celebration. There will be speeches, followed by DJ Nomi. A double kick-off that turns the BG into a space for bodies, images, and stories that want to be heard.

Text: Inga Krumme / Photo: Thi Thuy Nhi Tran / Credits: Marta Astfalck-Vietz, Ohne Titel, Kameradschaftsehe um 1930; Monira Al Qadiri, SS Murex 2023

Berlinische Galerie, Alte Jakobstr.124–128, 10969 Berlin–Kreuzberg; map
Marta Astfalck-Vieltz & Monira Al Qadiri Opening 10.07.2025 19h

Performances, concerts, and readings will take place on the Museumsplatz of the Berlinische Galerie until September 2025. Find the full program of the “BG Summer Festival” here.

@berlinischegalerie

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