Dark, cool and powerful, the water tower looms above Prenzlauer Berg. A monumental yet down-to-earth building that looks as if it has always been there. It was the city’s first water tower, it saw the First and Second World Wars, the GDR, the fall of communism. It was a coal depot, hiding place, refuge, living space. The complexity of its history is embedded in its walls. It’s no wonder the tower and its past have inspired a whole festival. Framed Fest is the title of the festival’s first edition, which will take place in the tower from 19.–28.07.2024. The program is dynamic with concerts, performances, workshops and a poetry exhibition curated by Noam Gal. Central to the festival are musicians such as Keren Ann and Roni Alter, Sophy Soulvau, Marcin Masecki, Yael Nachshon Levin and Sebastian Studnitzki with dancers and choreographers Sally Cowdin, Annick Schadeck, Natalia P, Sally Cowdin, Annick Schadeck, Natalia Palshina, Giorgia Bovo, Yuya Fujinami and Tong Xiaoyi, who have been commissioned by Framed Fest to create one-hour performances. The performances feature extraordinary duets of dance and music created specifically for the festival and will be performed there for the first time ever.

To break down barriers between artists and the audience, the doors of the water tower will be open between 12-16h, and visitors invited to walk through the exhibition and listen to the rehearsals of the international performers. Attentive listening, giving and taking are also at the forefront of the poetry exhibition with the beautiful title “Addresses”. The art of creation and the creation of art — this is how the circle is completed in the round tower.

Text: Alina Herbel / Photos: Amit Israeli, Élodie Martial, Katha Mau

Framed Fest
19.–28.07.2024. Find the full program and tickets here.

@framedberlin

In times of political and social upheaval, it’s worth looking at the past. One of Berlin’s most important institutions for education and remembrance of flight, expulsion and forced migration is the Documentation Center for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation at Anhalter Bahnhof. Guided tours, workshops and events take place regularly in the building, which houses a library with a witness archive and a Room of Silence. The musical reading of “Großonkel Pauls Geigenbogen” on 10.06.2024 (19h), where musician and civil rights activist Romeo Franz will talk about his family’s life since the end of the 19th century together with author Alexandra Senfft, is one of these events. The book presentation will be accompanied musically by Franz’s son and his Sunny Franz Duo (violin & guitar).

The evening will tell a story of Prussia and Nazi Germany, full of meticulous historical research and family memories, including the self-determined history of the European Sinti and Roma — a story that is rarely told, like so many. Incidentally, the Documentation Center will be collecting a few of the otherwise unheard present day biographical stories until mid-October in the current special exhibition “Becoming Who You Are – Studying Despite Displacement,” which uses personal stories of flight to show how much education gives hope for a better future — just like the Documentation Center’s program.

Text: Alina Herbel / Photos: DokZ

Documentation Center for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation, Stresemannstr.90, 10963 Berlin–Mitte, map

@flverver