EUROPEAN MONTH OF PHOTOGRAPHY RETURNS WITH 100 EXHIBITIONS — WHAT NOT TO MISS

The European Month of Photography (EMOP) has every reason to celebrate: Germany’s largest photo festival is celebrating its 10th edition with over 100 exhibitions in Berlin and Potsdam. This year’s theme is “Touch”, and the program includes gallery shows, talks, panel discussions and guided tours. Events kick off this evening (02.03.2023) with the anniversary exhibition at the Amtsalon in Charlottenburg, with four floors of works by artists who have shaped how we see Berlin, including GDR photo giants Sibylle Bergemann and Helga Paris and up-and-coming artist Luise Marchand. Also recommended is tomorrow’s award ceremony, where the Käthe Kollwitz Prize will be given to Nan Goldin at the Akademie der Künste (03.03 from 20h). With her intimate 1980s portraits of the LGBTQ+ community, the American artist overcame pictorial boundaries. To mark the occasion, Goldin’s exhibition will be open until midnight, and we’re told there will be dancing after the ceremony!

The second large group show – Urgent Present – will open on Saturday (04.03). Held on Leipziger Straße, it features student works from a number of photography schools in Berlin and Potsdam. Many of the photos deal with the major crises of our time, not least the war in Ukraine. Continuing this topic, Ukrainian writer Yevgenia Belorusets and artist Tobias Zielony will discuss the creation of photography and literature in times of war (Sunday 05.03). Meanwhile at Villa Heike in Hohenschönhausen: the Chinese photo artist Cai Dongdong deals with the history of his home country through collages and image manipulation. Over at C/O Berlin you’ll find works by color photography pioneer William Eggleston that capture the carefree American dream with everyday scenes. Free of storytelling are the fleeting black-and-white photographs of the Belgian Dirk Braeckman, whose work gallery owner Thomas Fischer is showing in his gallery in Mitte and at Andreas Murkudis on Potsdamer Straße (from 10.03). Over in Charlottenburg, gallery owner Anahita Sadighi is inviting visitors to the KantGaragen to celebrate Iranian New Year (24.03) with Cast out of Heaven, an exhibition by photographer Hashem Shakeri that will act as a backdrop for Persian poems and performances.

Text: Laura Storfner / Photos: Ulrike Ottinger; Giulia Degasperi, HTW Berlin & Anastasia Samoylova

EMOP – European Month of Photography 02–31.03.2023

For the program and exhibition venues see here.

Amtsalon, Kantstr.79, 10627 Berlin–Charlottenburg; map

Touch, until 31.03, Tue–Sun 11–19h (opens 02.03 from 19h)

Talk by Yevgenia Belorusets & Tobias Zielony: “I’ve changed my mind.” Photography, Literature and War 05.03 15h

Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg 10, 10557 Berlin–Tiergarten; map

Nan Goldin receives the Käthe Kollwitz Prize, 03.03 from 20h (free admission, ticket required for the award ceremony)

EMOP Special c/o Leipziger Str.54, 10117 Berlin–Mitte; map

Urgent Present, 04.03–26.03, Mon–Fri 14–18h, Sat & Sun 14–18h (opens 04.03 from 19h)

Villa Heike, Freienwalder Str.17, 13055 Berlin–Alt-Hohenschönhausen; map

Obstacles: Cai Dongdong 02.03–02.04, Wed–Sat 14–18h (opens 02.03 from 17h)

C/O Berlin, Hardenbergstr.22–24, 10623 Berlin–Charlottenburg; map

William Eggleston: Mystery of the Ordinary until 04.05, daily 11–20h

Galerie Thomas Fischer, Mulackstr.14. 10119 Berlin–Mitte; map

Dirk Braeckman, 11.03–15.04, Thu–Sat 12–18h (opens 10.03 18–21h)

Andreas Murkudis, Potsdamer Str.98, 10785 Berlin–Tiergarten; map

Dirk Braeckman, 11.03–15.04, Wed–Sat 12–18h (opens 11.03 14–18h)

Anahita Contemporary c/o stilwerk KantGaragen, Kantstr.125, 10625 Berlin–Charlottenburg; map

Cast out of Heaven // رانده شده‌ها از بهشت,

02.03–01.04, Tue–Fri 11–19h & Sat 11–16h. Norouz New Year celebration 24.03 from 19h

@emopberlin
@amtsalon
@akademiederkuenste
@villaheike.berlin
@coberlin
@berlinartlover
@kulturprojekteberlin

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YOUTUBE YOGA AND TAIL-SWALLOWING SERPENTS — TEN DAYS OF DATA-DRIVEN MAGIC AT HAU

How do you rekindle the magic in a world of machine-made poetry, robot psychotherapists and crypto art? That’s the oh-so-relevant question dealt with at Spirits, Jinns & Avatars, a ten-day festival of performances and exhibitions starting at HAU today (02–12.03.2023). It’s all about finding so-called “strategies of (re)enchantment” or, in other words, how art can thrive in an AI-driven world. In one of the festival performances – Ouroboros – choreographer Adham Hafez approaches the art-tech puzzle by embracing robots wholeheartedly: he uses ChatGPT to create the script for a show about tail-swallowing serpents. Also letting AI do the talking is designer Nadezhda Bey, whose installation Data Death is on display at HAU2 during the festival. Bey’s virtual world deals with an often-ignored concern: what happens to all this data we’re creating when we no longer need it?

The magic reaches an eerie climax with Philippe Quesne’s performance of pianos, projections and props. The French director does away with actors entirely, instead employing skeletons and self-playing keyboards as his protagonists. You can combine Quesne’s piece with Mazaher, a concert which blends music with an ancient Arabic healing ritual. And finally: some more self-improvement in the form of Spiritual Boyfriends, a dance performance by Núria Guiu in which the choreographer performs yoga at the altar of the holiest of deities: YouTube stars. Jivamukti meets Justin Bieber? Welcome to the brave new world…

Text: Benji Haughton / Credit: HAU Hebbel am Ufer

Spirits, Jinns & Avatars (02–12.03.2023) – program takes place across all HAU venues. Tickets can be purchased online.

@hauberlin

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IDENTITY, HISTORY, RACE AND RITUAL — ART FROM ULYSSES JENKINS AT THE JULIA STOSCHEK FOUNDATION

Ulysses Jenkins defies definition. Although the US artist started out in the 1970s working on videos and film – early enough to earn him the title of pioneer – he didn’t limit himself to the form. For more than 50 years, Jenkins’ work has encompassed painting, performance, music video, documentary and collage, and yet almost no one knows him. As a black artist from Los Angeles, he remained excluded from public discourse – a victim of American suspicion towards multimedia art. Without Your Interpretation, a new retrospective of Jenkins’ work at the Julia Stoschek Foundation (following shows at the ICA Philadelphia and the Hammer Museum) is, in a way, a new beginning. As the accompanying short documentary by JJ Anderson records, co-curators Meg Onli and Erin Christovale collected documents, archive material and films in direct exchange with Jenkins over four years. The result is a comprehensive exhibition that pursues media criticism in a very contemporary way. In “Two-Zone Transfer” (1978), Jenkins interprets two of the best-known stereotypes attributed to black men in the USA: the singer and the preacher.

Jenkins has always been concerned with how media representations affect the self-image of African-Americans. In video collages such as the 23-minute “Inconsequential Doggereal” (1981), he shapes them into a narrative of his own formed by identity, history and rituals. Jenkins’ works are in direct dialog with more recent artists like Arthur Jafa, Martine Syms and Kahlil Joseph, and direct our gaze to a hitherto unnoticed artistic cosmos: Los Angeles from the 1960s to the 1980s. A comprehensive interview, in which co-curator Meg Onli explains the relationship between pop culture and black culture, is also worth checking out.

Text: Hanna Komornitzyk / Photos: Alwin Lay / Credit: Ulysses Jenkins

Julia Stoschek Foundation Berlin, Leipziger Str.60, 10117 Berlin–Mitte; map

Ulysses Jenkins: Without Your Interpretation runs until 30.07.2023

@juliastoschekfoundation

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ANNIE ERNAUX — NOBEL PRIZE WINNING AUTHOR’S BOOK “HAPPENING” ON STAGE AT THE BERLINER ENSEMBLE

Note: this feature contains references to abortion.

Hardly anyone has written as clearly about unwanted pregnancy as the French author Annie Ernaux: in her autobiographical novel Happening (“Das Ereignis”) the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature looks back to 1963, when abortion in France was still illegal. At that time, a young Annie becomes pregnant and realizes quickly that she will not be able to keep the child. She is the first from her working class family to make it to university, in Rouen. She is about to graduate and is certain that if she were to become a mother, her career would stall. Sober, frank and without self-pity, Ernaux recalls a time of doubt and searching. It is a journey that takes her from a “cowardly” doctor to a medic (an “angel”) who is willing to perform an abortion illegally. Ultimately, she ends up in a hospital emergency department. Now Laura Linnenbaum and Amely Joana Haag have adapted the story for the Berliner Ensemble. The production sees three actors – Nina Bruns, Pauline Knof and Kathrin Wehlisch – playing the part of Annie. Each portrays her in a different phase of her life: first as a young student, then as a woman living through an abortion and finally as an author who puts the experience to paper.

The three performances bolster each other. When one falters, another continues the script; they propel and animate each other to keep going. As unembellished as Ernaux’s writing is, the imagery the production devises for her inner turmoil is striking: under strobelights, the three women spread bags of dirt on the polished stage. They roll around in the mess and gradually dismantle the set, only to sweep everything clean again at the end and fix their hair as if nothing had happened. Annie’s isolation as she struggles against the indifference of the world is shown most strikingly in the quiet moments – especially when the three actresses join together to become the whole person. A brief add-on in the play – which otherwise remains close to the book – reminds us that in Germany abortions are not legal, but merely decriminalized. This legal insecurity was underscored when, last summer, the conservative-dominated U.S. Supreme Court overturned the nationwide right to abortion, shelving the Roe v. Wade ruling. These developments bring home just how shaky the right to female self-determination is, and just how important Ernaux’s narrative remains.

Text: Laura Storfner / Photos: JR Berliner Ensemble

Berliner Ensemble, Bertolt-Brecht-Platz 1, 10117 Berlin–Mitte; map

Happening (“Das Ereignis”) showing 13 & 14.03.2023 (sold out – box office tickets may be available) and 27 & 28.04.

@blnensemble

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A FEMINIST MASTERPIECE — SILENT GREEN SCREENS CHANTAL ACKERMANN’S 1975 FILM “JEANNE DIELMAN”

International Women’s Day celebrates female strength in all its facets, which is why it’s important to highlight the significant contributions women have made to art and culture. The folks at Silent Green Kulturquartier in Wedding agree: on 08.03.2022 they’ll be screening Chantal Ackermann’s 1975 film Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, a three-hour tour de force of cinematic modernism. The Belgian picture is a timeless example of the female artistic gaze and an important feminist work that subtly and poignantly shows the oppression of women. The story is told through the eyes of Jeanne Dielman, a single mother and sex worker living in Brussels and navigating her monotonous daily life. She takes care of the housework, cooks, cleans, takes care of her son and receives male visitors. One day, things take a dramatic turn. This award-winning classic influenced numerous directors and is an important contribution to feminist film history. A must-see for all film and feminism enthusiasts that makes for inspiring, thought-provoking viewing.

Text: Alison Musch / Photos: Collections CINEMATEK; Fondation Chantal Akerman

Silent Green, Gerichtstr.35, 13347 Berlin–Wedding, map
Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, 08.03.2023 at 19h. You can register here.

@silent.green

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EUROPEAN MONTH OF PHOTOGRAPHY RETURNS WITH 100 EXHIBITIONS — WHAT NOT TO MISS

YOUTUBE YOGA AND TAIL-SWALLOWING SERPENTS — TEN DAYS OF DATA-DRIVEN MAGIC AT HAU

IDENTITY, HISTORY, RACE AND RITUAL — ART FROM ULYSSES JENKINS AT THE JULIA STOSCHEK FOUNDATION

ANNIE ERNAUX — NOBEL PRIZE WINNING AUTHOR’S BOOK “HAPPENING” ON STAGE AT THE BERLINER ENSEMBLE

A FEMINIST MASTERPIECE — SILENT GREEN SCREENS CHANTAL ACKERMANN’S 1975 FILM “JEANNE DIELMAN”