With its sandstone blocks and towering columns, the Humboldt Forum seems solid and static. But head to Berlin’s newest super-museum this Saturday (09.10.2021) and you’ll find it buzzing with movement. The reason is Moving the Forum, a series of interactive performances taking place in and around the building over the coming year. This day of dance – named Approaching – is the first of four movement-based interventions where your active participation is encouraged. You join the artists as they walk, run and snake their way through the Forum, offering critical commentary as they go. For the “Listening Bodies” audio walk, you accompany three performers for an hour-long journey of sound that deals with the site’s controversial history – including the demolition of the GDR-era Palast der Republik that its construction necessitated. “This is not a Game”, meanwhile, sees 32 students from the Robert Blum Gymnasium team up with four artists to express how they – as children of the 21st century – relate to this resurrected Prussian palace. The critical gaze is even more intense with “Restless Objects”, where you watch three performers removing contentious ancient artifacts that were taken from foreign lands and now find themselves on show. The suggestion of the artists is clear: the Humboldt Forum and its collections are not quite as immovable as all the concrete and stone suggests…
Text: Benji Haughton / Credit: Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss / Photos: David von Becker
Humboldt Forum, Schloßplatz, 10178 Berlin–Mitte; map
Approaching, 09.10.2021 16–21h – part of the Moving the Forum series of dance events. Admission is free of charge.
@humboldtforum
