english »Ich bin ein Berliner« (I am a Berliner). Thousands are officially denied the right to use this very phrase we so gladly heard from JFK. And some people don’t want to say it, they are Berliners against their will, because another »I am a ...« was denied them, through war, genocide, economic desperation, hunger and terror. 25 years after the fall of the concrete wall, Berlin is still divided: by a wall of paper that splits the city’s population into Citizens and Non-Citizens. After the 1st Berliner Herbstsalon 2013 addressed questions of identity, nation and origin when the Gorki opened, the second Berliner Herbstsalon will continue that line of inquiry in the current context of refugees fleeing to Berlin and the resulting questions for the city’s population. Berlin is a city of immigrants that has grown through and with the people who have fled here. The current debates, however, try to persuade us that this is an exceptional state of affairs, a historically unique situation, that »forces« us to differentiate, in increasingly ludicrous ways, between apparently obligatory and unnecessary, historically-justified and politically-undesired, between »good« and »bad« refugees. And yet the new arrivals are always, from the first day of their Berlin biography, part of this city’s population and will change this country in the years to come. For two weeks the Gorki is offering international artists and theatremakers, many of whom live in Berlin, a platform to present both old and new works on this subject. Danica Dakić is coming with her entire master class of 20 young international artists to develop interventions on site. Nevin Aladağ, bankleer, Alfredo Jaar, Daniel Knorr, Emeka Ogboh and many more artists are producing new works for the Herbstsalon, some involving members of our ensemble. The Center for Political Beauty reflects through video documentation and lecture performances on both their actions First Fall of the European Wall and The Dead are coming, metroZones works with audience, experts and artists to develop a mapping for the city in the context of fleeing. The theatre groups Hajusom and Refugee Club Impulse, founded by young refugees, are coming with guest performances. The theatre, the Palais am Festungsgraben and the historic area around the Gorki will become an arena for artistic engagement: An exhibition, interventions, performances and debates address the borders tearing the populations of Berlin and Europe apart. Admission is free for almost all events. Parallel to the exhibition, Sebastian Nübling’s theatre collage will be presented every night in the emptied hall of the Gorki. Based on the texts Die Schutzbefohlenen (The Supplicants) by Elfriede Jelinek and Die Schutzflehenden (The Suppliants) by Aeschylus, Nübling —together with Lars Wittershagen, Ludwig Haugk and a multilingual ensemble—has attempted to reveal the relationship between the tragedies in the Mediterranean, and our politics and mindsets. In our name refugees are detained at Europe’s borders every day, and in our name judgement is passed on the living conditions of the people who come to us in need. But who may presume to pass judgement on others’ right to exist? Why is it that the European values of »freedom« and »self-determination« can only apply to a few, and that on a continent, which celebrates the right to choose a place of residence and work, people can be held in camps and their food rationed? Refugees have brought these questions into the heart of the capital city of Berlin and they remain unanswered. The refugee movement raises questions about humanism and dignity, participation and representation, which affect all of us and our social coexistence. Beyond paternalistic gestures a political movement of refugees has emerged that will no longer accept this expropriation, in the sense of losing all social and symbolic references. Berlin is a city whose inhabitants have had to experience these losses again and again in
different dimensions. And yet, little solidarity exists between the previous »dispossessed« and those of today. On the contrary, we’re currently experiencing a stratification and categorization of refugees into »good« and »evil«, »justified« and »superfluous«, »useful« and »useless«. The opposite of expropriation, however, is appropriation. Appropriation of space and place, appropriation of social opportunities and appropriation of survival strategies. The person who is not given a place, must take one. In the 2nd Berliner Herbstsalon, the exhibition We will rise documents the empowerment of refugees in Berlin. In addition, informational evenings, peer-to-peer exchanges and knowledge markets will be presented as approaches for legalizing criminalised knowledge. Curated by Grada Kilomba, KOSMOS² is a test series from the Gorki for this purpose, which also formally investigates new performative means for the dissemination of knowledge. One of the constant observers of the refugee protests has been Oliver Feldhaus. For years the photographer has accompanied the struggle for rights, space and the other things we take for granted, but have been denied to refugees in Berlin. He has compiled a selection of his pictures for this magazine. With the website refugee-report.de, activists have found a simple and effective way to give refugees the opportunity to express themselves. This magazine quotes a small part of the reports that can be found on the website as both sound documents and transcripts. Both Feldhaus’ pictures and the statements on refugee-report.de give refugees voices and faces. Perhaps this is the first step towards understanding politics as a personal matter. The 2nd Berliner Herbstsalon investigates how solidarity movements can turn into political action and what art and theatre can accomplish in this context. We’re not activists, we’re not the affected parties, we’re not politicians, but we can create a platform where interactions take place, cross-genre exchange is possible and political debate is initiated, in which a division between »them« and »we« is overcome. Therefore, the Herbstsalon considers itself to be a two-week performance. It is an attempt to appropriate the space for a temporary ideal public: watching, thinking and speaking as a communal experience. A place for encounters between diverse theatre-makers and artists, spectators, politicians and activists. We would like to thank all participants and supporters for their cooperation in solidarity, as well as our colleague Erden Kosova for inspiration above and beyond the 1st Herbstsalon. We cordially invite you to the 2nd Berliner Herbstsalon that we’ve organized for our city. Welcome to Berlin! Welcome to the Gorki! Shermin Langhoff with Aljoscha Begrich, Çağla İlk, Antje Weitzel and many more
Eröffnung / Opening 13. November 2015, 18:00 Uhr Geöffnet / Open Fr/Sa, 14:00–24:00 Uhr; So–Do, 14:00–20:00 Uhr Orte / Venues Maxim Gorki Theater, Palais am Festungsgraben und Umgebung / surroundings EINTRITT FREI / FREE ENTRY außer bei der Inszenierung von In unserem Namen und Gastspielen Weitere Informationen / further information www.gorki.de 2. BERLINER HERBSTSALON
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