This weekend we recommend, among other things: Ezra Furman on stage, film music in the planetarium and Iranian art in the Kupferstichkabinett.
Forensic Architecture conducted research on the Nama and Herero genocide
An archive recording from what was then German South West Africa, mounted in a 3D modelHKW
The conference “The German Genocide in Namibia. A Case for Reparations” at HKW on Saturday deals with the genocide of the Nama and Herero, which German imperial troops committed between 1904 and 1908 in what was then German South-West Africa. The first results of the research carried out jointly by Forensic Architecture/Forensis and the Ovaherero/Ovambanderu Genocide Foundation at central sites of the German genocide in the area around the Waterberg will be presented. Eight videos show the first research phase from November 4th to 6th in the cloakroom foyer of the HKW. For this purpose, German archive recordings were mounted in 3D environment models. An accompanying program organized by ECCHR with representatives of the Ovaherero, Ovambanderu and Nama communities addresses the issue of reparations. Suntrue Lenz
Conference “The German Genocide in Namibia. A case for reparations” HKW, November 5, 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. You can find the entire program here.
In the Berlin Print Room: Farkhondeh Shahroudi’s Persian Lines
Tied bundles of Persian carpets lie in the large window storey in front of the hall door to the copper viewing cabinet. Signs of flight, of expulsion in Iran, which is ruled rigidly and brutally by the mullahs. A carpet hangs over the stairs like a banner, with letters sewn onto it: BECKMANN WAS NOT HERE. This sentence seems enigmatic, inside, in the exhibition, there is enlightenment.
Farkhondeh Shahroudi: Fight or embrace? From the series “Glossolalia”, 2008 to date, felt tip pen on paper. Piotr Pietrus/Courtesy of the artist
Farkhondeh Shahroudi has lived in exile in Berlin for years. Here her art was inspired primarily by the works of the expressionist human and landscape painter Max Beckmann, who fled Germany from the Nazis and died early in exile in New York. His life, his existential and metaphorical imagery are, so to speak, her point of reference; she corresponds with him in spirit as a draftswoman, with (female) figures falling into the deep space.
Shahroudi has just been awarded the Hannah Höch Promotional Prize by the city of Berlin, named after the great Berlin Dadaist together with the 90-year-old typewriter artist Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt, who was honored with the main prize for her life’s work (Berliner Zeitung reported on 1./ November 2). The joint exhibition by the two artists is about language, about visual and concrete poetry, about elective affinities beyond their own origins and about understanding between different cultures as such.
The works on paper by Shahroudi, who comes from Tehran, are equally lyrical and political. She weaves poems into her Persian lines, sews threads into language in the sculptures and textile collages. Words become images, symbols. In addition to the series of drawings dedicated to Max Beckmann, a language chain hangs from the museum ceiling, with “seed bombs” filled with flower seeds attached to it. The message to the mullahs in their former homeland is: sow love and peace instead of using violence! Ingeborg Ruthe
Kupferstichkabinett at the Kulturforum, until February 5, Tue–Fri 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Sat+Sun 11 a.m.–6 p.m.
Concert: Ezra Furman in the Festsaal Kreuzberg
Old white men play the blues rock neatly. And young queers make crazy bedroom hip-hop country avant-garde glitch-pop that nobody quite understands – except for a few billion teenagers on TikTok. So far, so wrong – because Ezra Furman messes everything up: The sounds of the Jewish bisexual trans woman (and mother) are something of old school rock ‘n’ roll that even fans of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen should nibble: Classic Great American songwriting has been delivering to Ezra Furman for many years.
Ezra Furman’s latest record, All Of Us Flames, already easily one of the best LPs of 2022, sounds like 1966’s Blonde On Blonde Bob Dylan had an inkling of what, thanks to an alien time machine Kate Bush would host with Hounds Of Love in 1985. The lyrics by Ezra Furman, however, should knock many nostalgics off their feet: The way she sings about how her queer girl gang has to strike sometimes when the queerphobic tribulation gets too bad – yes, retro chauvinists certainly don’t like to hear that. It’s sure to be a blast in the Festsaal Kreuzberg at Ezra Furman’s Berlin concert. Stefan Hochgesand
Festsaal Kreuzberg, Am Flutgraben 2, Sunday, November 6, 8:30 p.m., presale 26 euros.
Film music in the planetarium
Anyone who wants to mentally travel to other spheres is always in good hands in the planetarium, but especially this weekend. On Saturday, the visual journey to distant galaxies will be accompanied by well-known film soundtracks, opening up a whole new horizon of associations. You can hear music from “The Fabulous World of Amelie”, “The Godfather” and “Joker”, some of which fit not only atmospherically but also thematically to the odyssey into space: Superman is known to come from another planet and still often flies to one Detour into the dark expanses, his soundtrack will also be heard. And of course Hans Zimmer’s composition for “Dune”, which contributes decisively to the identity of the menacing desert planet. Claudia Reinhard
Henry Cavill als Superman in „Man of Steel“Warner
Cosmic Movie Melodies, Zeiss Planetarium, Saturday, November 5, 2022, 7:15 p.m., 60 minutes, from 10 years, admission 10-12 euros.
Grips-Theater: “From today your name is Sara” is back
It is a special piece for the Grips-Theater, which will be performed again this weekend in a restored version. 130,000 spectators have attended the main building on Hansaplatz since the premiere in 1989; it disappeared from the schedule when the corona pandemic broke out. It is also a special play for Berlin, yes for Germany, because the performances of “Ab today is your name Sara” was based on a book by Inge Deutschkron and persuaded the Jewish writer to return to Berlin. Before that, she had failed in her attempt to feel at home in the city of her childhood and youth. Inge Deutschkron (August 23, 1922 to March 9, 2022) survived the Holocaust in hiding, went to England after the war, worked as a journalist in the Federal Republic in the 1950s and 1960s until she decided to do so after experiencing anti-Semitism again to live in Israel.
Inge Deutschkron surrounded by Grips actressesDavid Baltzer|bildbuehne.de
Volker Ludwig and Detlef Michel had turned their book “I wore the yellow star” into a play that attracted a young audience, which meant many encounters between the author and the audience: conversations about freedom, hatred of Jews, dangers to democracy. Inge Deutschkron moved into an apartment in Berlin again and from then on went to almost all the premieres of Grip. After extensive rehearsals, with a restored stage design, prepared costumes, props and make-up, “From today your name is Sara” can now be seen again. The theater plays in memory of Inge Deutschkron, who had a kind of home here. Cornelia Geissler
revival premiere on November 4th, 7.30 p.m. Further performances: November 5th, 7.30 p.m., November 7th and 8th, 10 a.m. GRIPS Hansaplatz, Altonaer Strasse 22.