It’s a different vision of a festival and exhibition, one that bubbles up from the Kiez instead of being collected in modern palaces. For the next few days, artists from the Berlin neighborhood around Kottbusser Tor will reveal their self-image in communities in exile for “The Cities Wrapped Around Our Bodies.”
All of this comes at a charged time for Berlin, to say nothing of Germany and the world. As I write this, the Bundesrepublik is abuzz with speculation about whether the firewall between governing parties and the far-right AfD (now endorsed by Elon Musk) will fall over migration policy. Even that discussion seems to fall short: various versions of anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, and anti-Arab discourse have become commonplace across all parties; SPD’s Scholz called for mass deportations back in October 2023. Silencing of Palestinian solidarity and criticism of genocide has led groups like Strike Germany to boycott cultural events, including the cornerstone of Berlin’s cultural diplomacy, the Berlinale film festival.
But let’s return to the level of the neighborhood. Kreuzberg and Kottbusser Tor have seen it all, from British bombs to the nearby Berlin Wall. Nearer Moritzplatz is the “stumbling block” memorial for Leo Adler, the Polish Jew who was in the first wave of deportations in the Holocaust. (There are more on my street – a daily reminder of this history, of communities and the echo of Yiddish lost forever, and a sobering reminder that talk of mass deportations should have ominous overtones here.) Turkish migrant labor, among other waves of immigrants, rebuilt the neighborhood and birthed a unique hip-hop form. It’s been home to wave after wave of protest and community organizing – a line in the sand against racism and a struggle for housing. (See research on the Kotti & Co. movement.) Palestinian solidarity marches often crisscross this neighborhood. And the police push back, too, in potentially alarming ways, as with a new police hub.
Above: Tracey Snelling, KitKat, (photograph, sculpture) 2024, (courtesy of the artist, collection of Kirsten Krüger).
These waves of immigration continue. Kreuzberg is the home and workspace of exiled artists from Syria to Ukraine, many of our friends and colleagues among them. For this event, rather than appearing in the context of some larger German institution, artists from this neighborhood frame their own representation for a multi-day festival called The Cities Wrapped Around Our Bodies. As the organizers put it:
TCWAOB, Directed and curated by Rick Gerardus, will feature hybrid digital-analog installations, film screenings, photography, sculptures, video art, and live music—exploring the local soundscape, giving spaces of expression to artists’ communities in exile and such that have grown from the neighborhood. We engage with themes of Kreuzberg’s history, self-representation, digital data bodies, counter-surveillance and cultural labor amidst war and under authoritarianism. We invite you and your audience to join us in Kunstquartier Bethanien, Studio 1 (Mariannenplatz 2, 10997 Berlin).
On Saturday, the live performance will include live performances by Dhia Douss, Qusay Awad, and Rand Abou Fakher. Let’s listen to them introduce their project:
It’s a different project, but it’s worth your time to listen to Qusay Awad (Qكيو) in 2023:
Alexandra Gruebler will join that show, too, creating a polyphony out of Kotti. (It’s doubly fitting, as this was the previous home of Schneidersladen – Kotti has always been a synthesizer in a synthesizer.)
The always wonderful Mohammed Reza Mortazavi joins live, as well – flashback:
There’s an exhibition featuring artists like Petja Ivanova (see also this interview) – paralleling the emotions woven into the music and soundscapes, she finds a kind of urban skin made of grief:
Also among the artists for the program: Esra Akcan, Evelyn Bencicova, Alireza Eskander, Omer Fast, Nástio Mosquito, Siavas Naghshbandi, Pouria Nouri, Muhammad Salah, Yashar Shirdel, Tracey Snelling, Codrin Talaba and Kai von Kröcher.
The screening program is curated by prominent Iranian filmmaker and critic Hamed Soleimanzadeh, featuring eight films from the Kiarostami Short Film Festival plus three films by Bill Morrison.
Kottbusser Tor takes on a character as a piece of art, too – I’m fascinated by not entirely knowing what they mean by this, so I’m keen to check this out:
A digital model of Kottbusser Tor will be launched to host 3 dimensional, filmic scenarios that can be experienced in VR during the festival. The digital space will reflect the energy of Kotti, its windows of unresolved mnemonic spaces and multifaceted reality of today. The Mittelpunktbibliothek and the Jens Nydahl School will host workshops with researchers such as Orhan Esen and Petja Ivanova, and with people from the neighborhood. Colonial Neighbours, an archive by SAVVY Contemporary, coordinated by Lynhan Balatbat-Helbock and Matthew Hansen, will serve as a platform for discussion during the exhibition in Bethanien (25-29 January).
Above: Omer Fast, Garage Sale Still, (three-channel video), 2022 (Courtesy of the artist).
To me, it’s hard not to feel some bittersweet sense while even reading the funding line – these kinds of programs have been heavily cut, and it’s likely more cuts are on the way. But maybe that’s the wrong way to read this. Kotti has always been a place of confrontation and change. This event has found a way to work with city resources and community resources alike. These are connections in one neighborhood, but also tracing communities from Tehran and Damascus, Tunisia and Bulgaria and beyond. We keep meeting in these strange, messy hubs. I’ll trust in these kinds of communities to build something that goes past that moment in time and space – even as performances appear and vanish again in that location, in the ephemeral, wonderful way that art happens and then is gone.
The festival’s program aims to challenge hegemonic narratives, censorship and fragmentation of communities and cultural workers, through inventions of speculative prototyping tools, and fostering alliances. The festival is supported by curatorial associates Dalia Maini and Abhishek Nilamber and funded by the Senat für Kultur und Gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalt with its German title: möglichkeitsraum KOTTI. Please find below the key events:
25th of January | Saturday 6pm – Exhibition opening 7pm – Concerts Alexandra Gruebler Mohammad Reza Mortazavi Dhia Douss, Qusay Awad and Rand Abou Fakher
26th of January | Sunday 4pm – Exhibition 7pm – Kiarostami Short Film Festival (8 films by 8 artists) Followed by a talk with curator Hamed Soleimanzadeh
27th of January | Monday 4pm – Exhibition 7:30 pm – Three films by Bill Morrison Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016), Buried News (2021), Incident (2023)
28th & 29th of January | Tuesday and Wednesday 4pm–10pm – Exhibition Presentation of a selection of digital artworks in a digital Kottbusser Tor, featuring contributions by Yashar Shirdel, Petja Ivanova, Tracey Snelling, and Nastio Mosquito. Main Exhibition: January 25–29, 2025 at Kunstquartier Bethanien, Mariannenplatz 2, 10997 Berlin. Exhibition in BABYLON starting in February.
