The art and film festivals keep on rolling in, and Berlin’s independent publishing community is finally having their moment. In this week’s guide, look out for some great readings, open mic performances, and even an independent publishers’ fair. Many of the individual events we selected this week are small pieces of a larger festival or event series, so be sure to check out the full line-ups and programs from all of the events that catch your eye.
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Intimacy: New Queer Art
from Berlin and Beyond
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Category: Art
Where: Schwules Museum
When: Ongoing until 30.08
Admission: €9
The Schwules Museum is hosting an art exhibition curated by Peter Rehberg and Apostolos Lampropoulos entitled Intimacy: New Queer Art from Berlin and Beyond, which will be ongoing until August 30th. As the title suggests, the exhibition explores the concept of intimacy and what it means to the queer community in Berlin, as well as globally. The collection of works, which include photography, painting, sculptures, video installations and film, catalogue and explore the evolution and expression of queer identity in both the private and public sphere and how it has evolved over time.
For more information on the exhibition or the Schwules Museum’s programming, visit their website.
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How Long Is Forever 17
with Maansi Jain
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Category: Art, Performance, Comedy, Poetry, Video
Where: Poropati in Neukölln
When: 20:30
Admission: €3
The artistic organization Künstler Künstlerin is hosting its 17th edition of the spoken word and open mic series, How Long Is Forever at Poropati bar in Neukölln. Künstler Künstlerin aims to provide platforms for artists of all kinds, and blur the distinction between different kinds of art forms while celebrating the artistic process and creating for creativity’s sake. The event will feature open mic performances by four artists and visual artworks by Berlin-based artist and photographer, Maansi Jain. Maansi’s work largely utilizes the personal and private in order to explore the role the image plays in shifting collective views on consumption, identity, and cultural hegemony.
For more information on How Long Is Forever 17, visit the event page.
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XPOSED Queer Film Festival Opening
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Category: Film
Where: Freiluftkino Kreuzberg
When: 20:30
Admission: €9
Kicking off the four day queer film festival, XPOSED, Freiluftkino Kreuzberg will be screening a series of seven shorts that fall under the theme Rebels, Heroes, Lovers and Birds. This year will be the 15th edition of XPOSED, and the full film festival will span between Friday August 13th and Sunday August 15th and screenings will occur at seven different participating cinemas. Festival directors Bartholomew Sammut and Merle Groneweg have curated a program that provides a platform for queer films of all kinds, both new and old, and of varying length, style, and format. The films on the program were selected in order to give an international, global perspective on queer filmmaking, interrogate normative ways of thinking, and approach storytelling in an inventive way.
For XPOSED Film Festival’s full program, visit their website.
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Kaum Festival
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Category: Panel Discussion / Film
Where: DISTRICT Berlin in the Malzfabrik
When: 16:00/19:00
Admission: €5-15 suggested donation
Hosted by Soy Division, the self-proclaimed Berlin-based, Indonesian culinary and contemporary art conspiracy, Kaum Festival is an alternative performance and film festival aimed at providing a platform for the underrepresented Indonesian voices. The main topics covered by the festival’s programming include environmentalism, Chinese-Indonesian society and identity, feminism, and LGBTQ+ rights. The festival features screening of Indonesian films, performances by Indonesian diaspora artists, and facilitated public discussions. Thursday evening’s program will take place at DISTRICT Berlin in the Malzfabrik in Schöneberg, and will begin with a discussion and curated discourse entitled Between Joy and Survival: Transgender Activism in Indonesia, starting at 16:00. After the discussion ends, a screening of Indonesia Distanced Stories 2020 will begin at 19:00. The festival will run from August 8th to August 21st, so be sure to check out the full line up of events!
For the full line up for Kaum Festival, visit the festival’s website.
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MAUERFILME
Film Festival Opening
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Category: Film
Where: Mauerpark amphitheater
When: 17:00
Admission: Free
A free open air screening at the Mauerpark amphitheater will commemorate the 60 year anniversary of the construction of the Berlin Wall. Taking place from August 13th to 15th, 25 hours of films and footage related to the Wall and the East-West German border will be shown. Around 75 different short films, documentaries, and animations will be shown over the course of the weekend, tracing Berlin culture through the time leading up to the Wall being built, the change that occurred once it went up, and the aftermath.
For more information on the MAUERFILME Festival, visit the event page.
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[ENDLICH]
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Category: Art & Music
Where: Tempelhof Plattenvereinigung
When: 13:00 – 20:30
Admission: Free
If you have ever explored the wilds Tempelhof, you may have discovered the skatepark in one of the corners. You may also have spotted the small building beside it, and thought to yourself “This would make such a cool spot for an exhibition and a party.” Well, this actually happens from time to time, and this Saturday afternoon is your chance to experience one for yourself. [Endlich] is a free open-air event that will showcase music, sound experiments and time based art from Berlin-based artists. The music curation is being taken care of by the Failed Units and oqko record labels, which means the performances will be top notch. Felicity Magan, Wilted Woman and Lukas Grundmann will be playing live, and there will be DJ sets from T-Data, Carne b2b Parand, and more. There will also be installations from visual artists running alongside the music, including a video installation and print exop from ZOR and a site specific installation that uses wind as a medium from AATH and Lilo Ming.
For more information about [Endlich], visit the event page.
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FU Review: Issue 9 Release Party
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Category: Literature
Where: The Word Berlin
When: 19:00
Admission: Free
Celebrating the release of their 9th issue, INTERRUPT, the FU Review is throwing a release party at The Word Berlin. The evening will include readings by writers published in the issue, guest readers, and artworks by the artists featured in the issue. FU Review began as a student-run publication at the FU, but has since become an independently run journal created by and for writers. The journal explores theory, language and culture through bringing together works of poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, academic criticism, and works of visual art and photography.
For more information on the FU Review release party, visit the event page.
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Kiezsalon at Villa Elisabeth
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Category: Music
Where: Villa Elisabeth
When: 18:00
Admission: €11,29
Hosted by Digital in Berlin, the first of two Kiezsalon events in August will take place in the historic Villa Elisabeth, the parish hall St. Elisabeth’s Church in Mitte. The building was designed by Schinkel in 1835 and is one of Berlin’s protected architectural monuments. The Kiezsalon program provides a platform for innovative music that defies genre boundaries and shows short 30-minute performances of avant-garde and interdisciplinary art and music by artists of diverse genres and origins. Featured artists for the night include Galya Bisengalieva, Carmen Villain, and Maya Shenfeld.
For more information about this edition of Kiezsalon, visit the event page.
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Publishers’ Fair
at Hopscotch Reading Room
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Category: Literature
Where: Hopscotch Reading Room
When: 18:00
Admission: Free
This Sunday, Hopscotch Reading Room will invite small and micro publishers into their hof for an open air fair aimed at celebrating the independent publishing community in Berlin. After the majority of Berlin’s literary events this year were cancelled due to the pandemic, the small book shop and cultural center on Kurfürstenstraße decided to invite writers, readers, literary buffs, and artists to hang out, browse, and celebrate all things print.
For more information about the Publisher’s Fair, visit the events page.
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