Oyoun's statement on Israel Palestine and free speech
Amplifying@oyounberlin statement in regards to Berlin's Senat current "recommendation to limit politically charged topics". One of the most thoughtful and well written statements we have read this past week on the current iteration of the Israel- Palestine crisis.
*** Full statement in the slides here ***
We call for (trans)national solidarity, for civil courage and determination to end decades of settler-colonialism. As a cultural organisation in a democratic state like Germany, it is our duty to foster transnational solidarity beyond borders, beyond race, ethnicity, religion and nationality and to ensure that artistic freedom and freedom of speech are protected, promoted and upheld, especially under the most critical circumstances. Censorship and cancellations of (cultural) events create an obstacle to public discourse, which is at the core of democracy.
It is our duty to stay true to our values, our code of conduct and our work and we stand up against the silencing of voices, the limitations of artistic freedom and freedom of speech.
Stop the war. End the occupation. Protect civilians on all sides.
Unlike Gorki's theater statement on the cancellation of the Situation, a play by Yael Ronen ( an in house director) That reads like an AI generated text if you put in the keywords “war” and “damage control”. The piece “negotiates the political situation in the Middle East” and was voted play of the year in 2016.
For your pleasure here the first paragraph in English:
“The ‘situation’ today includes war. We recognize our powerlessness. We are affected. But in a war there are also people who are hit.”
The war is a great simplifier, it goes on to say. “The attack on Israel by the terrorist organization Hamas puts us on Israel’s side. Hamas took innocent Israeli civilians hostage and Hamas itself took hostage the Palestinian civilian population, which has already been plagued by human rights violations for years. Behind these human shields, she launches missiles.”
Israel’s response affects all Palestinians and will drive them even further into the arms of Hamas. But Israel must defend itself. The fact that Hamas is calling for attacks on Jewish institutions in Germany puts Gorki Theater “on the side of all Jewish people in Germany.”
THIS WEEK
Wed, 18 Oct, 18h at Display SLIDING SELF ON SHELF by Marianne Mueller- Add to my map
This autumn, Display is back in its former permanent space to open Marianne Mueller's exhibition Sliding Self on Shelf. While she will invest in the art space, its architecture, and its past, present, or future elements, sound contributions from our guests will intensify the project throughout the month.
Special Event Sat, Oct 21, 2023, at 11am
Surround sound concert with Tobias Preisig
Installation will be vising in the full space: Oct 18 - 22, 2023, Thu-Sun 11 am-6 pm
and in the Vitrine: Oct 18 - Nov 19, 2023
Display
Mansteinstr. 16
10783 Berlin
Thu, 19 Oct 19h at Changing RoomԼանդշաֆտ film screening – Add to my map
Landshaft, 2023, 96 min Film by Daniel Kötter
Daniel Kötter´s new film Landshaft sketches the psychogeography of the geopolitically charged landscape at the border region of Armenia with Azerbaijan and its inhabitants between extractivism, war, and displacement. The screening of Landshaft, followed by a conversation with Daniel Kötter, is the first event of a three-part series named Earthshift curated by Florian Wüst and Tatiana Echeverri Fernandez, which combines film, sound art, and performance to reflect on landscapes of exploitation.
The event is part of our series "More-than-human: Music from other species"
Changing Room is a project by Tatiana Echeverri Fernandez and is supported by Berliner Senat für Kultur und Europa.
The collective 2-day experiment aims to decolonize and queer our perceptions of menstruation. Participants will be invited to share their experiences and examine the representations of menstruation and its rituals. The group will also explore how to access and make use of scientific and technological knowledge, and understand bias. We aim to challenge the capitalist agenda, reinvent ways of harvesting data from the human body, and create alternative narratives in art, biopolitics, and technology. All genders are welcome! We recommend attending both days of the workshop but attending one single day is also possible.
Sun, 22 Oct 19-22h at Oyoun Mai El-Gammal + Savannah Garcia: Outdoor Film Screenings- Add to my map
Irrigation and Degradation | 22. October | 19:00 - 22:00
The screenings take place at Oyoun’s garden, and the Q&As at Oyoun’s Café | Language: English | Free admission, registration necessary | Registration and further information on the films and curators via www.oyoun.de.
Mai El-Gammal and Savannah Garcia’s three part open air documentary film programme A Closer Look at Crop Exchange, LUPA/TERRE: The Fight for Land and Justice, and Irrigation and Degradation, focuses on the dynamics of crop exchange between the global North and South, while pointing at exploitative land systems and the multifaceted aspects of post-colonialism, and its impact on the landscape and the laborers toiling in the fields.
