On 27 November, the series will focus on the topic of intangible cultural heritage. Berlin’s club culture (which was added to the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage in 2024) and the Athens cinema scene will be used to examine the effects of phenomena such as gentrification and overtourism – both fuelled by the increasingly commercial marketing of a defining aspect of cultural heritage – on the social fabric of cities. The death of clubs, the loss of cultural venues, and the standardisation of cultural offerings have now become buzz phrases, but they are also eliciting a powerful artistic response.
Following the screening of the film Berlin Utopiekadaver and a discussion with director Johannes Blume, the panel, chaired by cultural journalist Cathryn Drake, will focus on the dynamics of gentrification and the constantly mounting pressure coming from investors, as well as the growing commercialisation of international tourism. Marcel Weber, chairman of the Berlin Club Commission, and artist Linda Paganelli (who currently has an exhibition on gentrification at the Stadtmuseum Berlin) will join in discussion with Athens architect and artist Sofia Dona, Maria Komninos, film scholar and president of the Greek Film Archive, and archaeologist and cinema owner Peggy Ringa. Together they will develop scenarios for how cities and their residents and communities can respond to these challenges, and how artists and activists can articulate their ideas and position themselves. The evening will conclude with a DJ set with DJ Irakli (Germany) and Ablaze Meursault (Greece).
Beate Uwe by Steffi Rettinger
The other events will concentrate on architectural heritage and its sociocultural implications, starting with the eventful history of the Humboldt Forum and the major Ellinikon Smart City project in Athens (February 2025); in April 2025, the major issue of nation building based on finds of antiquities and with the question of restitution will be examined. The programme will conclude with the topic of “non-human agency” and the handling of our natural heritage and the rights of nature along with the increasing visibility of this subject in global public discourse. In the accompanying programme, film screenings and director’s talks (including one with Heinz Emigholz) will offer further artistic insights and formats for exchanging ideas.
BERLIN UTOPIEKADAVER [Berlin Eviction]
Johannes Blume, 2024, 92 min.
A wave of evictions grips Berlin. The squatting scene dissolves, and its members feel like they are supposed to leave the city. The film portrays a subculture through different generations. People open up, talking about their fights against oblivion, but they also stress how important it is to dance and cry together.
Film Synopsis
A cab driver drives through the city, talking about its rapid changes and the real estate boom. He is himself a punk and a famed character in the Autonomous scene. The stops on the journey are the most important places, such as Rigaer Straße, Liebigstraße, das Tuntenhaus, Potse, Drugstore, Syndikat, Meuterei, and Köpi, all struggling for survival. Young people like the Potse and Drugstore collectives fear for their self-determined lives. Women from Liebigstraße describe how important their house project was as a space for the LGBTQIA+ community. The last evictions have not yet been processed, and the next ones are already imminent: The Potse autonomous youth centre has to hand in its keys, and negotiations for the Köpi Wagenplatz are already underway. We look through the protagonist’s eyes at the world of the squatter scene. Together with them, we go to rallies, concerts, demonstrations, KüFas (kitchen for all), and through their private and professional lives. Again and again, a loud voice rings out from the megaphone and declares war on the city of the rich.
A collaboration between Goethe-Institut and Humboldt Forum.
