Refugee Week Berlin 2024

Common Ground - exhibition

18-22 June 2024 at Pionierfläche OTTO at Haus der Statistik

Commom Groundviews decolonial pedagogies and the journey of decolonisation as a communal process of spiritual and collective healing that engages in learning and unlearning, unshaping and reshaping the narrative beliefs, spirit, culture, relationships and society.

Shifting relations from the soil up using interconnectedness, collective healing, horizontal and holistic methodologies, regenerative community and trust building, narrative change, well-being and creativity, and radical imagination.

The multidimensional crisis facing our societies (political, social, environmental), based on divisions and violence, creates wounds in the collective imagination and existence. As an attempt and invitation to heal from these structural harms, and to find ways out of the hegemonic narratives of dehumanisation and hierarchies applying to knowledge and life, this project aims to shift paradigms through creating a collaborative network of decolonial, horizontal exchange and co-creation.

What knowledge can emerge from a group of young people with diverse backgrounds, in an exchange with generational, national, and cultural diversity ? From the margins and peripheries - what do we all have to learn and to share? What can flourish from the radical imagination of arts and community building?

Through a collective process with interconnectedness as Common Ground premise, mixing research and art practice in a continuous program, the aim is to envision other possible systems to live in horizontal and fertile ways. At the end of the year-long programme, as a way to expand the process and learnings, the group has worked together to co-create a Living Art Installation open to the public, materialising the collective research and reflexions, and open during the Refugee Week at the Pionirfläche Otto at Haus der Statistik.

Contributors:

Mozh Dinani (Iran), Parimah Avani (Iran), Marie Berlowitz (USA), Ananya Bordoloi (India), Júlia Capanema (Brazil), Isadora Canela (Brazil), Elsa Cuissard (France), Jade Dreyfuss (France), Toba Folorunsho (Nigeria), Ruwanthi Gajadeera (Sri Lanka), Daria Gizdavu (Romania), Izra Marie Jans (Belgium), Kashushu Karungi (Uganda), Thaís Machado (Brazil), Brook Morejón (Germany), Daria A. Moussavi (Iran), Ruve Narang (India), Sara Owusu-Ansah (Ghana), Yasemin Tekgürler (Turkey), AnK (Cuba), and Nilra Zoraloglu (Turkey).

Supported by Common Ground and WEBS

There is No Place Like Home: Landscapes of Belonging - exhibition

Curated by Minna Etein, 21 June - 1 July 2024

Sound performances on 21 June

at Hinterraum, Herzbergstraße 65, 10365 in Berlin

‘The magical phrase - there's no place like home - is ... doubly cryptic. "There's no place like home" means home is the best, the ideal, everything that elsewhere is not. Places elsewhere can never bring the same happiness as home. Alternately inflected, the phrase turns into its opposite. "There's no place like home" also means that no place, anywhere, is like home. Nowhere is there a place like home. Home is a never never land of dreams and desire. Home is utopia - a no place, a nowhere, an imaginary space longed for, always already lost in the very formation of the idea of home.’ (Stanford Friedman, Bodies on the Move: A Poetics of Home and Diaspora, 2004,192).

What is home? What does it mean to belong somewhere? Is it a static place and concept, or a destination, is it a sense of self, a fleeting memory, a feeling, a liminal in-between space? What does it mean to lose one's home? What is the difference between ‘home’ and simply ‘address’?

Six female artists examine their relationships to the concept of ‘home’. Coming from different points of reference: feminist, migrant, queer; the artists explore what it means to have a home, to lose or leave home, to make a new home in a country other than one's origin.

Conjuring memories, questioning how the perceptions are made, finding the sense of belonging in the liminal spaces.

Home as a hallway, as an in-between waiting space, a hang-out place, where one is free to exist outside the normative rules informed by societal institutions.

Walls, marks, old scars, wounds scratched into paint, history etched in these layers, visible and invisible, vibrating and sculpting time through memories.

Home as a post box with letters received in one's name, home as a memory of a song from one's childhood, a calling to return to the house at the first sign of darkness.

Home as a mobile construct, ever moving and receiving sounds, amplifying and sending out into the world, home as a place to share and connect communally, home as a desire to extend oneself to others, a desire to meet, to see and be seen, to understand each other, to link borders.

Artists: Minna Etein, Kathrin Hippen , Arin Ismail , Monika Kita, Valery Osina, Chihiro Otsuka

Kajbo concert

20 June 2024

Kajbo is a fictional character created by Boris Zujko and Michael Schmacke in 2022. During live performances, Boris Zujko takes on the role of Kajbo and Michael Schmacke takes on the role of presenter.

All the people who have seen it think it's really cool :)

Are you into electro? Are you normal? Where are you from? These are just a few questions that are reflected in Kajbo's songs.

Musically, Kajbo was influenced by Trio, Kraftwerk, Detroit techno, new wave and industrial music. Kajbo describe themselves as ‘better than Rammstein’.

Ambasada - workshop

When I Visit Home

Introductory talk by Ambasada and workshop with artist Saša Tatić

20 June 2024

In her many years of artistic work exploring the interaction of culture, language, and community, Saša Tatić has recently focused on stereotypical linguistic phrases regularly exchanged in relation to her family and friends in Bosnia. Questions like 'When are you coming?' or 'When are you visiting again?' alongside statements such as 'It's easy for you over there' and other similar emotionally charged formations which have become almost everyday communication tools.

Using her photo archive as a trigger for idiom appropriation through humour, recognisability, and critical thinking, Tatić will lead a workshop that explores cultural similarities and differences in experiences within Berlin diverse community.

Ambasada (embassy in English), founded by Hannah Marquardt and Jelena Vukmanović, is a Berlin-based interdisciplinary platform for contemporary art and sociopolitical discourse, with a regional focus on former Yugoslavia. They aim to create support structures to highten the visibility of art and discourse from the region. The platform is a growing network of artists, cultural workers, curators, researchers and activists working between the region of former Yugoslavia and Berlin. Ambasada’s vision is to strengthen resistant positions against nationalist, fascist, and patriarchal ideologies using the lens of art and culture, and to highlight marginalised positions.

Wanas - exhibition & book launch

28 June - 14 July 2024

at Art-Lab, Berlin

By artist and photographer Mohamed Badarne and journalist and writer Hiba Obaid

The project aims to glimpse the rich tapestry of life on a bustling street in Berlin. Through a compelling fusion of striking imagery and evocative narratives, the project invites you to embark on a transformative experience, where a single day becomes a portal to an entire lifetime.

‘Wanas’ (Arabic) meaning: a feeling of, for example, being on your own when you hear a song or come across a smell that reminds you of your homeland and you want to ‘hug’ it, absorb it.

Following on several months of the artists’ conversations with local communities, Sonnenallee project Wanas will exhibit ten large portraits of local shop owners, people who live or work in the street or visit it, with short texts extracted from interviews with them. The aim of the project is to document and celebrate local stories of a very mixed and diverse community associated with Sonnenallee.

Accompanying the Wanas exhibition at Art-Lab, there is a book/catalogue with the exhibition panels photographs and longer selection of documentary and poetic texts about the participants who took part in the project, with an introductory essay by Dr Natasha Davis. The publication is in English and Arabic. Designed by Haya El Khoury and translated from Arabic into English by Tamer Ajaj.

Radio programmes at Refuge Worldwide

17-21 June 2024, at Oona Bar in Weserstraße 166

Refuge was started as a fundraising platform working in solidarity with grassroots and non-profit organisations. In January 2021 they launched Refuge Worldwide, a new radio station to amplify the music and issues that the team cares about, broadcasting 24/7 from Weserstraße 166, (12045 Berlin Neukölln).

Refugee Week special radio schedule:

Monday 17 June - RBL (Discussion with a Kurdish migrant)

Tuesday 18 June - Stegi (Discussion with Nikos Deji Odubitan from Generation 2.0, and Oska Paul)

Wednesday 19 June - Refuge (Discussion with Hiba Obaid and Mohamed Badarne)

Thursday 20 June - Ola (Discussion with Ramina)

Friday 21 June - International Rescue Committee (Discussion with Bridges Over Borders + TRISHES)

Since 2015, among others, Refuge Worldwide have worked with a young women’s centre, refugee housing support associations, a music school for marginalised persons, social equity groups, homelessness agencies, and a shelter for women and young persons fleeing domestic violence.

From their home in Berlin they now host weekly workshops, training programmes and classes in media, creative fields and mental health. These are free to attend as part of their community outreach. Refuge Worldwide is also involved in a number of collaborative projects around the globe with likeminded collectives, radio stations and activists.

General information about the radio station here.

Film night

Sunday 23 June 2024

at Pionirfläche OTTO at Haus der Statistik

The programme, curated by Other Cinemas, consists of 5 shorts and 1 feature length film that explore the theme of ‘Our Home’. Home can be more than one place and finding it can be a journey, as it is for so many of us who have to leave our countries and rebuild our lives. Sometimes we can find home in a single person. Other times it’s in a whole community. And often, it’s in a single gesture of care and welcome. From the places we gather to share meals to our collective home, planet earth, the selected films invite us to celebrate the diverse meanings of our home(s).

A selection of films you are unlikely to watch together anywhere else in one session!

In collaboration with Mensch Raum Land and Haus der Statistik.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL FILMS WILL BE SCREENED IN ENGLISH OR IF IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES.

Schedule & Films

17:00-17:15 Motherland, dir. Ellen Evans (13m 14s)

Category: Short Documentary
Motherland speaks to the experiences of the Windrush generation and subsequent generations of Jamaicans navigating the landscape of the UK hostile environment.
Audience: Wide age group.
Themes: Windrush, Jamaica, Deportation, Hostile Environment

17:15-17:45 In Vitro, dir. Larissa Sansour and Søren Lind (27m 44s)

Category: Short Fiction
With a cast led by Hiam Abbas (star of ‘Succession’ and ‘Ramy’), In Vitro stages a conversation between a mother and daughter, two generations of Palestinians considering what it may mean to rebuild a home one has never seen or has long lost.
Audience: Wide age group.
Themes: Palestine, Sci-Fi, Exile, Memory, Ecological Disaster

17:45-17:50 A Swing in Atayfiyah, dir. Bediah (3m 24s)

Category: Short Documentary
A Swing in Atayfiyah dwells in the memory of homes and friendships left behind in Iraq, the irrecoverable sense of belonging, and the dissonance of diaspora.
Audience: Wide age group.
Themes: Iraq, Migration, Diaspora

17:50-18:15 Little Pyongyang, dir. Roxy Rezvany (24m)

Category: Short Documentary
With exclusive access to one of the world’s largest community of North Korean defectors, this is a tale of one North Korean’s struggle to leave behind the homeland. Joong-wha Choi, a former soldier in the DPRK, lives today with his wife and kids in a sleepy London suburb. Despite enjoying the new-found comforts of his British life, and being emancipated from the pressures of the North Korean state, his dilemma lies in a desire to return to the land that betrayed him, but is undoubtedly his true home.
Audience: Wide age group
Themes: Displacement, belonging.

18:30-18:50 I Carry It With Me Everywhere, dir. Arwa Aburawa and Turab Shah (18m 47s)

Category: Short Fiction
I Carry It With Me Everywhere draws a line across multiple temporalities and registers of immigrant life, uniting three different stories of migration in Northwest London through a shared condition of fragmentation.
Audience: Wide age group.
Themes: Migration, Grief, Death, Displacement, Punjab, Syria, Jamaica.

18:50-19:20 Neighbour Abdi, dir. Douwe Dijkstra (29m)

How can you understand a violent past? Somali-born Abdi is furniture designer and support worker. He reenacts his life, marked by war and criminality, with the help of his neighbour and filmmaker Douwe. By means of playful reconstructions in a special effects studio, Abdi and Douwe embark on a candid and investigative journey through a painful history, focusing on the creative process throughout.

Category: Short Fiction
Audience: Wide age group.
Themes: Migration, Grief, Displacement, Somalia.

19:20-19:50 Real People, dir. Olmo Parenti (27m 37s)

In December 2021, director Olmo Parenti joined a rescue mission of the rescue ship Ocean Viking by SOS MEDITERRANEE. The resulting documentary shows the rescue of 114 people and immerses us in their conversations as they wait to disembark in Italy ten days later. Like a logbook, it offers an intimate approach to the people rescued, revealing spontaneous reflections and emotions rarely shown on camera.

Category: Short Documentary
Audience: Wide age group.
Themes: Migration, Grief, Hope, Displacement, The Mediterranean Sea.

19:50-20:30 Conversation

Conversation with Yannik Nolthenius and Lorin Celebi from SOS MEDITERRANEE about the film Real People.

In addition, we are offering one film to be watched online at your own time during the Refugee Week 17-23 June:

Dhalinyaro (Youth), dir. Lula Ismaïl (1h 25m)

Category: Feature fiction
Synopsis: Asma, Hibo and Deka are on the verge of high school graduation. As they navigate the beginnings of adulthood, they must decide between university in France or staying home in Djibouti.
Audience: 15+
Themes: Djibouti, France, University, Friendship, Girlhood , Coming of Age.

In collaboration with Mensch Raum Land and Haus der Statistik.

Networking Day

Saturday 22 June 2024

at Pionierfläche OTTO at Haus der Statistik

Coming Together for Diverse Needs

In English and German

With Anastasia Zagorni, Nataliia Kovalenko, Khashayar Razghandi and Hamid Nowzari.

As representatives of two organisations, GUTEmission e.V. and Verein Iranischer Flüchtlinge e.V., we will be sharing our perspectives and examples of creating organisations, programmes and activities where newcomers can come together, develop their competences and become active in their communities. Important in this process is the connection between migrant groups from various generations and backgrounds. Through our conversation we will outline what already exists and what is necessary to accommodate various needs. Our work, in many ways, originates from the situation of urgency but we need intercultural, structured and long-term approaches that establish the common ground and allow differentiation when and where needed.

Documentary Film Making and Peace Making

In German and English

Screening of a short film Newsreel 242 - Sunny Railways by Nika Autor. Youth work actions were an integral part of socialist Yugoslavia and with voluntary work thousands of young brigadiers contributed to the development of the country and helped to realise key infrastructure projects such as highways, railways, bridges, tunnels, schools, parks, etc. One of such was Šamac-Sarajevo railway, built in 1947 with the support of thousands of young leftists from Italy, Britain, Greece, France, Denmark, Sweden, Palestine, etc.

Followed by a post-screening conversation with Gal Kirn, Assistant professor of sociology of culture and principal investigator at ‘Protests, artistic practices and culture of memory in the post-Yugoslav context’. A philosopher affilated with several universities in Slovenia and Germany.

Lunch

Revisiting Home 30 years later

In English and German

With Conny Ottinger and Martin von Allmen

Saxophonist, singer and performance art maker Conny Ottinger is the founder of Windfalls, ‘some kind of jazz’ band, bringing together musicians of different roots with Eastern European and Alpine influences. Martin von Allmen started his career in classical composing and singing and later developed strong interest in jazz and free improvison percussions and drums. He has extensive experience in concert performing, as well as working in theatre and as a sound artist.

Starting with the story about Conny’s recent visit to her home in Poland, decades after she left as a child, and the body memory triggered in relation to it, together they will share ideas about this new collaborative project referring to a ‘house’ or a place - as a point on a geographical map, a site for memories, or a spiritual home of sorts. Accompanied with sound interventions through the day, as well as in this presentation, and a short musical performance at the end of the day.

Common Ground conversation

In English

With international artists from Common Ground exhibition and Allan Charles-Chipman from the Initiatives of Change, USA

There will be two presentations and conversations. One about the exhibition and collaborative ways of working internationally with the artists who have taken part in the exhibition, having first exchanged ideas from various parts of the world (Belgium, Brazil, Cuba, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Iran, Nigeria, Romania, Sri Lanka, Uganda, and Turkey) for a period of one year. Second presentation will be about how Initiatives of Change, based in the USA, work to support artists on their international initiatives, and other programmes.

Refugee Week Berlin 2023

The Image on the Refugee Week 2023 theme of Solidarity @ Murugiah.

Fragments of Impermanence: a Collective Experience

How do we connect to each other as fragments, within dynamic power structures that we need to break, so that we unleash new shared possibilities?

Fragments of Impermanence is an interactive and sensorial installation that showcases the results of five months of intense collaboration between artists and educators from diverse refugee and migrant backgrounds across the world. Run by the organisation People Beyond Borders in Berlin, the project Training of Trainers (ToT) had, as a starting point, an idea to bring a group of Women + Queer to explore and experiment with ways of sharing knowledge through artistic expression, and encourage critical thinking and empowering by co-creation of new imaginaries from distance.

Embracing a collaborative and horizontal approach in which participants are at the same time learners and teachers, ToT challenged the colonising and oppressive system of hierarchical knowledge and provided a platform where the richness of diverse expertise, skills, life paths, languages and roots were concentrically connected, like in a spider web – amplifying each individual possibility to creatively catch knowledge and pass it forward, constantly weaving new insights.

The installation is composed of many different mediums such as paintings, audio performances, collages and interactive pieces developed by the participants during their online and in-person collaborative interventions. The works, involving several techniques and media, touch on the recurrent themes emerging from the group dynamic and their vibrant journey.

Artists

Zeynep Arıkan, Toulin Balabaki, Kateryna Budylo, Isadora Canela, Elsa Cuissard, Tamara Duedari, Sondos Elgendy, Aysel Erol, Qila Gill, Yoav Goldwein, Soraya Hoepfner, Ali Shekarchi, Oksana Potapova, Prerna Rathi, Thaís Paiva Machado

20-26 June

In collaboration with People Beyond Borders, Refugio and Give Something Back to Berlin.

Film Day Sunday 25 June 2023

Responding to 2023 Refugee Week theme of ‘Compassion’, the film day at Haus der Statistik is a curated programme of features and shorts that engage with the notion of compassion in different ways: as the process of finding one’s voice and place in the world while overcoming trauma and loss, as a collective responsibility and a reminder to change the world around us, and engage in dialogue by showing compassion and care towards each other – not just to ourselves and those in our immediate circle but to all our human neighbours and our one shared home, planet earth.

16:00-16:25 The Dress that Makes the Invisible Cyclist Visible

A collaboration between Open City, Bike Project and a group of refugee and asylum seeking women in London. While learning how to cycle around London, in a series of workshops the women devise a way how to make themselves more visible.

16:30-16:50 Samos on Fire

Film by Fareid Atta (2022) - In a refugee camp in Samos, Greece, a group of musicians from Africa and the Middle East meet up to make music. There's no stopping their sessions despite having to contend with fires, earthquakes, and worst of all…the bewildering asylum process.

16:55-17:20 Matar

Directed by Bafta-winning director, Hassan Akkad, and starring Ahmed Malek (The Swimmers), MATAR is a WaterBear Original following the story of an asylum seeker in England who, when confronted with the hostile immigration system in the UK, is forced to live on the fringes of society and rely on his bike to survive.

17:25-17:40 Manus

Hundreds of innocent refugees and asylum seekers faced more than six years captivity at the hands of the Australian Federal Government on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea: isolated, separated from their families and losing hope of ever being freed to start their lives over. Hear their stories. Directed by Angus McDonald.

17:50-19:20 On Our Doorstep

When the Calais ‘Jungle’ refugee camp was ignored & condemned by authorities, ordinary people stepped in to support the refugees stranded there. This is the untold story of the volunteers and those they tried to help. Directed by Thomas Laurance.

19:45-21:15 Hostile

An award-winning feature-length documentary by filmmaker Sonita Gale. Told through the stories of four participants from Black and Asian backgrounds, Hostile reveals the human stories behind the government’s ‘hostile environment’ policies, which are designed to make living conditions so difficult for migrants that they voluntarily leave the country. What does it mean to be British? How does it feel to be told you don’t belong? A series of sweeping changes in legislation suggest these are questions we should all be considering. Find out more about the film here.

Windfalls – Falling Fruit

Some kind of jazz, with Eastern European and Alpine influences

Saxophonist and singer Conny Ottinger brings together musicians of different roots in her new band project: jazz pianist Reggie Moore (USA), folk bassist Michael Jach (D) and improvisational percussionist Martin von Allmen (CH). Conny, who came from Poland to Germany as a child, revisited Slavic languages through singing, and in this project combines her love for the depth of Eastern European music, jazz and Alpine yodelling.

In this special performance at Die Holzbläser on Friday 23 June at 20:00 as part of Refugee Week Berlin, three additional musicians of refugee and migratory background will join Conny and the band on stage.

Conny says about the story behind the title: ‘At school, I think in the ninth or tenth grade, we were all supposed to design a record cover for our band, if we were ever to have one. I don’t remember the name of my band any more, but the title of my record was “Falling Fruit” – I drew a tree with saxophones hanging from it, like apples, and a few were falling down from the tree.’

What new fruit flavour can come out of the encounter out of the four different musical paths and their guests this evening?

At Die Holzbläser, Trautenaustr 24, 10717 Berlin

The concert was developed with participants from Ukraine, Japan and China who attended five free labs conducted in German and English with Conny (saxophone, vocals) and Martin (percussions, vocals).

You can watch the trailer of the performance here.

A Day of Talks, Workshops and Networking

Training of Trainers (ToT) - international group of artists and educators

In English

With Isadora Canela and Elsa Cuissard.

ToT will talk about their international and Berlin collaborations and their horizontal approach to working together, where participants are at the same time learners and teachers - thus challenging the colonising and oppressive system of hierarchical knowledge and providing a platform where the richness of diverse expertise, skills, life paths, languages and roots are concentrically connected, like in a spider web – amplifying each individual possibility to creatively catch knowledge and pass it forward, constantly weaving new insights. Visitors to the networking day will also be able to experience the installation they created in the space as a result of their collaborative process.

Kiron

In English

With Anne Parsons, Head of Strategic Partnerships Kiron, and Kateryna Shved, Community and Partnership Manager, Kiron.

Since 2015, Kiron has been offering free online learning opportunities to refugees and underserved communities. They believe that education can change lives, transform communities, and build bridges. Kiron offers custom-made online study programs using massive open online courses from renowned educational providers and Open Educational Resources. They provide skill programs to prepare learners for the job market and empower students with the knowledge, skills, and network they need for future success. Kiron has offices in Germany, Lebanon, and Jordan. In addition to their digital offerings, they support students in Lebanon and Jordan through blended learning opportunities - the combination of offline- and online education.

Kateryna Shved is originally from Ukraine, and has been living in Germany since 2016. In 2020, she completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science at FU Berlin. Kateryna has gained valuable experience in public affairs and political communications through her work in Ukraine, Israel, and Germany. Since 2022, Kateryna has been dedicated to fostering educational programs for Ukrainian refugees in Berlin, and is currently the Ukraine community manager at Kiron, an edtech platform for refugees.

Anne Parsons is originally from Ireland, and has lived in Berlin since 2014. Anne is the current Head of Partnerships for Kiron, a free edtech platform for refugees, and has worked there for almost five years. Anne has a master's degree in Media from the University of Edinburgh, and a BA in Philosophy. In 2020, Anne was a research fellow at FU researching narratives around migration. She is passionate about professional upskilling programs for refugees and migrants in Germany.

Counterpoints Arts

In English

With Dr Natasha Davis, Producer of Across Borders in Germany, a three-year programme by Counterpoints Arts in the UK, Germany and Greece, in collaboration with local partners, developing arts and pop culture projects that help normalise and diversify representations of migrants and people seeking refuge. Natasha will talk about Counterpoints Arts’ approach to working with refugees and migrants and a selection of their current and future programmes.

Open spaces: room for interaction among minorities

In English and German

With Fetesh Tarekegn

A conversation with Fetesh Tarekegn about his Berlin projects and gentrification stories of Berlin, and movements he has been involved that involved refugee arrivals in the city.

Fetesh Tarekegn is an artist, urban gardener, creator and host of a radio show focused on the experience of migration and migrations to the western world. Born and raised in Ethiopia, he graduated with a degree in Animal Sciences from the Agricultural University in Ethiopia in the mid-2000s. He moved to Germany for graduate studies in the late 2000s in Sustainable Agriculture at a university near Stuttgart. He has lived in Berlin since 2015 pursuing new ways of creating sustainable urban spaces that foster gardening and greenery, and promote intercultural connections. He consults on various projects in this field and produces radio shows and documentaries on this and other subjects.

One Day on Sonnenallee Street

In English and German

The artists designing a collaborative project documenting the rich history of Sonnenallee over the past 40 years, in images and text, towards a public commission in collaboration between Counterpoints Arts and Berlin Mondiale, will present their ideas towards a public art work and a publication to be revealed in Neukölln at the end of September 2023.

With Mohamed Badarne, artist and photographer, and Hiba Obaid, journalist and writer.

Mohamed Badarne is a visual artist who works in the field of art and photography and uses artistic tools for change and defense of human rights. Mohamed works with many international organisations such as the United Nations, Amnesty International, and others. He also held several exhibitions around the world, and his works were acquired by several institutions and individuals.

Hiba Obaid is a journalist specialising in cultural journalism and podcasting, based in Berlin. She studied Arabic literature in Aleppo, Syria. She is currently working as an editor at Deutschlandradio, where she started her first bilingual podcast that delves into the daily life of Berlin. Additionally, she is a writer, contributing opinion pieces to both German newspapers and Arabic magazines. She is a Producer for Sonnenalle Podcast.

Mensch Raum Land and Haus der Statistik

In German and English

With Zeljka Batinic, co-founder of Mensch Raum Land, and Dariya Kryshen at Pioniernutzung at Haus der Statistik

Batinic and Kryshen will talk about their current projects and collaborations: how HDS works with artists, especially in the context of their current development; how HDS works with refugee groups, for example from Ukraine, Syria and elsewhere, and how the association MRL develops structures for educational and social projects in rural areas, as well as about their recent urban projects.

Kiron

Celebrate World Refugee Day with us at this immersive event dedicated to raising awareness, fostering inclusivity, and supporting refugee innovators.

Engage in workshops, a networking session with refugee-led organisations, music & cultural activities, and pitch presentations.

Explore new perspectives, connect with like-minded individuals, and be inspired by the resilience and creativity of refugees.

Don't miss this opportunity to make a positive impact and contribute to a more inclusive society.

Refugee Week Berlin 2022

Mobilistan

Documentary film by Ana Stanic and Sylvie Lazzarini with the Mobilistan team (Manaf Halbouni and Christian Manss), Counterpoints Arts and Allianz Foundation.

The film traces the first official state tour of Mobilistan across European borders in the turbulent and uncertain Covid pandemic summer of 2021.

Mobilistan is the first ever mobile state limited to the space of a single vehicle. An art project dealing with the issues of mobility, territorial limits, marginalisation, freedom to travel and the desire to belong. The state is the limousine and the limousine is the state, whose territory can only be entered or exited through the doors of the vehicle.

This does not, however, preclude Mobilistan from having its own flag, anthem and passport.

Follow the state leaders on red carpets from Berlin to Dresden, Prague, Vienna, Zagreb, Sofia, Istanbul, Wroclaw, Krakow and Solingen.

Did it all go smoothly? Did the state ever run out of oil? Did it encounter any climate challenges and did any neighbouring state leaders offer help or support? All diplomatic blunders and successes, planned or improvised, hidden or displayed, are revealed in the film, alongside the onlookers’ thoughts and observations, and a few surprises.

Mobilistan performance and tour were realised in cooperation with Allianz Kulturstiftung. The film has been commissioned by Counterpoints Arts as part of Across Borders initiative and realised in collaboration with Allianz Foundation. Produced by Natasha Davis for Counterpoints Arts.

Mozambique Independence Day Celebration

At Autoscooter, Haus der Statistik

Join the celebrations of the Independence Day of Mozambique, which is 47 years old this year, with a group of Berliners of the second generation of Mozambican immigrants and Mozambicans who are committed to cultural exchange and the promotion of co-operation between Mozambique and Germany.

This is the reason the association Ogumana was founded.

There will be food and drinks from Mozambique and in the afternoon there will be a cultural programme with a photo exhibition about Mozambican migrant workers, lectures about Mozambique, music by DJ Slay and Dj MG, a Mozambican choir and other Mozambican artists.

There are also many activities for children such as braiding hair, blowing bubbles and face painting. All proceeds will go as donations to organisations in Mozambique that support refugees from the Cabo Delgado region.

You can find out more about Ogumana here.

Jamming with Colour with Prerna Rathi and Sofie Roehrig

Using art as an entry point to access one's intuition, emotions and subconscious beliefs, this workshop is a medium to express and communicate clear visions, concepts and ideas. Facilitated by visual stimulation with different materials, participants are encouraged and supported by the hosts in exploring their creativity.

The body is just as much a canvas for expression as paper. Traditional arts and crafts materials, as well as body paints, liners and glitter will be available. The art jam is an open space for people of all ages and skills to drop in, craft, and explore different colours and materials. In a playful and relaxing atmosphere, with music and good vibes, you can be as wild or as thoughtful as you wish.

Join the jam on your own or with your friends and connect with others while tapping into your creative energy.

Presented by People Beyond Borders.

Jamming with Sound with Migrantinnen

Join us for an eclectic choice of lively Turkish music with a dozen female Turkish musicians and singers of all ages connected to the Bundesverband der Migrantinnen, for an unforgettable mix of the contemporary and traditional, improvisation, a variety of instruments, as well as song and dance.

Bundesverband der Migrantinnen is an independent, non-partisan and democratic association of migrants of Turkish origin living in Germany, founded in Cologne in 2005 and currently represented nationwide with ten clubs and another 13 local groups. Members of the decisive nationwide committees of the German Women's Council and DaMigra, with numerous partners in trade unions, politics and culture.

Since their foundation the Migrantinnen have been committed to a peaceful and solidary co-existence of people of different origins, and to equal and independent participation of migrant women in a society without discrimination or exclusion.

Women from different backgrounds come together: housewives, single parents, employees, workers, students, schoolgirls. What connects them all is collaborative spirit and the desire for better living conditions, for which they work together and make strong demands.

You can find out more about Migrantinnen here.

More about Migrantinnen on Facebook here.

Networking Day

People Beyond Borders

In English

People Beyond Borders (PBB) is a youth-led non-profit transforming the way displaced communities connect with each other and the world around them. PBB pioneers in inclusive and creative practices to engage displaced communities and refugees as active agents in different initiatives. The organisational mission is to connect displaced people together, foster their entrepreneurial skills and inspire creativity for social impact.

With Prerna Rathi, Co-founder, and Sofie Roehrig, Artist & Creative Consultant.

Prerna, originally from India, is a German Chancellor Fellow and Humanitarian Practitioner empowering displaced people through a human-centred lens in South Asia, Europe, Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Sofie is a Berlin-based multimedia visual artist and PhD researcher with a focus on migration politics who has lived in over seven countries and has mixed German-Sri Lankan roots.

Prerna and Sofie will talk about and give a taster of their workshops focusing on different narratives of how people evaluate, overcome or transform their own barriers and borders. They will guide us through a conflict mapping process, to channel our internal and external conflict trajectories, dynamics, patterns and styles to collectively experience what moving beyond our borders might feel like. Using this approach, we learn to view conflicts as an interaction of energies. Emphasis is given on the different perceptions, social and cultural contexts in which reality is constructed.

Find out more about People Beyond Borders here.

Women for Common Spaces

In English

The aim of the Women for Common Spaces initiative is to build up a network of confident, informed, qualified and engaged Arabic-speaking exiled women, with a focus on respect for people’s cultural and social identity. Obtaining knowledge about politics and law in Germany and the fight against any form of violence and radicalisation in exiled communities are essential goals of the project. We will hear about the group’s unique approach to working with women in exile and how they have been using art as a way to gaining self-confidence, empowerment and social and political engagement.

With Yasmine Merei, founder.

Yasmine Merei was born in Homs, Syria, in 1984. She studied Arabic Literature, Comparative Linguistics and Middle Eastern Studies. She worked in printed and digital media and specialised in feminist journalism. She is currently managing the Women for Common Spaces organisation in Berlin, which is creating a female memory on seeking refuge and building the capacities of young women who are politically and culturally active in the Syrian diaspora.

Women for Common Spaces began in Berlin in 2016 as an initiative of Yasmine Merei and its events and publications aim to create a common space of encounter and exchange, for women, migrant communities and German society. It became a non-profit association in 2018. A team of German, refugee and migrant women lead the work of the association at team and board level with independent experts invited to their workshops, training programs and public events.

Find out more about Women for Common Space here.

Stories Too Big For a Case File

In English

With Dr Rachel Rosen, Associate Professor of Childhood in the Department of Social Science at University College London. Rosen’s work focuses on unequal childhoods, migration, and stratified social reproduction/care labour.

We will screen a short film ‘Stories too big for a case file: Unaccompanied young people confront the hostile environment’, which showcases the testimonies of young, unaccompanied refugees, asylum-seekers, and migrants as they navigate ‘the system’ in the UK. This is a tangled web of institutions, policies and individuals who are meant to care for children on the move, but often do not. In the film, individual stories emerge from a cacophony of voices to highlight common problems in the UK’s hostile border regime. They also show unaccompanied young people’s refusal to be reduced to a singular story, endemic in bureaucratic case files. Voices evoke the violence unaccompanied young people feel when repeatedly asked, or made, to tell their story, as well as the violence of not being asked nor being heard, and most of all their strength in the face of injustices.

Dr Rosen will join the conversation via Zoom.

Find out more about the film here.

Residential workshop on anti-racism,
arts and the environment
with
Mojisola Adebayo
Asmelash Dagne
and Nicole Wolf

Agri/cultural practices is a practical experimental workshop that provides an introduction to Permaculture (permanent agriculture) sustainable design ethics and principles through games and exercises from Theatre of the Oppressed, aimed at rehearsing solutions for change. Both Permaculture and Theatre of the Oppressed are informed by Indigenous, Black and working-class knowledge and experience. This way of combining Permaculture and Theatre of the Oppressed was developed through the Neighbourhood Academy at Prinzessinnen Garden, Berlin in 2019. However, this workshop goes further by not only providing an introduction but focussing on anti-racism, climate justice, decolonizing, addressing power structures, understanding the link between colonialism and environmental chaos, challenging environmental racism and exploring the potential of art. The site of the workshop is a garden in development, and we will explore possibilities to design the garden with questions of the workshop in mind.

We will be playing games, doing practical exercises, reading, creative writing, observing the landscape and designing, watching theatre, film screenings, receiving contributions from guests, discussing as well as enjoying the countryside, eating healthy food and relaxing in nature.

Followed by an optional few days of practical planting workshop activity at Groß Kreutz in 2023.

The workshops are delivered in partnership with Havel Kranich e.V.

Film Day

A Place To Breathe 11:00

2020, 86 mins

The film explores the universality of trauma and resilience through the eyes of immigrant and refugee healthcare practitioners and patients. This feature-length documentary intertwines the personal journeys of those who are transcending their own obstacles by healing others. Combining cinema vérité and animation, the film highlights the creative strategies by which immigrant communities in the U.S. survive and thrive.

The film weaves together the arcs of Rodrigue (DR Congo), Socheat (Cambodia), Norma (Guatemala), and the young couple Edgar and Yania (Mexico and Uruguay) as they pursue their dreams of supporting their communities’ healing. Common ground and chance connections join these unique stories as the film humanizes those who have migrated here, sharing their wisdom and perspectives that enrich and strengthen our communities.

Artist Salon

We warmly invite you to four afternoons of an artist space occupation to experience how a room, a salon of sorts, can heal or hold, responding to this year’s theme of Refugee Week of ‘Healing’.

We invite you to pop in the studio space for a conversation, to sit in a quiet healing space or to talk to like-minded people, perhaps to write, exchange ideas, discover if you can exchange a skill with someone else in the space or just have a cup of tea or a piece of fruit.

You may wish to show each other a short film on your laptop, ask advice on something in progress that you are developing, make friends, find a mentor.

This is an experiment and we have in mind a democratic, self-managed space where ideas can be shared with a group, or just with a person sitting next to you, or the space enjoyed on your own. Where ideas can be hatched. Maybe something new made there and then.

We are inviting you to steal a moment away from everything and everyone else. It often feels that in migratory lives there is barely ever space or a moment to catch a breath. Maybe this can be space to do just that.

An experiment, a living room, a working studio of sorts. With a couch, a table, chairs, cushions and cups of tea and cake. An invitation to migrant artists and artists interested in migration.

We really look forward to meeting you.

The Salon is organised as a collaboration between Hinterraum in Herzberger Straße 65, 10365 in Berlin Lichtenberg, run by artist Aidan Wallace, and Counterpoints Arts London.