Clockwise: Anke Fesel (Photo: Inés Burdow) / Klaus Leder (Photo: SenKultEuropa) / Christian Reckmann / Doris Akrap
Very few cities are as internationally famous for their culture and nightlife as Berlin, and Berlin’s status as a cultural hub is closely linked with the idea of »free spaces«. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the scene(s) spread to the banks of the Spree, the border territory around the Wall, and a large part of the East. People from all over the world were welcomed and included. Today, these spaces have shifted their physical locations and now exist in different contexts. But wherein lies their significance? What kind of impulses do they generate? And how can they be maintained and even developed in the first place? Dr. Klaus Lederer, Christian Reckmann, and Anke Fesel will discuss all of these topics in the festival’s opening talk, with Doris Akrap as moderator.
Akrap is an editor at the newspaper taz and co-founder of the reading show »Hate Poetry«. Fesel has shaped Berlin’s cultural life not only as an event organiser (e.g. at the Berlin art centers and underground clubs Tacheles, Eimer, and Schokoladen), but also as a chronist, for instance with her most recent book »Berlin Heartbeats«. With the successful collaborative festival »Zurück zu den Wurzeln«, Reckmann and his colleagues pursue the goal of »preserving original Berlin party culture«. Dr. Lederer has acted as Berlin’s Mayor and Senator for Culture and Europe since December 2016.
This event will be held in German language.