10.03.2023, 17:30
SO36, Oranienstraße 190, 10999 Berlin
Constellations festival opening ceremony with performance by Kameron Locke with an audio portrait by Ly Thien Co Friedrich and Kameron Locke voices by Todd Ford, Troy Lopez
For the opening of Constellations festival we will collectively experience a sound collage and performance focussing specifically on what was one of the first queer BiPOC events in Berlin nightlife: Magic 3 and Black Gay Nights in the early 90s. Every Tuesday night, dancer Todd Ford and poetry slammer Rik Maverick invited to SO36 with live music, spoken word and dance. Weaving together interview fragments by Todd Ford and Troy Lopez the audio portrait talks about Black-Queer nightlife in Berlin, tells us about queer BiPOC legacies and the importance of listening to histories beyond institutions. Kameron Locke will take us back in time, looping stories back to the present, and will perform a conversation and meditation through sound and song. If you feel like it, dress up as if you’re on your way to SO36 in the 90s!
10.03.2023, 20:00
Samariterstraße 32, 10247 Berlin
Collective listening with a performance by Mandhla with an audio portrait by Niis Warsame und Ana Bisbicus voices by Krylon Superstar and Paisley Dalton and extracts from the film Gender X (2005) by Julia Ostertag
Originally founded in New York in 1994 as an organization for Black North Americans, Paisley Dalton brought the concept of the Black Girls Coalition to Berlin. Initially held at Open Space on Adalbertstraße, events later took place in the anti-capitalist house project at Samariterstraße 32. BGC performer and artist Krylon Superstar, who now lives in Los Angeles, also appeared there: in the audio portrait, she talks about her time and provides the framework for a performance by multimedia artist and dancer Mandhla.
11.03.2023, 15:00
Tiergarten, Gedenksäule für das Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, Bettina von Arnim Ufer, 10557 Berlin
performance conceived by Shu Lea Cheang x Hani Portner aka The Rainbow Fairy, performer: Po-Nien Wang with an audio portrait by Hani Portner voices by Rosa Lili Dora Preiß, Mara, Zavier Nunn, Raimund Wolfert
Today, the HKW (Haus der Kulturen der Welt) is located on the former site of the Institute for Sexual Sciences founded in part by Magnus Hirschfeld, a renowned sexologist and gay rights advocate. During its 14-year existence (1919-1933), the Institute provided gender-affirming care, counseling, surgeries, and community support. Queer, Trans*, Jewish people who found shelter here have danced, talked, feasted, and celebrated Shabbat in each other's loving arms. Hani Pornter engages us in a conversation with the land about reclamation, revitalization and retaliation while recounts the people’s stories. Imagine yourself as a mushroom – connecting, entangling, and supporting, we can together build something beautiful, in solidarity with the marginalized and to honor our trancestors. In May 1931, on his lecture tour to Shanghai, Hirschfeld met Li Shiu Tong, a 24 year old student. In the following years, Hirschfeld, accompanied by Li, as “companion” and “protector”, gave lectures and researched queer sexual practices worldwide. In May 1933, Nazi-supporting German Student Union broke in and occupied the Institute, subsequently burning its library of books in public view. Hirschfeld was forced into exile and died in Nice in 1935. Li Shiu Tong, his not publicly acknowledged partner, died anonymously in Canada in 1975. This performance brings back Li Shiu Tong, enacted by the performer Po-Nien Wang, to revisit sites around Tiergarten where he allegedly wandered about and met the underground scenes of gay cruising and sexual anarchy. The public are invited to sow new spores in the soil – new SPROUTS FOR QUEER LOVE.
11.03.2023, 18:00
Anhalter Straße 2, 10963
Motorized pole performance by FRZNTE and Rain Rose, hosted by BLEACH
Driving a car without a license: Harry Troste, better known as Strapsharry, was a dazzling scene figure in 1980s West Berlin. Not only did he run an autodrome on the site of today's Topography of Terror, he also ran the Dreamboys Lachbühne - an important springboard for drag artists of the time. Throughout his 94-year life, Strapsharry was a master of ironic self-dramatization and one of the city's few openly queer entrepreneurs. In the audio portrait, former performer Andrea Mohr and Lachbühnen regular Axel remember Strapsharry and his work between trashy cabaret and junky cars. Motorized pole performance by and with: FRZNTE and Rain Rose. Hosted by: BLEACH.
12.03.2023 13:00
Lettestraße 6a, 10437 Berlin
Kiezspaziergang mit Christiane Seefeld und Catherine Welly, Fenster-Performance: Rory Midhani
Von der Staatssicherheit bespitzelt hielt Christiane Seefeld politischen Schikanen stand und öffnete ihre Atelierwohnung jahrelang all jenen, die dem heteronormativen Gesellschaftsbild der DDR nicht entsprachen. Von geheimen Arbeitsgruppen, Gesangsproben auf dem Dach bis hin zu Silversterparties und drei Stück Kohle Eintritt: was als wöchentliche Kaffeerunde begann, wurde zu einer der wichtigsten Institutionen queerer politischer und künstlerischer Arbeit in Ostberlin und legte den Grundstein für den noch heute aktiven Sonntagsclub. Christiane Seefeld lebt immer noch im Kiez. Gemeinsam mit ihr und der Zeitzeugin Catherine Welly erkunden wir den Stadtteil – von ihrer ersten Wohnung in der Lettestraße bis zur berühmten Atelierwohnung im sechsten Stock wo wir die heutigen Bewohner:innen treffen, die auf ihre Art die Geschichte des Ortes als queerer Leuchtturm weitererzählen. Fenster-Fahnen-Performance von Rory Midhani.
12.03.2023, 16:00
meeting point at Hasenschenke, Columbiadamm 160, 10965 Berlin
performance by Liz Rosenfeld and R.Justin Hunt with an audio portrait by Popo Fan and Ahmed Awadalla
The cruising grove next to the nudist lawn in Volkspark Hasenheide: under the protection of the bushes, sex seekers met there for years. Then came the pandemic and the hidden cruising ground became a popular meeting place for queers at a time when clubs and community spaces were closed. The protective undergrowth has since been cleared. In their live performative reading of excerpts from A TEXT FOR VOICES by artist and writer Johanna Linsley, R Justin Hunt and Liz Rosenfeld extend an invitation to enter and journey through their holes and feel a glimpse of becoming bear. Guests will be provided with their own headset, where they can experience being alone while being together, a fundamental experience of cruising, in the Rose Garden of Volkspark Hasenheide. An audio portrait by filmmaker Popo Fan and author and activist Ahmed Awadalla portrays cruising as an urban practice that produces a counter-public of queer desire.
12.03.2023, 19:00
SchwuZ, Rollbergstraße 26, 12053 Berlin
Festival closing Party with stand up comedy by Lux Venérea art performance by Thams DJ set by MIKEY. Woodbridge
What started as a stage show became a festival, community event and meeting place over the years: Organized as an association of trans and non-binary people for trans and non-binary people, Wigstöckel constantly evolved and graced many of Berlin's queer locations as an annual festival format from 1996 onwards; in 2016, the last Wigstöckel took place due to a lack of staff. In the audio portrait of the last stop of Constellations festival, former Wigstöckl co-organizer Kaey talks about 20 years of diversity, inclusion and lively discussion. Closing-party with stand-up comedy by transmedia artist Lux Venérea at SchwuZ! DJ: MIKEY. Woodbridge Supported by SchwuZ Queer Stiftung.