FREIRAUM ACTIVITIES
2020-2017
WHAT A WASTE? Reading Group on Waste and Ressources
30.04.2020
Copenhagen
Reading group/workshop
The Temporary Academy of Arts (PAT), a flexible academy of para-institutional action, based in Athens, invites you to a reading group/workshop on the subject of WASTE. Who and what is considered useful and worthy, who and what is considered a waste, within the urgent, critical situation of Europe and the globe facing severe economical, ecological and humanitarian strains and the rising of terrifying walls? We will explore the notion of WASTE, philosophically, culturally and economically and the new connotations attributed to it under the current political circumstances. Please bring along your examples, case studies and proposals on the subject in order to visualize an anti-WASTE front. Elpida Karaba of PAT coordinates the reading group/workshop.
Venue: KADK Biblioteket for Arkitektur, Design, Konservering & Scenekunst
Danneskiold-Samsøes Allé 50, 1434 Copenhagen, Denmark
Guest: PAT
Language: ENG
Workshop 3 - Rome
02.03-04.03.2020
Online
The 3rd Freiraum Workshop, jointly planned with the anti-Mafia association DaSud and Goethe-Institut Rome, was initially planned to be held in Rome from 2–4 March 2020, but instead took place online due to the spread of the coronavirus in Italy. 15 Freiraum partners all over Europe, from Thessaloniki to Carlisle via Copenhagen, Brussels and Belgrade, met up for two and a half days. They worked on the Freiraum Mission Statement and Manifesto and engaged in an intensive exchange of ideas about the programme for other Freiraum events to be held this year in Skopje and Brussels. Although there’s no real substitute for getting together in person, everyone was surprised how good the e-workshop format was – including our health and environment. So there’s a lot to be said for a more sustainable Freiraum!
Workshop 2 - Bratislava
20.11-22.11.2019
The second Freiraum workshop took place in cooperation with Milan Zvada (Záhrada, Banská Bystrica) on 20.-22.11.2019 at the Goethe-Institut Bratislava. Freiraum partners from all over Europe met there and discussed the topics: freedom of opinion, freedom of press and education.
Workshop 1 - Thessaloniki
19.10-22.10.2019
The first workshop of the second phase of the Freiraum project focused on the main principles of the Freiraum-platform and its future. Post-Europe was also debated internally and during a public conference, broadcasted live for all Freiraum members and general audiences. Performances, using Freiraum's Mobile Stage invited citizens to express their perspective and their dreams of Europe.
Free Space - a Case Study of Red and Blue in Rijeka, Croatia
30.03-26.04.2019
LUXEMBOURG
Speculative Design Installation
The installation focuses on two housing complexes In Rijeka (Croatia), Red and Blue, designed in 1978. Their architect Ninoslav Kučan wanted to create a complex that will fulfil the basic needs of its tenants. Therefore, he planned a promenade in between the complexes with shops, kindergarten, bars, meeting places, etc. But ideas in architecture are only sometimes realized as planned, sometimes they are totally rejected, or, as in most cases, only partially realized.
The installation is based on a comparative analysis of those two complexes, trying to find out why certain decisions were taken and how those decisions impacted on the lives of the present tenants. The designers Leo Kirinčić and Maša Poljanec wanted to explore how space organization influences social organization, and vice versa. They also wanted to find out how our freedom is related to the space where we spend most of our time. The results were translated into an installation that gives insight into a specific social context and a very original idea of Red and Blue buildings, into the narratives of tenants, and into speculative scenarios for the future use of the promenade.
Venue: LUCA Luxembourg Center for Architecture, 1 rue de l’Aciérie, L-1112 Luxembourg
Admission free.
FREIRAUM in Berlin
12.03-17.03.2019
On the State of Freedom in Europe: Exhibition, discussion, concert, performance in Berlin
For the Freiraum project, the Goethe-Institut is drawing on its Europe-wide network to kindle dialogue between partners from the cultural sector and civil society and, in two-city tandems, to look into some crucial and highly topical questions: What is the state of freedom in present-day Europe? Where is it at risk? How can we shore it up? Artistic and discursive formats addressing these issues have been created in about forty different places all over Europe. And projects from Nicosia to Carlisle, from Madrid to Tallinn, have been presented to the public since early summer 2017.
In association with the ZK/U – Center for Art and Urbanistics and the Mercator Foundation, selected Freiraum tandems will present the results of their exchange.The programme includes an exhibition of videos and installations as well as film screenings, discussions, performances, and concerts. The Mercator Foundation is hosting a so-called “Open Situation Room”, an experimental event in which German and international experts, Freiraum partners, local activists and politicians will discuss various aspects of freedom.
Venues:
ZK/U — Center for Art and Urbanistics: Siemensstraße 27, 10551 Berlin
Mercator Centre Berlin: Neue Promenade 6, 10178 Berlin
Language: English
In cooperation with ZK/U - Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik
Sponsored by Stiftung Mercator
Media partners: ARTE, die tageszeitung and rbb Kulturradio.
Escape Room – A Myth About Freedom
08.03.2019
Riga
Creative team: Mārtiņš Eihe, Laila Burāne, Agate Bankava, Artūrs Čukurs, Ieva Kauliņa
Produced by: Theatre "Ģertrūdes ielas teātris", Riga
“Escape Room” invites its audience to take part in an interactive performance and experience a myth about freedom. In order to maintain peace between the warring nations, every year the inhabitants of Athens must send seven boys and seven girls to Crete. The sacrificial victims are sent into the labyrinth where they are devoured by Minotaur – a monster with a bull's head and a man's body. The hero Theseus decides to bring an end to this slaughter and goes to Crete where, with the help of Ariadne, the ruler's daughter and half-sister to Minotaur, he kills the Minotaur and saves the innocent youths and maidens.
The myth about the labyrinth serves as the basis of the performance, staged by the creative team as three different and incompatible stories about a single, unifying event from the perspectives of the three characters – Theseus, Minotaur, Ariadne. Together with the audience the performers will use the lens of Ancient Greek mythology to consider questions relevant to today's world: the coexistence of differing opinions, the choice between the status quo and change, that which is different and its place in society, and our responsibility towards each other. The views of the audience decide the course of the performance and their collective path through the labyrinth. Each choice has its weight and it becomes increasingly difficult to step off the well-trodden path. “Escape Room” does not ask its audience to break free but rather demands an answer to the question: When are we free?
“Escape Room” was created as part of the project „Freiraum“ – a project of the Goethe-Institutes in Europe in cooperation with 53 institutions from culture, science and civil society. Until March 2019, around 40 European cities will explore the issue: What is freedom in Europe today? Where is it endangered? How do we strengthen it? A special exchange connected the Theatre “Ģertrūdes ielas teātris” in Riga and the theatre company “Image Aigue” in Lyon, France, which works with actors from different cultures, backgrounds and ages. Together, they examined questions about freedom in both cities and societies.
"Escape Room" is a production of the Theatre “Ģertrūdes ielas teātris”, Riga, created as part of the Europe-wide project "Freiraum" of the Goethe-Institut e.V. and supported by State Culture Capital Foundation, Latvia.
Performance von Eva Meyer-Keller und Präsentation des Bandes "A City Curating Reader. Public Art Munich 2018"
02.03.2019
Tallinn
Dieser Reader nimmt die Stadt München als Fallbeispiel und dokumentiert die Projekte von PUBLIC ART MUNICH 2018 und ihre Auseinandersetzung mit politischen, ideologischen und ökonomischen Verschiebungen: von der Gründung der Bayrischen Räterepublik 1919 bis zur Ankunft von Geflüchteten am Hauptbahnhof 2015. Der Band stellt Kunst in einen Zusammenhang mit allgemeineren Fragen nach der Grammatik von ‚Öffentlichkeit‘. Er reflektiert das Konzept einer kontextbezogenen Stadtkuratierung anhand von Beispielen performativer Kunst, die sich in Minuten, nicht in Quadratmetern entfaltet.
Künstlerische Arbeiten, Gespräche und Essays erzählen davon, wie Kunst Begegnungen mit dem Unbekannten kultiviert, das Ungewöhnliche verhandelbar macht und Gegenöffentlichkeit provoziert.
Diese Publikation erscheint anlässlich PUBLIC ART MUNICH 2018 Game Changers, kuratiert von Joanna Warsza.
Ein Kunstprojekt der Landeshauptstadt München.
Wonderful! Thinking Is Not Prohibited - Theatrical enactments and photo exhibition in Lyon by kids and grown-ups
21.02.2019
Lyon
A playful exchange on the subject of freedom – for the whole family
What is freedom? And what's the point of thinking about it anyway? How do we relate to others in terms of freedom and how do we share freedom with others? What is the purpose, importance and power of education? The public are invited to express their opinions in playful, artistic and poetic ways by means of an exhibition of photographic portraits. Do you agree with what these people are saying? Yes? No? Why or why not? Brief enacted scenes illustrate and reinforce these questions from a humorous angle. This event is designed by director Christiane Véricel and photographer Victoria May, in collaboration with cultural actors in Riga, for the Goethe-Institut’s Freiraum project.
Venue: Goethe-Institut Lyon, 18 rue François Dauphin, 69002 Lyon, France
International experts talk about markets in Prague and Marseille
19.02.2019
Prague
Discussion
FREIRAUM – City Development and Ethnic Markets in Marseille and Prague
How relevant are urban ethnic markets to the city panning? What is the role of such a market in the life of the people who work there and use it? Let’s explore the visual impressions from Marseille’s flea market and Prague’s SAPA as experienced by their communities and discuss questions of informal and popular representation of the places, diversity, and experiences lived by people who interact with these places regularly. The discussion is the final event of the Freiraum project, a collaboration of the Goethe-Institut, the Institute for Democracy 21 and the publishing house Hors D’Atteinte. Freiraum is a project of the Goethe-Instituts in Europe in cooperation with 53 actors from culture, science and civil society. The aim of the project is to assess the state of freedom in Europe’s cities. What are the issues that come up when residents, sociologists and creative artists think about the concept of “freedom” in very local terms?
SPEAKERS
Magdalena Rejzkova is a Czech journalist living in Marseille. She is currently working at the cultural center of Villa Mediterranean. Magdalena writes for various Czech news sites, and runs the blog Bujabéza where she writes about her life and experiences in Marseille. She is a co-author of the book Chtěj Marsej – průvodce pro lidi, co chtěj!, an “untraditional guide to Marseille and Provence, which wants to show that France is not just lavender, Paris, and wine… and presents France with its current problems and people who want to address them.”
Samuel Johnson-Schlee is a lecturer in human geography at London South Bank University. His research falls under three broad themes: urban inequality and marginalization, material cultures and consumption in everyday life, urban epistemology. He has written about urban markets and the experiences of rapid urban change, focusing on the themes of social inequality, food consumption, marginality and precariousness, popular representations of place.
Marie Hermann is co-founder of the publishing house Hors d’Atteinte—one of the partner organizations of the Freiraum project. Hors d’atteinte aims at creating new analytical grids for a changing contemporary world, giving hope to those who struggle, and offering space for traditionally excluded voices. The key areas of work include issues of gender, environment, urbanization, racism, contemporary media, and populism.
Tereza Freidingerová is an academic researcher and lecturer, currently working as project coordinator for People in Need- Migration Awareness programme. She holds a PhD in social geography from Charles University, with a thesis on migration and adaptation tendencies of the Vietnamese in Czech Republic, and publishes regularly on topics of Czech integration policy, and relations between foreigners and Czech majority.
MODERATION
Ira Bliatka studied International Politics at UCL, and completed a PhD at Aberystwyth University, specializing in topics of international migration and the geography of border areas. She started working as Senior Researcher at the Institute for Democracy 21 in September 2017, focusing on issues of public space and participation of marginalized communities.
Creative Arts Programme
27.09.2018-28.02.2019
Dublin
This project is about initiating 10th-graders into places where they haven’t previously felt they belonged: theatres, art galleries, creative writing centres and concert halls. The Trinity Access Programme and the Goethe-Institut Ireland, in association with the City Arts Office, offer a cultural programme designed to introduce schoolchildren to new ways of thinking and expressing themselves artistically, and to help them to feel more at home in the cultural sphere. In a series of five workshops the students got an interactive introduction to various aspects of the creative arts.
27 September 2018: A day at the Goethe-Institut, Trinity College and LAB Gallery
Introduction to the cultural scene and the Freiraum project. Workshop on "Street Photography with Your Mobile Phone" with Vanessa Ifediora. Instawalk to Trinity College, luncheon, walk to LAB Gallery. Visit to Sean O'Rourke’s exhibition "Cultural Osmosis", followed by a workshop with artists from the LAB panel.
25 October 2018: A day with Fighting Words
The aim of Fighting Words is to “help children and young people, and adults who did not have this opportunity as children, to discover and harness the power of their own imaginations and creative writing skills”. “It is about using the creative practice of writing and storytelling to strengthen our children and teenagers – from a wide range of backgrounds – to be resilient, creative and successful shapers of their own lives.”
29 November 2018: A day at the Fishamble Theatre
Fishamble is an internationally renowned Irish theatre that develops and produces new plays. With its extensive training, development and mentoring programme, Fishamble supports 60% of the writers of all the new plays produced on the island of Ireland every year.
31 January 2019: A day at the Abbey Theatre
The Abbey Theatre is the National Theatre of Ireland. Its mission is “to imaginatively engage with all of Irish society through the production of ambitious, courageous and new theatre in all its forms”. It is committed to promoting “inclusiveness, diversity and equality” in its every endeavour.
28 February 2019: A day at the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM)
The Royal Irish Academy of Music is “a home of musical excellence and dynamism, a place of teaching and learning which consistently achieves its objective of transmitting and maintaining the highest standards of performance and appreciation in all musical disciplines”. The students will take part in a workshop on understanding music and an introduction to music theory. They will also have an opportunity to try out various instruments.
European Languages and Cultures Programme
The aim of this project is to introduce 10th-grade students to European cultural institutes around the city of Dublin. The Trinity Access Programme and the Goethe-Institut Ireland have organized a five-day programme to give students an opportunity “to explore the food, language, literature, theatre and cinema of other European cultures”. The programme is also “a great taster course for anyone thinking of studying French, German, Spanish or Italian at university level”.
Children of Freedom: A documentary film and photo exhibition for the European Freiraum project
30.01.2019
Bukarest
Lithuania was the first Baltic country to declare its independence from the USSR, in 1990. Over the course of fifty years as a Soviet republic, Lithuanians succeeded in preserving their national identity and culture, their history and, in particular, their language. In the wake of the collapse of the Soviet empire, the Lithuanian nation experienced a resurgence and showed how freedom can be preserve sustained under a repressive regime through courage and dignity.
We traveled to Vilnius and discovered a city which, after 28 years of freedom, seems reborn. There’s hardly a trace of communism or past oppression. We experienced Vilnius as a very Western city with a cosmopolitan population in harmony with the values of the European Union. We met young people who want to study abroad (mainly in the UK and, as their second choice, the US), and then to come back home and invest in the development of their country. These young people find the Lithuanian education system too theory-oriented, and they know that if they want to promote their country’s development, they need to see the world for themselves – and studying abroad is a good way to do it. But they’re definitely not disappointed by their country and they feel they have their parents’ support.
– Ruxandra Țuchel, filmmaker
Children of Freedom is a film about free choice, about the courage to say "no" and the need to experience the world for oneself.
Director: Ruxandra Țuchel
Camera and Editing: Silviu Andrei
Sound: Valentin Bartolomeu
Production Assistant: Mariana Ioniță
The Big Conversation on Safety
26.01.2019
Brussels
As part of the Freiraum project, the Goethe-Institut and the Beursschouwburg arts centre in Brussels organise "The Big Conversation on Security and Freedom”, an experimental participatory discussion event about security and freedom. Brussels (partnered with the Beursschouwburg) and Warsaw (partnered with the Fundacja Panoptykon) form a Freiraum tandem and would like to invite experts and interested members of the general public from Belgium, Germany and Poland to get together on 26 January to discuss security-related issues such as fears, filter bubbles, comfort zones, security zones and privacy. The discussion will be held at eight tables simultaneously.
Featured speakers include
Katarzyna Szymielewicz, jurist and data security expert at Fundacja Panoptykon, on data protection and Internet security
Researcher Dietmar Kammerer on surveillance
Schaerbeek resident Pé Verhoeven on vigilante groups
Lawyer Alexis Deswaef on sanctuary {sicheres Zuhause} and security for refugees
Author Yasmien Naciri on hate speech
Public prosecutor and author Rachida Lamrabet on the burqa as protection for women
Author and Journalist Hasnain Kazim, who (during the break) will read from his bookPost von Karlheinz: Wütende Mails von richtigen Deutschen - und was ich ihnen antworte (“Karlheinz’s E-mails: Hate mail from real Germans – and what I reply”).
Venue: Beursschouwburg, Rue Auguste Orts – Auguste Ortsstraat 20–28, 1000 Brussels
Polit-Party: Can elections be won through cultural policy?
19.01.2019
Tallinn
Can elections be won through cultural policy? What role does cultural policy play in the election campaigns of various parties? How is it reflected in party platforms? In the run-up to the parliamentary elections in Estonia in March 2019, Kanuti Gildi SAAL are holding a “polit-party” at which representatives of Estonia's major political parties will discuss their plans and ideas for culture and the arts in Estonia. The event is part of the Goethe-Institut’s FREIRAUM project. It’s bound to prove exciting when a bunch of politicians get together to debate the issues with one another and field the public’s questions and comments.
Venue: Kanuti Gildi SAAL, Pikk 20, Tallinn
Präsentation der Workshopergebnisse WAS IST GLÜCK?
19.01.2019
Barcelona
Goethe-Institut in 42 europäischen Städten haben sich im Projekt FREIRAUM mit der Frage beschäftigt: Was ist heute Freiheit in Europa? Wo ist sie in Gefahr? Wie können wir sie stärken? Die Goethe-Institute in Barcelona und Madrid haben gemeinsam mit dem Instituto de Cultura Gitana, der Fundación Secretariado Gitano und der Fundación La Joven Compañía ein Projekt entwickelt, das sich um folgende Frage dreht: Was bedeutet für Dich Glück? Angeleitet durch erfahrene Tanz- und Theaterpädogogen der Joven Compañía haben Jugendliche Roma in Barcelona in vier Sitzungen Antworten auf diese Frage erarbeitet und begonnen, diese mit Bewegung und Stimme zum Ausdruck zu bringen. Am Ende des vierten Workshop-Tages werden die Ergebnisse öffentlich präsentiert. Die Theaterworkshops werden angeleitet von den Regisseur*innen Josep Maria Mestres und Laura Rubio und dem Tänzer Andoni Larrabeiti. Außerdem werden Paco Suárez, Komponist und Leiter des Orquestra Sinfónica Gitana Europa und Juan Frendsa, Schauspieler und Dramatiker, der mit der Joven Cia. gearbeitet hat, mitwirken.
Theaterworkshop WAS IST GLÜCK? mit La Joven Compania
11-12.01.2019 and 18-19.01.2019
Barcelona
Theaterworkshop mit jugendlichen Roma
Freiraum bringt Goethe-Institute in 42 europäischen Städten zusammen, die sich mit der Frage beschäftigen: Was ist heute Freiheit in Europa? Wo ist sie in Gefahr? Wie können wir sie stärken? Die Goethe-Institute in Barcelona und Madrid haben in dem Kontext gemeinsam mit dem Instituto de Cultura Gitana, der Fundación Secretariado Gitano und der Stiftung Junges Theater ein Projekt entwickelt, das sich um folgende Frage dreht: Was bedeutet für Dich Glück? Angeleitet durch erfahrene Tanz- und Theaterpädogogen werden ca. 30 Jugendliche Roma in Madrid und Barcelona in vier Sitzungen Antworten auf diese Frage erarbeiten und mit Bewegung und Stimme zum Ausdruck bringen. Die Theaterworkshops werden angeleitet von den Regisseur*innen Josep Maria Mestres und Laura Rubio und dem Tänzer Andoni Larrabeiti. Außerdem werden Paco Suárez, Komponist und Leiter des Orquestra Sinfónica Gitana Europa und Juan Frendsa, Schauspieler und Dramatiker, der mit der Joven Cia. gearbeitet hat, mitwirken. Nach den ersten Workshops in Barcelona und Madrid werden die Teilnehmer aus beiden Städten in Madrid zusammen ein weiteres Wochenende an dem Thema arbeiten und das Ergebnis bei dem Internationalen Festival der Kulturen im Matadero in Madrid zeigen. Die Workshops sind an Jugendliche Roma zwischen 16 und 27 Jahren gerichtet. Sie sind kostenlos und werden vom Goethe-Institut finanziert.
What are free spaces?
07.12.2018
Tirana
Are there – or were there ever – any in Tirana? What goes on in and with these spaces? The Freiraum project is using artistic approaches to seek answers to these questions. To this end, photographer Anjeza Hoxha is exploring Tirana’s public space, its buildings, streets and squares. Beyond privatization and control, she has discovered a dialogue between epochs and generations that was previously invisible. She has found places where people make use of freedom, or cope with the lack of freedom, in very different ways. Musician Fatos Qerimi was inspired by the question as to whether freedom is an opportunity or a burden. His new composition, premiered by his young 13-member ensemble, explores various elements of traditional music. Afterwards, urban researcher Karsten Schulz and writer Arian Leka discussed the underlying issues with the public.
Escape Room Workshops
14.10-2.12.2018
Riga
The idea for the theatre production Escape Room grew out of the Freiraum collaboration between Riga and Lyon. In this performative staging, the participants seek to find out more about how we make decisions about freedom: What does freedom mean to us? How do we react when it is curtailed? Would we willingly give up some of our liberties? Or are we perhaps already doing just that? Escape Room confronts the audience with these questions, provoking and inviting them to reflect on how we deal with our own freedom and that of others. In the run-up to the production, three workshops were held in which everyone stressed different aspects of freedom. The general public were invited to participate.
Workshop 1: Freedom Auction
14 October 2018, 4 hours, 10 participants
The object of this workshop was to ask how vital freedom is to people: Are they willing to give up liberties in exchange for something else? What are the consequences of such a trade-off? Which liberties do they treasure most and why?
Workshop 2: Manipulation and Freedom - An Algorithm
10 November 2018, 4 hours, 10 participants
We looked at how algorithms influence many different areas of our lives, especially online. Where do we draw the line and how do we react when the line is crossed? Or, when it comes down to it, are we utterly unconcerned about the increasing power of algorithms?
Workshop 3: Enter the Labyrinth
2 December 2018, 4 hours, 10 participants
Here we sought to bring together the results of the two previous workshops and understand the complex relationship between control and freedom. When and how do we know we're being manipulated? How do we react and how can we protect ourselves against manipulation?
Luxflux Rijeka
30.11.2018
Rijeka
Der Verein Drugo more und das Goethe-Institut Kroatien laden zur eintägigen Veranstaltung Luxflux Rijeka, die im großen Saal und in der Galerie Filodrammatica (Korzo 28/1, Rijeka) am Freitag, den 30. November 2018, mit Beginn um 19:00 Uhr stattfinden wird. Im großen Filodrammatica-Saal wird um 19:00 Uhr das Stück The Place, It Has a Name vorgestellt, das sich auf der Grenzlinie zwischen künstlerischer Installation, Performance und postdramatischem Theater bewegt. Entstanden in Zusammenarbeit zwischen dem Dramaturgen Ian De Toffoli, der Schauspielerin Elsa Rauchs, der Künstlerin Lisa Kohl und dem Ton und Lichtdesigner Karl Humbug definiert dieses Stück den „Freiraum“ und befasst sich mit dessen Bedeutung für uns alle. Es beruht auf Aussagen zur Freiheit, die im Rahmen des unter der Leitung von Maša Poljanec und Leo Kirinčić abgehaltenen Workshops in Rijeka mit Studenten der Akademie der bildenden Künste und der Philosophischen Fakultät der Universität Rijeka erarbeitet wurden. Im Anschluss an die Performance wird in der Galerie von Filodrammatica um 20:00 Uhr das Designerduo Leo Kirinčić und Maša Poljanec die Installation Studija slučaja Crvene i Plave (Fallstudie von Rot und Blau) vorstellen. Auch in die Ausstellung fließen Ergebnisse des Workshops über die Freiheit des Raumes ein, der an der Universität Luxemburg unter der Leitung von Dr. Katrin Becker abgehalten wurde.
Allied Aliens
29.11.2018
Milan
In their Freiraum project, the Oslo-Milan tandem have above all been addressing the issues of "exclusion" and "inclusion". The result of their collaboration is Allied Aliens, an improvisational theatre production by Jan Bosse, one of Europe's most renowned directors. The piece was premiered in May in Oslo and then staged in Milan as well. In this improvisational performance, the actors ask on stage what it means to be foreign and what it means to be familiar. Modou Gueye from Senegal, who has been living in Milan for thirty years, Camara Joof from Oslo, the daughter of Norwegian and Gambian parents, and Gama Kipulu, an Italian actress of Congolese origin, play up and with their identities, asking about the difference between being a foreigner and feeling like a foreigner. After the performance, the audience had an opportunity to talk to the director and the cast. Jan Bosse: "Free spaces are in-between spaces – often little niches at first, until they grow bigger and bigger and develop into real realms of freedom. In my field, the theatre, the free, shared creative space in which to develop a play or project has to be reinvented, redeveloped, reclaimed in every single work."
Video recording of Allied Aliens, Oslo, 10 May 2018
A collaborative production by local partners Sunugal (Milan) and the Hedda Foundation (Oslo). Under the auspices of the Comune di Milano for the 60th anniversary of the Goethe-Institut Milan.
Film premiere: Strike of '88: No Freedom Without Solidarity
27.11.2018
Krakow
In 1988, the strike at the steelworks in Nowa Huta, the last major workers' strike in the People's Republic of Poland, was brutally suppressed. It was nevertheless a historic turning point that made it clear that the authoritarian regime was doomed.
Thirty years on, as part of the seminar "Solidarność – A Closed Chapter?" at Jagiellonian University’s Institute of Sociology in Krakow, students have now interviewed former strikers about the events. Those interviews formed the basis of the film Strike '88: No Freedom Without Solidarity , Krakow's contribution to the pan-European Freiraum project. In their conversations with close to thirty former Solidarność activists, the students ask not only about the strike itself, but also about the strikers’ motives, their various forms of resistance and everyday aspects of solidarity. And the question: What kind of freedom were they actually fighting for?
KRIK-Festival
21.11-19.12.2018
Skopje
The CRIC festival in Skopje tackles the relevant political issues such as human rights, right to culture, identity issues, violence, public space and community building. The Copenhagen Architecture festivalinvestigates the role and impact of architecture in our lives and the impact of the architecture on the public space. The core areas of the both festivals explore the concept of freedom combined in two separate movies that will be presented during the CRIC festival in December in Skopje.
Interdisciplinary workshop for high school and university teachers
5.10-7.10.2018
Sofia
People have inflicted and still inflict injustice and suffering on others. Wars, mass violence, social injustice, poverty, ethnic cleansing, crimes of all kinds (including by or in the name of the state) continually put to the test our capacity to perceive, understand and humanely cope with these forms of human interaction. Our question is: How can we talk positively about inflicted and experienced suffering? High school and university teachers, social workers and other practitioners are often confronted with this question and often have wide-ranging experience in conducting such conversations. This invitation to attend a Goethe-Institut workshop was addressed to all those who, in their capacity as instructors, authority figures and role models, have accepted the challenge of talking to young people about matters that can cause deep rifts between us rather than shoring up our sense of community.
Venue: Goethe-Institut Sofia
Dresden – Tallinn: Freedom to be Free II
03.10-28.10.2018
Dresden
At various locations in and around Dresden’s Schloss Albrechtsberg, the Kunsthaus Dresden, in an exchange with Estonian artists, discussed the strategies which art employs in an age of rampant populism and political rancour. Aspects of democracy and the state of artistic freedom were explored in an exhibition as well as panel discussions, concerts and workshops.
Featuring: Svea Duwe, Manaf Halbouni, Sven Johne, Daniel Kahn, Flo Kasearu, Kristina Norman, Max Kowalewski, Raul Walch, Theatre NO99, Tools for Action, Jaan Toomik, Center for Political Beauty et al.
Helsinki - Sofia
21.09-23.09.2018
Helsinki
Festival Nomads at the STOA Cultural Centre in Helsinki
21 Sept.: Screening of the experimental film Every Month (1940–2013) & My Dream(slide-show, 57 slides), both by Dimitar Shopov: For the Freiraum project, Bulgarian artists Vera Mlechevska and Dimitar Shopov were invited to Helsinki to work there and collaborate with local artists. The resulting works were presented at the Nomads Festival.
22 Sept.: Performance of Cruel Nature by Vera Mlechevska: Sofia-based artist Vera Mlechevska studies “urban nature”, i.e. manifestations of nature in cities. In this performance she presented the results of her stay in Helsinki and her exchange with local artists.
Krakow - Sarajevo
21.09.2018
Krakow
Sarajevo’s Freiraum film – about the question: Where are the girls? – was screened – in the Bosnian director’s presence – on 21 September 2018 at a feminist conference in Krakow. Krakow has also answered Sarajevo’s question – How can we raise awareness of the importance of freedom today? – in a film made in collaboration with Jagiellonian University.
There Is No Freedom Without Solidarity (Nie ma Wolnosci bez Solidarnosci) is about the events of 1988, shortly before the fall of Communism in Poland. 30 years later, students at Jagiellonian University asked those involved in the struggles in the Nowa Huta factories at the time what kind of freedom they were fighting for. In this moving documentary, the former factory workers talk about what freedom means to them, then and now.
Directed by Beata Kowalska and Inga Hajdarowicz in collaboration with students at Jagiellonian University Krakow
35 minutes, in Polish with English subtitles
The Collective Individual Exercises - hugging, walking, laughing exercises
14.09-15.09.2018
Tallinn
Isaac Chong Wai has put together a series of performances entitled “The Collective Individual Exercises”. They address the tensions between society and the individual, between the public and private spheres. Chong works with people from a wide range of different cultures and from all walks of life. His choreography explores how community comes into being, how solidarity develops. About thirty people can take part in the performance in Tallinn. Chong has already tested his concept in the Netherlands, South Korea and China. So we’re eager to see the Estonian version now.
14.9.: The performance was followed by a screening of Sarah Vanhee’s film The Making of Justice and, after that, an informal discussion of the performance.
15.9.: The performance was followed by a screening of Sven Johne’s short film A Sense of Warmth and, after that, an informal discussion of the performance.
Both evening programmes took place at Kanuti Gildi SAAL, Pikk 20, Tallinn.
Timisoara (Bukarest) - Vilnius
14.09-16.09.2018
Timisoara
PLAI Festival
Festival tent with workshops, games & panel discussions
How do you boost tolerance in society? That's the question the Lithuanian team were asked to grapple with. The response from Vilnius: You have to talk about and heighten awareness of tolerance, put yourself in the shoes of the socially stigmatized. ¬At¬ the Plai Festival in Timisoara, Romania, workshops and panel discussions for young and old were held in our tent all weekend under the banner “Humans for Tolerance”.
Thessaloniki - Carlisle
08.09-16.09.2018
Thessaloniki
Presentation of ongoing projects by Evi Karathanasopoulou and Thomas Koch as part of the Artecitya project in Thessaloniki during the “Art – Science–Technology Festival”.
INTERACTIVE WORKSHOPS RUN BY ARTISTS & MEDIA PEOPLE
23.08.2018
Dublin
Under the motto “Taking Spaces, Going Places”, Dublin will be hosting a Freiraum meet-up. The object is to overcome barriers and create realms of freedom. Accompanied by three Dublin artists or media people, the participants will explore the city as an urban Freiraum or “realm of freedom”. The results will then be displayed in a “walking gallery”.
Interactive photo installation in Genoa and Turin
11-15.07.2018
Turin
1-4.07.2018
Genoa
In recent months, YEPP (“Youth Empowerment Partnership Programme”), the Goethe-Institut’s project partners in Genoa and Turin, have been working on the Freiraum issue raised by the tandem city of Stockholm. A photo workshop was held in Turin with Italian and four Swedish youths in February. The results were presented in June in the form of a photographic installation and an interactive game in both Turin and Genoa. The game draws the audience into the young people's discussion. The installation uses 6 stories and 26 pictures to convey what the young people feel are restrictions on their freedom – and how they overcome these obstacles.
Presentation at the Mitt127 Festival in Stockholm
28.06-29.06.2018
Stockholm
Six young people from YEPP (“Youth Empowerment Partnership Programme”), the project partner of the Goethe-Instituts Turin and Genoa, will travel to Stockholm to meet their Swedish counterparts. The Swedish youths will present a response to the Italian question that they’ve put together in workshops held by Stockholm’s project partners Magazin EXPO and Mitt127, who will also hold a workshop with the Italian contingent addressing the Swedish question.
Paris - Ljubljana: Meeting in public space
16.06.2018
Paris
Singing and debating in the streets of Paris: as their contribution to the Freiraum project, the Slovenian women's choir Kombinat will be performing international protest songs in public. The idea is to engage passers-by in a conversation with Slovenian artists, to get a discussion going about various aspects of freedom. How can we coexist freely in Europe? How can we get along with immigrants and refugees? What do we mean when we talk about freedom and free space, what do we associate with these concepts? The conclusions and ideas aired in this discussion will be captured in video interviews. And Ljubljana is holding a writing workshop this autumn to process and elaborate on the results from Paris.
A project involving the collaboration of Mériam Korichi (Nuits de la Philosophie) and the Slovenian women's choir Kombinat.
Dresden – Tallinn: Freedom to be free
15.06-22.07.2018
Dresden
To usher in the first phase of their collaboration, Dresden and Tallinn will hold a series of joint exhibitions and events at Dresden’s Kunsthaus exploring issues of freedom in Europe. Meanwhile, as a kind of preview, the Kanuti Gildi SAAL art space in Tallinn will be showing selected thematic works by contemporary Estonian artists (including Kristina Norman and 10x10 meters).
Oslo – Milan: Intercultural improvisational theatre
10.05.2018
Oslo
An open picnic is to be held in Oslo: it’s called “First Supper” – after The Last Supper, Da Vinci's famous mural in Milan. The picnic will be followed by an improv piece directed by German theatre director Jan Bosse, featuring Modou Gueye, a Senegalese actor and Goethe-Institut Milan partner, interacting with Camara Joof, an Oslo actress of Norwegian and Gambian parentage. The Norwegian partner on this project is Den mangfaldige scenen, Liv Hege Skagestad’s theatre group in Oslo, which works with immigrant communities on a regular basis.
30.04.2020
Copenhagen
Reading group/workshop
The Temporary Academy of Arts (PAT), a flexible academy of para-institutional action, based in Athens, invites you to a reading group/workshop on the subject of WASTE. Who and what is considered useful and worthy, who and what is considered a waste, within the urgent, critical situation of Europe and the globe facing severe economical, ecological and humanitarian strains and the rising of terrifying walls? We will explore the notion of WASTE, philosophically, culturally and economically and the new connotations attributed to it under the current political circumstances. Please bring along your examples, case studies and proposals on the subject in order to visualize an anti-WASTE front. Elpida Karaba of PAT coordinates the reading group/workshop.
Venue: KADK Biblioteket for Arkitektur, Design, Konservering & Scenekunst
Danneskiold-Samsøes Allé 50, 1434 Copenhagen, Denmark
Guest: PAT
Language: ENG
Workshop 3 - Rome
02.03-04.03.2020
Online
The 3rd Freiraum Workshop, jointly planned with the anti-Mafia association DaSud and Goethe-Institut Rome, was initially planned to be held in Rome from 2–4 March 2020, but instead took place online due to the spread of the coronavirus in Italy. 15 Freiraum partners all over Europe, from Thessaloniki to Carlisle via Copenhagen, Brussels and Belgrade, met up for two and a half days. They worked on the Freiraum Mission Statement and Manifesto and engaged in an intensive exchange of ideas about the programme for other Freiraum events to be held this year in Skopje and Brussels. Although there’s no real substitute for getting together in person, everyone was surprised how good the e-workshop format was – including our health and environment. So there’s a lot to be said for a more sustainable Freiraum!
Workshop 2 - Bratislava
20.11-22.11.2019
The second Freiraum workshop took place in cooperation with Milan Zvada (Záhrada, Banská Bystrica) on 20.-22.11.2019 at the Goethe-Institut Bratislava. Freiraum partners from all over Europe met there and discussed the topics: freedom of opinion, freedom of press and education.
Workshop 1 - Thessaloniki
19.10-22.10.2019
The first workshop of the second phase of the Freiraum project focused on the main principles of the Freiraum-platform and its future. Post-Europe was also debated internally and during a public conference, broadcasted live for all Freiraum members and general audiences. Performances, using Freiraum's Mobile Stage invited citizens to express their perspective and their dreams of Europe.
Free Space - a Case Study of Red and Blue in Rijeka, Croatia
30.03-26.04.2019
LUXEMBOURG
Speculative Design Installation
The installation focuses on two housing complexes In Rijeka (Croatia), Red and Blue, designed in 1978. Their architect Ninoslav Kučan wanted to create a complex that will fulfil the basic needs of its tenants. Therefore, he planned a promenade in between the complexes with shops, kindergarten, bars, meeting places, etc. But ideas in architecture are only sometimes realized as planned, sometimes they are totally rejected, or, as in most cases, only partially realized.
The installation is based on a comparative analysis of those two complexes, trying to find out why certain decisions were taken and how those decisions impacted on the lives of the present tenants. The designers Leo Kirinčić and Maša Poljanec wanted to explore how space organization influences social organization, and vice versa. They also wanted to find out how our freedom is related to the space where we spend most of our time. The results were translated into an installation that gives insight into a specific social context and a very original idea of Red and Blue buildings, into the narratives of tenants, and into speculative scenarios for the future use of the promenade.
Venue: LUCA Luxembourg Center for Architecture, 1 rue de l’Aciérie, L-1112 Luxembourg
Admission free.
FREIRAUM in Berlin
12.03-17.03.2019
On the State of Freedom in Europe: Exhibition, discussion, concert, performance in Berlin
For the Freiraum project, the Goethe-Institut is drawing on its Europe-wide network to kindle dialogue between partners from the cultural sector and civil society and, in two-city tandems, to look into some crucial and highly topical questions: What is the state of freedom in present-day Europe? Where is it at risk? How can we shore it up? Artistic and discursive formats addressing these issues have been created in about forty different places all over Europe. And projects from Nicosia to Carlisle, from Madrid to Tallinn, have been presented to the public since early summer 2017.
In association with the ZK/U – Center for Art and Urbanistics and the Mercator Foundation, selected Freiraum tandems will present the results of their exchange.The programme includes an exhibition of videos and installations as well as film screenings, discussions, performances, and concerts. The Mercator Foundation is hosting a so-called “Open Situation Room”, an experimental event in which German and international experts, Freiraum partners, local activists and politicians will discuss various aspects of freedom.
Venues:
ZK/U — Center for Art and Urbanistics: Siemensstraße 27, 10551 Berlin
Mercator Centre Berlin: Neue Promenade 6, 10178 Berlin
Language: English
In cooperation with ZK/U - Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik
Sponsored by Stiftung Mercator
Media partners: ARTE, die tageszeitung and rbb Kulturradio.
Escape Room – A Myth About Freedom
08.03.2019
Riga
Creative team: Mārtiņš Eihe, Laila Burāne, Agate Bankava, Artūrs Čukurs, Ieva Kauliņa
Produced by: Theatre "Ģertrūdes ielas teātris", Riga
“Escape Room” invites its audience to take part in an interactive performance and experience a myth about freedom. In order to maintain peace between the warring nations, every year the inhabitants of Athens must send seven boys and seven girls to Crete. The sacrificial victims are sent into the labyrinth where they are devoured by Minotaur – a monster with a bull's head and a man's body. The hero Theseus decides to bring an end to this slaughter and goes to Crete where, with the help of Ariadne, the ruler's daughter and half-sister to Minotaur, he kills the Minotaur and saves the innocent youths and maidens.
The myth about the labyrinth serves as the basis of the performance, staged by the creative team as three different and incompatible stories about a single, unifying event from the perspectives of the three characters – Theseus, Minotaur, Ariadne. Together with the audience the performers will use the lens of Ancient Greek mythology to consider questions relevant to today's world: the coexistence of differing opinions, the choice between the status quo and change, that which is different and its place in society, and our responsibility towards each other. The views of the audience decide the course of the performance and their collective path through the labyrinth. Each choice has its weight and it becomes increasingly difficult to step off the well-trodden path. “Escape Room” does not ask its audience to break free but rather demands an answer to the question: When are we free?
“Escape Room” was created as part of the project „Freiraum“ – a project of the Goethe-Institutes in Europe in cooperation with 53 institutions from culture, science and civil society. Until March 2019, around 40 European cities will explore the issue: What is freedom in Europe today? Where is it endangered? How do we strengthen it? A special exchange connected the Theatre “Ģertrūdes ielas teātris” in Riga and the theatre company “Image Aigue” in Lyon, France, which works with actors from different cultures, backgrounds and ages. Together, they examined questions about freedom in both cities and societies.
"Escape Room" is a production of the Theatre “Ģertrūdes ielas teātris”, Riga, created as part of the Europe-wide project "Freiraum" of the Goethe-Institut e.V. and supported by State Culture Capital Foundation, Latvia.
Performance von Eva Meyer-Keller und Präsentation des Bandes "A City Curating Reader. Public Art Munich 2018"
02.03.2019
Tallinn
Dieser Reader nimmt die Stadt München als Fallbeispiel und dokumentiert die Projekte von PUBLIC ART MUNICH 2018 und ihre Auseinandersetzung mit politischen, ideologischen und ökonomischen Verschiebungen: von der Gründung der Bayrischen Räterepublik 1919 bis zur Ankunft von Geflüchteten am Hauptbahnhof 2015. Der Band stellt Kunst in einen Zusammenhang mit allgemeineren Fragen nach der Grammatik von ‚Öffentlichkeit‘. Er reflektiert das Konzept einer kontextbezogenen Stadtkuratierung anhand von Beispielen performativer Kunst, die sich in Minuten, nicht in Quadratmetern entfaltet.
Künstlerische Arbeiten, Gespräche und Essays erzählen davon, wie Kunst Begegnungen mit dem Unbekannten kultiviert, das Ungewöhnliche verhandelbar macht und Gegenöffentlichkeit provoziert.
Diese Publikation erscheint anlässlich PUBLIC ART MUNICH 2018 Game Changers, kuratiert von Joanna Warsza.
Ein Kunstprojekt der Landeshauptstadt München.
Wonderful! Thinking Is Not Prohibited - Theatrical enactments and photo exhibition in Lyon by kids and grown-ups
21.02.2019
Lyon
A playful exchange on the subject of freedom – for the whole family
What is freedom? And what's the point of thinking about it anyway? How do we relate to others in terms of freedom and how do we share freedom with others? What is the purpose, importance and power of education? The public are invited to express their opinions in playful, artistic and poetic ways by means of an exhibition of photographic portraits. Do you agree with what these people are saying? Yes? No? Why or why not? Brief enacted scenes illustrate and reinforce these questions from a humorous angle. This event is designed by director Christiane Véricel and photographer Victoria May, in collaboration with cultural actors in Riga, for the Goethe-Institut’s Freiraum project.
Venue: Goethe-Institut Lyon, 18 rue François Dauphin, 69002 Lyon, France
International experts talk about markets in Prague and Marseille
19.02.2019
Prague
Discussion
FREIRAUM – City Development and Ethnic Markets in Marseille and Prague
How relevant are urban ethnic markets to the city panning? What is the role of such a market in the life of the people who work there and use it? Let’s explore the visual impressions from Marseille’s flea market and Prague’s SAPA as experienced by their communities and discuss questions of informal and popular representation of the places, diversity, and experiences lived by people who interact with these places regularly. The discussion is the final event of the Freiraum project, a collaboration of the Goethe-Institut, the Institute for Democracy 21 and the publishing house Hors D’Atteinte. Freiraum is a project of the Goethe-Instituts in Europe in cooperation with 53 actors from culture, science and civil society. The aim of the project is to assess the state of freedom in Europe’s cities. What are the issues that come up when residents, sociologists and creative artists think about the concept of “freedom” in very local terms?
SPEAKERS
Magdalena Rejzkova is a Czech journalist living in Marseille. She is currently working at the cultural center of Villa Mediterranean. Magdalena writes for various Czech news sites, and runs the blog Bujabéza where she writes about her life and experiences in Marseille. She is a co-author of the book Chtěj Marsej – průvodce pro lidi, co chtěj!, an “untraditional guide to Marseille and Provence, which wants to show that France is not just lavender, Paris, and wine… and presents France with its current problems and people who want to address them.”
Samuel Johnson-Schlee is a lecturer in human geography at London South Bank University. His research falls under three broad themes: urban inequality and marginalization, material cultures and consumption in everyday life, urban epistemology. He has written about urban markets and the experiences of rapid urban change, focusing on the themes of social inequality, food consumption, marginality and precariousness, popular representations of place.
Marie Hermann is co-founder of the publishing house Hors d’Atteinte—one of the partner organizations of the Freiraum project. Hors d’atteinte aims at creating new analytical grids for a changing contemporary world, giving hope to those who struggle, and offering space for traditionally excluded voices. The key areas of work include issues of gender, environment, urbanization, racism, contemporary media, and populism.
Tereza Freidingerová is an academic researcher and lecturer, currently working as project coordinator for People in Need- Migration Awareness programme. She holds a PhD in social geography from Charles University, with a thesis on migration and adaptation tendencies of the Vietnamese in Czech Republic, and publishes regularly on topics of Czech integration policy, and relations between foreigners and Czech majority.
MODERATION
Ira Bliatka studied International Politics at UCL, and completed a PhD at Aberystwyth University, specializing in topics of international migration and the geography of border areas. She started working as Senior Researcher at the Institute for Democracy 21 in September 2017, focusing on issues of public space and participation of marginalized communities.
Creative Arts Programme
27.09.2018-28.02.2019
Dublin
This project is about initiating 10th-graders into places where they haven’t previously felt they belonged: theatres, art galleries, creative writing centres and concert halls. The Trinity Access Programme and the Goethe-Institut Ireland, in association with the City Arts Office, offer a cultural programme designed to introduce schoolchildren to new ways of thinking and expressing themselves artistically, and to help them to feel more at home in the cultural sphere. In a series of five workshops the students got an interactive introduction to various aspects of the creative arts.
27 September 2018: A day at the Goethe-Institut, Trinity College and LAB Gallery
Introduction to the cultural scene and the Freiraum project. Workshop on "Street Photography with Your Mobile Phone" with Vanessa Ifediora. Instawalk to Trinity College, luncheon, walk to LAB Gallery. Visit to Sean O'Rourke’s exhibition "Cultural Osmosis", followed by a workshop with artists from the LAB panel.
25 October 2018: A day with Fighting Words
The aim of Fighting Words is to “help children and young people, and adults who did not have this opportunity as children, to discover and harness the power of their own imaginations and creative writing skills”. “It is about using the creative practice of writing and storytelling to strengthen our children and teenagers – from a wide range of backgrounds – to be resilient, creative and successful shapers of their own lives.”
29 November 2018: A day at the Fishamble Theatre
Fishamble is an internationally renowned Irish theatre that develops and produces new plays. With its extensive training, development and mentoring programme, Fishamble supports 60% of the writers of all the new plays produced on the island of Ireland every year.
31 January 2019: A day at the Abbey Theatre
The Abbey Theatre is the National Theatre of Ireland. Its mission is “to imaginatively engage with all of Irish society through the production of ambitious, courageous and new theatre in all its forms”. It is committed to promoting “inclusiveness, diversity and equality” in its every endeavour.
28 February 2019: A day at the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM)
The Royal Irish Academy of Music is “a home of musical excellence and dynamism, a place of teaching and learning which consistently achieves its objective of transmitting and maintaining the highest standards of performance and appreciation in all musical disciplines”. The students will take part in a workshop on understanding music and an introduction to music theory. They will also have an opportunity to try out various instruments.
European Languages and Cultures Programme
The aim of this project is to introduce 10th-grade students to European cultural institutes around the city of Dublin. The Trinity Access Programme and the Goethe-Institut Ireland have organized a five-day programme to give students an opportunity “to explore the food, language, literature, theatre and cinema of other European cultures”. The programme is also “a great taster course for anyone thinking of studying French, German, Spanish or Italian at university level”.
Children of Freedom: A documentary film and photo exhibition for the European Freiraum project
30.01.2019
Bukarest
Lithuania was the first Baltic country to declare its independence from the USSR, in 1990. Over the course of fifty years as a Soviet republic, Lithuanians succeeded in preserving their national identity and culture, their history and, in particular, their language. In the wake of the collapse of the Soviet empire, the Lithuanian nation experienced a resurgence and showed how freedom can be preserve sustained under a repressive regime through courage and dignity.
We traveled to Vilnius and discovered a city which, after 28 years of freedom, seems reborn. There’s hardly a trace of communism or past oppression. We experienced Vilnius as a very Western city with a cosmopolitan population in harmony with the values of the European Union. We met young people who want to study abroad (mainly in the UK and, as their second choice, the US), and then to come back home and invest in the development of their country. These young people find the Lithuanian education system too theory-oriented, and they know that if they want to promote their country’s development, they need to see the world for themselves – and studying abroad is a good way to do it. But they’re definitely not disappointed by their country and they feel they have their parents’ support.
– Ruxandra Țuchel, filmmaker
Children of Freedom is a film about free choice, about the courage to say "no" and the need to experience the world for oneself.
Director: Ruxandra Țuchel
Camera and Editing: Silviu Andrei
Sound: Valentin Bartolomeu
Production Assistant: Mariana Ioniță
The Big Conversation on Safety
26.01.2019
Brussels
As part of the Freiraum project, the Goethe-Institut and the Beursschouwburg arts centre in Brussels organise "The Big Conversation on Security and Freedom”, an experimental participatory discussion event about security and freedom. Brussels (partnered with the Beursschouwburg) and Warsaw (partnered with the Fundacja Panoptykon) form a Freiraum tandem and would like to invite experts and interested members of the general public from Belgium, Germany and Poland to get together on 26 January to discuss security-related issues such as fears, filter bubbles, comfort zones, security zones and privacy. The discussion will be held at eight tables simultaneously.
Featured speakers include
Katarzyna Szymielewicz, jurist and data security expert at Fundacja Panoptykon, on data protection and Internet security
Researcher Dietmar Kammerer on surveillance
Schaerbeek resident Pé Verhoeven on vigilante groups
Lawyer Alexis Deswaef on sanctuary {sicheres Zuhause} and security for refugees
Author Yasmien Naciri on hate speech
Public prosecutor and author Rachida Lamrabet on the burqa as protection for women
Author and Journalist Hasnain Kazim, who (during the break) will read from his bookPost von Karlheinz: Wütende Mails von richtigen Deutschen - und was ich ihnen antworte (“Karlheinz’s E-mails: Hate mail from real Germans – and what I reply”).
Venue: Beursschouwburg, Rue Auguste Orts – Auguste Ortsstraat 20–28, 1000 Brussels
Polit-Party: Can elections be won through cultural policy?
19.01.2019
Tallinn
Can elections be won through cultural policy? What role does cultural policy play in the election campaigns of various parties? How is it reflected in party platforms? In the run-up to the parliamentary elections in Estonia in March 2019, Kanuti Gildi SAAL are holding a “polit-party” at which representatives of Estonia's major political parties will discuss their plans and ideas for culture and the arts in Estonia. The event is part of the Goethe-Institut’s FREIRAUM project. It’s bound to prove exciting when a bunch of politicians get together to debate the issues with one another and field the public’s questions and comments.
Venue: Kanuti Gildi SAAL, Pikk 20, Tallinn
Präsentation der Workshopergebnisse WAS IST GLÜCK?
19.01.2019
Barcelona
Goethe-Institut in 42 europäischen Städten haben sich im Projekt FREIRAUM mit der Frage beschäftigt: Was ist heute Freiheit in Europa? Wo ist sie in Gefahr? Wie können wir sie stärken? Die Goethe-Institute in Barcelona und Madrid haben gemeinsam mit dem Instituto de Cultura Gitana, der Fundación Secretariado Gitano und der Fundación La Joven Compañía ein Projekt entwickelt, das sich um folgende Frage dreht: Was bedeutet für Dich Glück? Angeleitet durch erfahrene Tanz- und Theaterpädogogen der Joven Compañía haben Jugendliche Roma in Barcelona in vier Sitzungen Antworten auf diese Frage erarbeitet und begonnen, diese mit Bewegung und Stimme zum Ausdruck zu bringen. Am Ende des vierten Workshop-Tages werden die Ergebnisse öffentlich präsentiert. Die Theaterworkshops werden angeleitet von den Regisseur*innen Josep Maria Mestres und Laura Rubio und dem Tänzer Andoni Larrabeiti. Außerdem werden Paco Suárez, Komponist und Leiter des Orquestra Sinfónica Gitana Europa und Juan Frendsa, Schauspieler und Dramatiker, der mit der Joven Cia. gearbeitet hat, mitwirken.
Theaterworkshop WAS IST GLÜCK? mit La Joven Compania
11-12.01.2019 and 18-19.01.2019
Barcelona
Theaterworkshop mit jugendlichen Roma
Freiraum bringt Goethe-Institute in 42 europäischen Städten zusammen, die sich mit der Frage beschäftigen: Was ist heute Freiheit in Europa? Wo ist sie in Gefahr? Wie können wir sie stärken? Die Goethe-Institute in Barcelona und Madrid haben in dem Kontext gemeinsam mit dem Instituto de Cultura Gitana, der Fundación Secretariado Gitano und der Stiftung Junges Theater ein Projekt entwickelt, das sich um folgende Frage dreht: Was bedeutet für Dich Glück? Angeleitet durch erfahrene Tanz- und Theaterpädogogen werden ca. 30 Jugendliche Roma in Madrid und Barcelona in vier Sitzungen Antworten auf diese Frage erarbeiten und mit Bewegung und Stimme zum Ausdruck bringen. Die Theaterworkshops werden angeleitet von den Regisseur*innen Josep Maria Mestres und Laura Rubio und dem Tänzer Andoni Larrabeiti. Außerdem werden Paco Suárez, Komponist und Leiter des Orquestra Sinfónica Gitana Europa und Juan Frendsa, Schauspieler und Dramatiker, der mit der Joven Cia. gearbeitet hat, mitwirken. Nach den ersten Workshops in Barcelona und Madrid werden die Teilnehmer aus beiden Städten in Madrid zusammen ein weiteres Wochenende an dem Thema arbeiten und das Ergebnis bei dem Internationalen Festival der Kulturen im Matadero in Madrid zeigen. Die Workshops sind an Jugendliche Roma zwischen 16 und 27 Jahren gerichtet. Sie sind kostenlos und werden vom Goethe-Institut finanziert.
What are free spaces?
07.12.2018
Tirana
Are there – or were there ever – any in Tirana? What goes on in and with these spaces? The Freiraum project is using artistic approaches to seek answers to these questions. To this end, photographer Anjeza Hoxha is exploring Tirana’s public space, its buildings, streets and squares. Beyond privatization and control, she has discovered a dialogue between epochs and generations that was previously invisible. She has found places where people make use of freedom, or cope with the lack of freedom, in very different ways. Musician Fatos Qerimi was inspired by the question as to whether freedom is an opportunity or a burden. His new composition, premiered by his young 13-member ensemble, explores various elements of traditional music. Afterwards, urban researcher Karsten Schulz and writer Arian Leka discussed the underlying issues with the public.
Escape Room Workshops
14.10-2.12.2018
Riga
The idea for the theatre production Escape Room grew out of the Freiraum collaboration between Riga and Lyon. In this performative staging, the participants seek to find out more about how we make decisions about freedom: What does freedom mean to us? How do we react when it is curtailed? Would we willingly give up some of our liberties? Or are we perhaps already doing just that? Escape Room confronts the audience with these questions, provoking and inviting them to reflect on how we deal with our own freedom and that of others. In the run-up to the production, three workshops were held in which everyone stressed different aspects of freedom. The general public were invited to participate.
Workshop 1: Freedom Auction
14 October 2018, 4 hours, 10 participants
The object of this workshop was to ask how vital freedom is to people: Are they willing to give up liberties in exchange for something else? What are the consequences of such a trade-off? Which liberties do they treasure most and why?
Workshop 2: Manipulation and Freedom - An Algorithm
10 November 2018, 4 hours, 10 participants
We looked at how algorithms influence many different areas of our lives, especially online. Where do we draw the line and how do we react when the line is crossed? Or, when it comes down to it, are we utterly unconcerned about the increasing power of algorithms?
Workshop 3: Enter the Labyrinth
2 December 2018, 4 hours, 10 participants
Here we sought to bring together the results of the two previous workshops and understand the complex relationship between control and freedom. When and how do we know we're being manipulated? How do we react and how can we protect ourselves against manipulation?
Luxflux Rijeka
30.11.2018
Rijeka
Der Verein Drugo more und das Goethe-Institut Kroatien laden zur eintägigen Veranstaltung Luxflux Rijeka, die im großen Saal und in der Galerie Filodrammatica (Korzo 28/1, Rijeka) am Freitag, den 30. November 2018, mit Beginn um 19:00 Uhr stattfinden wird. Im großen Filodrammatica-Saal wird um 19:00 Uhr das Stück The Place, It Has a Name vorgestellt, das sich auf der Grenzlinie zwischen künstlerischer Installation, Performance und postdramatischem Theater bewegt. Entstanden in Zusammenarbeit zwischen dem Dramaturgen Ian De Toffoli, der Schauspielerin Elsa Rauchs, der Künstlerin Lisa Kohl und dem Ton und Lichtdesigner Karl Humbug definiert dieses Stück den „Freiraum“ und befasst sich mit dessen Bedeutung für uns alle. Es beruht auf Aussagen zur Freiheit, die im Rahmen des unter der Leitung von Maša Poljanec und Leo Kirinčić abgehaltenen Workshops in Rijeka mit Studenten der Akademie der bildenden Künste und der Philosophischen Fakultät der Universität Rijeka erarbeitet wurden. Im Anschluss an die Performance wird in der Galerie von Filodrammatica um 20:00 Uhr das Designerduo Leo Kirinčić und Maša Poljanec die Installation Studija slučaja Crvene i Plave (Fallstudie von Rot und Blau) vorstellen. Auch in die Ausstellung fließen Ergebnisse des Workshops über die Freiheit des Raumes ein, der an der Universität Luxemburg unter der Leitung von Dr. Katrin Becker abgehalten wurde.
Allied Aliens
29.11.2018
Milan
In their Freiraum project, the Oslo-Milan tandem have above all been addressing the issues of "exclusion" and "inclusion". The result of their collaboration is Allied Aliens, an improvisational theatre production by Jan Bosse, one of Europe's most renowned directors. The piece was premiered in May in Oslo and then staged in Milan as well. In this improvisational performance, the actors ask on stage what it means to be foreign and what it means to be familiar. Modou Gueye from Senegal, who has been living in Milan for thirty years, Camara Joof from Oslo, the daughter of Norwegian and Gambian parents, and Gama Kipulu, an Italian actress of Congolese origin, play up and with their identities, asking about the difference between being a foreigner and feeling like a foreigner. After the performance, the audience had an opportunity to talk to the director and the cast. Jan Bosse: "Free spaces are in-between spaces – often little niches at first, until they grow bigger and bigger and develop into real realms of freedom. In my field, the theatre, the free, shared creative space in which to develop a play or project has to be reinvented, redeveloped, reclaimed in every single work."
Video recording of Allied Aliens, Oslo, 10 May 2018
A collaborative production by local partners Sunugal (Milan) and the Hedda Foundation (Oslo). Under the auspices of the Comune di Milano for the 60th anniversary of the Goethe-Institut Milan.
Film premiere: Strike of '88: No Freedom Without Solidarity
27.11.2018
Krakow
In 1988, the strike at the steelworks in Nowa Huta, the last major workers' strike in the People's Republic of Poland, was brutally suppressed. It was nevertheless a historic turning point that made it clear that the authoritarian regime was doomed.
Thirty years on, as part of the seminar "Solidarność – A Closed Chapter?" at Jagiellonian University’s Institute of Sociology in Krakow, students have now interviewed former strikers about the events. Those interviews formed the basis of the film Strike '88: No Freedom Without Solidarity , Krakow's contribution to the pan-European Freiraum project. In their conversations with close to thirty former Solidarność activists, the students ask not only about the strike itself, but also about the strikers’ motives, their various forms of resistance and everyday aspects of solidarity. And the question: What kind of freedom were they actually fighting for?
KRIK-Festival
21.11-19.12.2018
Skopje
The CRIC festival in Skopje tackles the relevant political issues such as human rights, right to culture, identity issues, violence, public space and community building. The Copenhagen Architecture festivalinvestigates the role and impact of architecture in our lives and the impact of the architecture on the public space. The core areas of the both festivals explore the concept of freedom combined in two separate movies that will be presented during the CRIC festival in December in Skopje.
Interdisciplinary workshop for high school and university teachers
5.10-7.10.2018
Sofia
People have inflicted and still inflict injustice and suffering on others. Wars, mass violence, social injustice, poverty, ethnic cleansing, crimes of all kinds (including by or in the name of the state) continually put to the test our capacity to perceive, understand and humanely cope with these forms of human interaction. Our question is: How can we talk positively about inflicted and experienced suffering? High school and university teachers, social workers and other practitioners are often confronted with this question and often have wide-ranging experience in conducting such conversations. This invitation to attend a Goethe-Institut workshop was addressed to all those who, in their capacity as instructors, authority figures and role models, have accepted the challenge of talking to young people about matters that can cause deep rifts between us rather than shoring up our sense of community.
Venue: Goethe-Institut Sofia
Dresden – Tallinn: Freedom to be Free II
03.10-28.10.2018
Dresden
At various locations in and around Dresden’s Schloss Albrechtsberg, the Kunsthaus Dresden, in an exchange with Estonian artists, discussed the strategies which art employs in an age of rampant populism and political rancour. Aspects of democracy and the state of artistic freedom were explored in an exhibition as well as panel discussions, concerts and workshops.
Featuring: Svea Duwe, Manaf Halbouni, Sven Johne, Daniel Kahn, Flo Kasearu, Kristina Norman, Max Kowalewski, Raul Walch, Theatre NO99, Tools for Action, Jaan Toomik, Center for Political Beauty et al.
Helsinki - Sofia
21.09-23.09.2018
Helsinki
Festival Nomads at the STOA Cultural Centre in Helsinki
21 Sept.: Screening of the experimental film Every Month (1940–2013) & My Dream(slide-show, 57 slides), both by Dimitar Shopov: For the Freiraum project, Bulgarian artists Vera Mlechevska and Dimitar Shopov were invited to Helsinki to work there and collaborate with local artists. The resulting works were presented at the Nomads Festival.
22 Sept.: Performance of Cruel Nature by Vera Mlechevska: Sofia-based artist Vera Mlechevska studies “urban nature”, i.e. manifestations of nature in cities. In this performance she presented the results of her stay in Helsinki and her exchange with local artists.
Krakow - Sarajevo
21.09.2018
Krakow
Sarajevo’s Freiraum film – about the question: Where are the girls? – was screened – in the Bosnian director’s presence – on 21 September 2018 at a feminist conference in Krakow. Krakow has also answered Sarajevo’s question – How can we raise awareness of the importance of freedom today? – in a film made in collaboration with Jagiellonian University.
There Is No Freedom Without Solidarity (Nie ma Wolnosci bez Solidarnosci) is about the events of 1988, shortly before the fall of Communism in Poland. 30 years later, students at Jagiellonian University asked those involved in the struggles in the Nowa Huta factories at the time what kind of freedom they were fighting for. In this moving documentary, the former factory workers talk about what freedom means to them, then and now.
Directed by Beata Kowalska and Inga Hajdarowicz in collaboration with students at Jagiellonian University Krakow
35 minutes, in Polish with English subtitles
The Collective Individual Exercises - hugging, walking, laughing exercises
14.09-15.09.2018
Tallinn
Isaac Chong Wai has put together a series of performances entitled “The Collective Individual Exercises”. They address the tensions between society and the individual, between the public and private spheres. Chong works with people from a wide range of different cultures and from all walks of life. His choreography explores how community comes into being, how solidarity develops. About thirty people can take part in the performance in Tallinn. Chong has already tested his concept in the Netherlands, South Korea and China. So we’re eager to see the Estonian version now.
14.9.: The performance was followed by a screening of Sarah Vanhee’s film The Making of Justice and, after that, an informal discussion of the performance.
15.9.: The performance was followed by a screening of Sven Johne’s short film A Sense of Warmth and, after that, an informal discussion of the performance.
Both evening programmes took place at Kanuti Gildi SAAL, Pikk 20, Tallinn.
Timisoara (Bukarest) - Vilnius
14.09-16.09.2018
Timisoara
PLAI Festival
Festival tent with workshops, games & panel discussions
How do you boost tolerance in society? That's the question the Lithuanian team were asked to grapple with. The response from Vilnius: You have to talk about and heighten awareness of tolerance, put yourself in the shoes of the socially stigmatized. ¬At¬ the Plai Festival in Timisoara, Romania, workshops and panel discussions for young and old were held in our tent all weekend under the banner “Humans for Tolerance”.
Thessaloniki - Carlisle
08.09-16.09.2018
Thessaloniki
Presentation of ongoing projects by Evi Karathanasopoulou and Thomas Koch as part of the Artecitya project in Thessaloniki during the “Art – Science–Technology Festival”.
INTERACTIVE WORKSHOPS RUN BY ARTISTS & MEDIA PEOPLE
23.08.2018
Dublin
Under the motto “Taking Spaces, Going Places”, Dublin will be hosting a Freiraum meet-up. The object is to overcome barriers and create realms of freedom. Accompanied by three Dublin artists or media people, the participants will explore the city as an urban Freiraum or “realm of freedom”. The results will then be displayed in a “walking gallery”.
Interactive photo installation in Genoa and Turin
11-15.07.2018
Turin
1-4.07.2018
Genoa
In recent months, YEPP (“Youth Empowerment Partnership Programme”), the Goethe-Institut’s project partners in Genoa and Turin, have been working on the Freiraum issue raised by the tandem city of Stockholm. A photo workshop was held in Turin with Italian and four Swedish youths in February. The results were presented in June in the form of a photographic installation and an interactive game in both Turin and Genoa. The game draws the audience into the young people's discussion. The installation uses 6 stories and 26 pictures to convey what the young people feel are restrictions on their freedom – and how they overcome these obstacles.
Presentation at the Mitt127 Festival in Stockholm
28.06-29.06.2018
Stockholm
Six young people from YEPP (“Youth Empowerment Partnership Programme”), the project partner of the Goethe-Instituts Turin and Genoa, will travel to Stockholm to meet their Swedish counterparts. The Swedish youths will present a response to the Italian question that they’ve put together in workshops held by Stockholm’s project partners Magazin EXPO and Mitt127, who will also hold a workshop with the Italian contingent addressing the Swedish question.
Paris - Ljubljana: Meeting in public space
16.06.2018
Paris
Singing and debating in the streets of Paris: as their contribution to the Freiraum project, the Slovenian women's choir Kombinat will be performing international protest songs in public. The idea is to engage passers-by in a conversation with Slovenian artists, to get a discussion going about various aspects of freedom. How can we coexist freely in Europe? How can we get along with immigrants and refugees? What do we mean when we talk about freedom and free space, what do we associate with these concepts? The conclusions and ideas aired in this discussion will be captured in video interviews. And Ljubljana is holding a writing workshop this autumn to process and elaborate on the results from Paris.
A project involving the collaboration of Mériam Korichi (Nuits de la Philosophie) and the Slovenian women's choir Kombinat.
Dresden – Tallinn: Freedom to be free
15.06-22.07.2018
Dresden
To usher in the first phase of their collaboration, Dresden and Tallinn will hold a series of joint exhibitions and events at Dresden’s Kunsthaus exploring issues of freedom in Europe. Meanwhile, as a kind of preview, the Kanuti Gildi SAAL art space in Tallinn will be showing selected thematic works by contemporary Estonian artists (including Kristina Norman and 10x10 meters).
Oslo – Milan: Intercultural improvisational theatre
10.05.2018
Oslo
An open picnic is to be held in Oslo: it’s called “First Supper” – after The Last Supper, Da Vinci's famous mural in Milan. The picnic will be followed by an improv piece directed by German theatre director Jan Bosse, featuring Modou Gueye, a Senegalese actor and Goethe-Institut Milan partner, interacting with Camara Joof, an Oslo actress of Norwegian and Gambian parentage. The Norwegian partner on this project is Den mangfaldige scenen, Liv Hege Skagestad’s theatre group in Oslo, which works with immigrant communities on a regular basis.
