Interacting

Moving the Forum
Presentation day 4th chapter „Interacting“
11.06.2022, 14-19h
Humboldt Forum, Saal 1, Saal 5, Humboldt Lab, Passage, Schlüterhof
Admission is free

On June 11, 2022, five of the thirteen artist teams of Moving the Forum will present the results of their work created for the 4th chapter, „Interacting“, on site of the Humboldt Forum. The chapter asserts a necessary dialogue with the structures of the institution and the world largely kept outside its walls.

14.00 – open end „PRUSAKI CORPS“ Tentacular Interruptions | Passage and Portal II
14.00 – 17.00 „FLOOD“ Choreographic Sound Installation | Saal 5, durational
14.30 | 15.30 | 16.30 „Decolonization of the Living Masks” Performance | Humboldt Lab
14.00 – 19.00 „BIO-DIVERSITY-CITY“ Performance Ritual | durational, Saal 1
17.00 – 18.00 „Re-Inventing Memories“ Performance Ritual | Portal V and Schlüterhof
16.00 – 16.45 Conversation „PRUSAKI CORPS“ | Portal II
17.00 – 17.45 Conversation„FLOOD and Decolonization and Memory of Living Masks” | Café Lebenswelten 1. Floor
18.00 – 18.45 Conversation „Re-Inventing Memories” | Schlüterhof

Workshops
15.00 – 16.00 Movement Workshop „WE / WIR“ | Meeting point: Info Counter Foyer
16.00 – 17.00 Movement Workshop “YOU CAN´T SEE THE WHOLE“ | Meeting point: Info Counter Foyer
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„Decolonization and Memory of Living Masks” by Ahmed Soura

The dance performance Decolonization and Memory of Living Masks explores the theme of masks –which can be found in abundance in the Ethnologisches Museum’s exhibitions at the Humboldt Forum. “A mask is an object inhabited by spirits – a body without a soul. The mask is immortal, and this is a true value of the identity of each people. A mask which loses its head loses its identity.” This is how Ahmed Soura describes the object of his artistic research. “The decolonization and the memory of the living masks is a journey of identity hidden under the human marks. ”
On the original music of Johannes Lauer, the audience will encounter 14 dancers in communication with the objects of the museum in space, creating under the effect of solar lamps ‘strong images, light, shadow and modernity’.

„FLOOD” by Sebastian Blasius and Felix Ofosu Dompreh | Sound: Ferdinand Breil

At the intersection of choreography, installation and sound art, FLOOD explores the theme of ‘flooding’ as a form of existence and protest in the context of globalisation and climate change. In their work, the artists also touch on a particular form of protest in the history of the Berlin City Palace: In the 15th century, Berlin citizens protested against the construction of the first palace by smashing the dams on the Spree and submerging the construction site.
In the debate about the construction of the Humboldt Forum as a reconstruction of the castle and its political implications, some would have wished for a similarly resistant act. Do acts and formations of flooding, flowing and liquefying still have a resistive potential today, or have they long since become a form of power themselves in times of global flows of information, finance and data? FLOOD, a durational performance, points to the potentials and ambivalences of these terms. The performers are 5 young Berliners, who as post-millenials are particularly affected by present and future floods.

„PRUSAKI CORPS”

The PRUSAKI CORPS collective will engage in a satirical and critical exploration of the Forum and the reconstruction of the Berlin Palace, staging a ‘dance rebellion that calls into question patriarchal, imperial and hegemonic power structures’. The artists regard the location of their intervention, the Humboldt Forum’s Passage, as the ‘digestive tract of the building’ with mouth and anus at both ends, generating movement and expression for an undivided head-body unit typical of the PRUSAKI and other parasitic species.. “Whatever is useful and relevant is processed and absorbed here. Anything that is not useful, or even harmful, is eliminated. We want to promote a critical digestive process in respect of ideas and ‘knowledge’.
Out of the refuse a new creature emerges: a persistent multi-species muddle, a wormy pile, a teeming motley plague that dances a revolution. The intervention score of the non-hierarchical PRUSAKI CORPS – so-called “tentacular interruptions”- is based on co-determination and allows for every participant to initiate.

„BIO-DIVERSE-CITY” by Nagao Akemi and Gabriel Galindez Cruz

In their durational intervention Bio-Diverse-City, Gabriel Galindez Cruz and Nagao Akemi transform the Forum’s Hall 1 into a spiritual place. In a five-hour healing ceremony with ritual actions, collective movement, and autobiographical solo performances, the ten participants will invite the audience to participate by using their own knowledge and backgrounds to reinterpret the space and ask questions. “The symbolic language of rituals may help us, through our single and collective body, to participate in a larger world, to heal and reinterpret this space beyond what we currently understand.”

„Re-Inventing Memories” by Nora Amin, Adham El-Said and Michiyasu Furutani | Music composition: Ehab Abdellatif

Taking a ceremonial & ritualistic approach in which migrant bodies deliver a background of cultural diversity, the performance inquires how the collective action reclaims and reshapes the space. RE-Inventing Memories promises to leave its mark, both in the Forum space and in the memories of visitors, who will also be invited to participate. Ceremonial movement and vocals create a ritual of self-liberation and togetherness ‘that can create a new spirit of space beyond its material nature’.

In Conversation

The curatorial team In Conversation: Bodies, Objects and Actions offers a chance to reflect on the performances 
of this chapter of Moving the Forum, and share the impressions and memories that are created there with the participants and the audiences. What would a transformative moment be for you while encountering the performative acts and the subsequent conversations?

16:00–16:45 Conversation (DE / ENG) PRUSAKI CORPS: The body as agent of rebellion, the “digestive tract” of the palace, toxic social & political power structures
What do we find problematic about the reconstruction of the castle? Where and how is power exercised at this site? What social and political structures are toxic and need to be eliminated? How can we, by moving, become a movement that ridicules power?
Come closer to the enigmatic Prusaki Corps as it takes a breath after its tentacular interruptions to share with you the questions and provocations that led it to the digestive process of working in the Humboldt Forum’s Passage. The intervention has no end, because the questioning continues.

17:00-17:45 Conversation (DE / ENG) FLOOD, Decolonization and Memory of Living Masks: A conversation on masks and identities connected to it
The teams of FLOOD and Decolonization and memory of living masks, will engage in a conversation on the different layers of masks – in society and societies, in collections and in one´s own identity. How much does the mask hide, and what does it reveal? And where does it end?
The audience is invited to ask questions, share impressions and follow reflections on façades, mirrors and masks and what their projections unveiled or confronted of the Humboldt Forum and its collections.

18:15-19:00 Conversation (ENG) RE-inventing memories: Relationship with the Ritual
Participants and audience share a common process throughout performing the ritual in Re-inventing memories. Leading into a conversation format: As stones are carriers of memories, we ask ourselves what were our instant memories of the ritual, with the hope that the energy created throughout the performance will leave its traces of transformation and togetherness.

Free Movement workshops (no prior registration required)

“WE/ WIR” by Viviana Defazio
What is the effect of Humboldt Forum´s architecture on you? What influence does it have on our visit? And what means do we have to influence it? In this workshop we will look at some principles based on the state of listening. Guided by the Italian dancer Viviana Defazio, we will try to form a collective body “WE” and at the same time create a common space to listen to each other’s voices.

“YOU CAN’T SEE THE WHOLE“ by Guilherme Morais
Would you like to have a new body experience in everyday life? How does it feel to change direction and encounter the world backwards for once? How does the urban space, like the Humboldt Forum, change when you walk past it backwards? And how do the spectators perceive this?
Under the guidance of the Brazilian choreographer and performance artist Guilherme Morais, you will have the opportunity to try this out!
There will be a warm-up and preparation phase for the performance of the experiment, and after the action we will have time to share each other’s experiences.