June 17
Kunst hat Recht? Christoph Peters - “Innerstädtischer Tod”
What is allowed in art? Almost everything - at least according to Article 5, paragraph 3 of the German constitution: “Art and science, research and teaching are free”. A Berlin couple who owns a gallery recently found this out when they filed a lawsuit against Christoph Peter's latest novel “Innerstädtischer Tod”, which concludes his “Trilogy of Contemporary Failure” based on Wolfgang Koeppen. In any case, the gallery owners failed with their lawsuit against infringement of personality rights, first at the Hamburg Regional Court and then at the Higher Regional Court. Whether the lawsuit will reach the Federal Court of Justice or even the Federal Constitutional Court remains to be seen, but Peters’ novel is already attracting increased attention. And rightly so, as it is much more than just a purported roman à clef.
Peters sharply dissects political Berlin and the local art scene. We accompany his protagonist, the up-and-coming artist Fabian Kolb, on the most important day of his career to date. On the evening of November 9, his first solo exhibition is due to open at the famous Berlin gallery Konrad Raspe. Meanwhile, the Russian attack on Ukraine overshadows both private and public life. As Fabian’s exhibition opening approaches, doubts creep in about whether he is really prepared to accept all the compromises that an international career as an artist entails, especially as his gallerist suddenly finds himself confronted with serious “MeToo” accusations from former female employees.
The author talks to journalist and lawyer Helene Bubrowski about Berlin politics and the freedom of art.
(DE)
7 pm | Haus am Waldsee, Argentinische Allee 30
June 18-20
Walter Benjamin Lectures
Tommie Shelby, Political Ethics of the Oppressed: On Freedom, Solidarity, and Self-Respect
Philosopher and African American Studies scholar Tommie Shelby from Harvard University will hold the Benjamin Chair at the Centre for Social Critique in 2025. From June 18 to 20, 2025, Shelby will develop a Political Ethics of the Oppressed in his Benjamin Lectures.
Formulating and defending a distinctive ethics of the oppressed is perhaps the Black radical tradition’s chief contribution to social and political philosophy. The tradition’s most significant thinkers — for example, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, and Martin Luther King, Jr — were certainly concerned with diagnosing the deepest ills of society, identifying effective strategies for liberation, and articulating a vision for a just and peaceful world. But they were also concerned to understand how to live a defensible and dignified life under enduring oppressive conditions. Given that full emancipation was a long-term and uncertain goal, achievable (if at all) only over many generations, they recognized that it was imperative to identify the values and character traits that black people and other oppressed groups must embody if they are, not only to survive and win their freedom, but to find meaning and purpose in lives profoundly shaped by injustice.
In exploring the political ethics of the oppressed, these lectures draw lessons from and build upon the philosophical fiction and literary nonfiction of Richard Wright (1908-1960). Wright is a key figure in the black radical tradition and an influential American author and thinker. In his writings, he repeatedly reflects on the demands of solidarity and self-respect, two core values in any defensible political ethics of resistance. Keeping faith with these values often requires sacrifices from the oppressed. At their core these lectures ask: What is the place of individual liberty — including independence of mind, individuality, freedom of expression, and the quest for personal fulfillment — within the political ethics of the oppressed?
(EN/DE)
6 pm | HKW, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10
June 19
Juan S. Guse - “Tausendmal so viel Geld wie jetzt”
By writing the portrait of a group of men who have become rich by cryptocurrency trade, Juan S. Guse tells the story of a phenomenon that goes far beyond individual success stories. It is about the dream of fast money in a world of crises, about social advancement without origin, about masculinity, risk and the question of what happens to friendships and life plans when digital numbers become real millions. Also, has Guse actually been able to get back the 2,000 euros that he himself lost with crypto?
(DE)
8 pm | Literaturforum im Brecht-Haus, Chausseestr. 125
June 22
Berlin Biennale - People’s Tribunal
People’s Tribunal with Bana Group for Peace and Development, ALPAS Pilipinas and International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) – Germany, சிந்துஜன் வரதராஜா (Sinthujan Varatharajah), مشترى هلال (Moshtari Hilal)
When one recognizes the law as a social contract—an “aesthetic,” to use the words of legal scholar and artist Stacy Douglas—then one also recognizes the ability to generate alternate legal systems with distinct definitions of process and justice.
The 13th Berlin Biennale will convene two People’s Tribunals, community-sourced judicial forums to address human rights violations and crimes against humanity perpetrated by government actors, private militias, or corporations. Each tribunal will invite legal professionals, activists, and expert witnesses to weigh in on a different case in which justice was denied by the current governing bodies (often due to those institutions’ varying levels of complicity). While the final outcomes of these tribunals will be symbolic, the process gives us a glimpse of what other systems can be possible when we reject the idea of existing law as absolute.
The first People’s Tribunal, organized in collaboration with the Bana Group for Peace and Development, addresses the repression and persecution of activists in Sudan. A second tribunal, will convene to discuss cultural repression and civic rights in the Philippines. Helping to present evidence will be the German chapter of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines and ALPAS Pilipinas, an advocacy group whose acronym loosely translates to “Alternative Dreams for our Land and our People.” Each tribunal will conclude with an open forum, a discussion among the tribunal’s participants and the audience.
Mediated by the artist duo Sinthujan Varatharajah and Moshtari Hilal, documentation of these tribunals and the evidence gathered for each case will be on view throughout the biennial, allowing the public a chance to make informed contributions to the proceedings.
(EN)
4 pm | Former Courthouse Lehrter Straße, Lehrterstr. 60