Refugee Week Berlin 2022

Mobilistan

Documentary film by Ana Stanic and Sylvie Lazzarini with the Mobilistan team (Manaf Halbouni and Christian Manss), Counterpoints Arts and Allianz Foundation.

The film traces the first official state tour of Mobilistan across European borders in the turbulent and uncertain Covid pandemic summer of 2021.

Mobilistan is the first ever mobile state limited to the space of a single vehicle. An art project dealing with the issues of mobility, territorial limits, marginalisation, freedom to travel and the desire to belong. The state is the limousine and the limousine is the state, whose territory can only be entered or exited through the doors of the vehicle.

This does not, however, preclude Mobilistan from having its own flag, anthem and passport.

Follow the state leaders on red carpets from Berlin to Dresden, Prague, Vienna, Zagreb, Sofia, Istanbul, Wroclaw, Krakow and Solingen.

Did it all go smoothly? Did the state ever run out of oil? Did it encounter any climate challenges and did any neighbouring state leaders offer help or support? All diplomatic blunders and successes, planned or improvised, hidden or displayed, are revealed in the film, alongside the onlookers’ thoughts and observations, and a few surprises.

Mobilistan performance and tour were realised in cooperation with Allianz Kulturstiftung. The film has been commissioned by Counterpoints Arts as part of Across Borders initiative and realised in collaboration with Allianz Foundation. Produced by Natasha Davis for Counterpoints Arts.

Mozambique Independence Day Celebration

At Autoscooter, Haus der Statistik

Join the celebrations of the Independence Day of Mozambique, which is 47 years old this year, with a group of Berliners of the second generation of Mozambican immigrants and Mozambicans who are committed to cultural exchange and the promotion of co-operation between Mozambique and Germany.

This is the reason the association Ogumana was founded.

There will be food and drinks from Mozambique and in the afternoon there will be a cultural programme with a photo exhibition about Mozambican migrant workers, lectures about Mozambique, music by DJ Slay and Dj MG, a Mozambican choir and other Mozambican artists.

There are also many activities for children such as braiding hair, blowing bubbles and face painting. All proceeds will go as donations to organisations in Mozambique that support refugees from the Cabo Delgado region.

You can find out more about Ogumana here.

Jamming with Colour with Prerna Rathi and Sofie Roehrig

Using art as an entry point to access one's intuition, emotions and subconscious beliefs, this workshop is a medium to express and communicate clear visions, concepts and ideas. Facilitated by visual stimulation with different materials, participants are encouraged and supported by the hosts in exploring their creativity.

The body is just as much a canvas for expression as paper. Traditional arts and crafts materials, as well as body paints, liners and glitter will be available. The art jam is an open space for people of all ages and skills to drop in, craft, and explore different colours and materials. In a playful and relaxing atmosphere, with music and good vibes, you can be as wild or as thoughtful as you wish.

Join the jam on your own or with your friends and connect with others while tapping into your creative energy.

Presented by People Beyond Borders.

Jamming with Sound with Migrantinnen

Join us for an eclectic choice of lively Turkish music with a dozen female Turkish musicians and singers of all ages connected to the Bundesverband der Migrantinnen, for an unforgettable mix of the contemporary and traditional, improvisation, a variety of instruments, as well as song and dance.

Bundesverband der Migrantinnen is an independent, non-partisan and democratic association of migrants of Turkish origin living in Germany, founded in Cologne in 2005 and currently represented nationwide with ten clubs and another 13 local groups. Members of the decisive nationwide committees of the German Women's Council and DaMigra, with numerous partners in trade unions, politics and culture.

Since their foundation the Migrantinnen have been committed to a peaceful and solidary co-existence of people of different origins, and to equal and independent participation of migrant women in a society without discrimination or exclusion.

Women from different backgrounds come together: housewives, single parents, employees, workers, students, schoolgirls. What connects them all is collaborative spirit and the desire for better living conditions, for which they work together and make strong demands.

You can find out more about Migrantinnen here.

More about Migrantinnen on Facebook here.

Networking Day

People Beyond Borders

In English

People Beyond Borders (PBB) is a youth-led non-profit transforming the way displaced communities connect with each other and the world around them. PBB pioneers in inclusive and creative practices to engage displaced communities and refugees as active agents in different initiatives. The organisational mission is to connect displaced people together, foster their entrepreneurial skills and inspire creativity for social impact.

With Prerna Rathi, Co-founder, and Sofie Roehrig, Artist & Creative Consultant.

Prerna, originally from India, is a German Chancellor Fellow and Humanitarian Practitioner empowering displaced people through a human-centred lens in South Asia, Europe, Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Sofie is a Berlin-based multimedia visual artist and PhD researcher with a focus on migration politics who has lived in over seven countries and has mixed German-Sri Lankan roots.

Prerna and Sofie will talk about and give a taster of their workshops focusing on different narratives of how people evaluate, overcome or transform their own barriers and borders. They will guide us through a conflict mapping process, to channel our internal and external conflict trajectories, dynamics, patterns and styles to collectively experience what moving beyond our borders might feel like. Using this approach, we learn to view conflicts as an interaction of energies. Emphasis is given on the different perceptions, social and cultural contexts in which reality is constructed.

Find out more about People Beyond Borders here.

Women for Common Spaces

In English

The aim of the Women for Common Spaces initiative is to build up a network of confident, informed, qualified and engaged Arabic-speaking exiled women, with a focus on respect for people’s cultural and social identity. Obtaining knowledge about politics and law in Germany and the fight against any form of violence and radicalisation in exiled communities are essential goals of the project. We will hear about the group’s unique approach to working with women in exile and how they have been using art as a way to gaining self-confidence, empowerment and social and political engagement.

With Yasmine Merei, founder.

Yasmine Merei was born in Homs, Syria, in 1984. She studied Arabic Literature, Comparative Linguistics and Middle Eastern Studies. She worked in printed and digital media and specialised in feminist journalism. She is currently managing the Women for Common Spaces organisation in Berlin, which is creating a female memory on seeking refuge and building the capacities of young women who are politically and culturally active in the Syrian diaspora.

Women for Common Spaces began in Berlin in 2016 as an initiative of Yasmine Merei and its events and publications aim to create a common space of encounter and exchange, for women, migrant communities and German society. It became a non-profit association in 2018. A team of German, refugee and migrant women lead the work of the association at team and board level with independent experts invited to their workshops, training programs and public events.

Find out more about Women for Common Space here.

Stories Too Big For a Case File

In English

With Dr Rachel Rosen, Associate Professor of Childhood in the Department of Social Science at University College London. Rosen’s work focuses on unequal childhoods, migration, and stratified social reproduction/care labour.

We will screen a short film ‘Stories too big for a case file: Unaccompanied young people confront the hostile environment’, which showcases the testimonies of young, unaccompanied refugees, asylum-seekers, and migrants as they navigate ‘the system’ in the UK. This is a tangled web of institutions, policies and individuals who are meant to care for children on the move, but often do not. In the film, individual stories emerge from a cacophony of voices to highlight common problems in the UK’s hostile border regime. They also show unaccompanied young people’s refusal to be reduced to a singular story, endemic in bureaucratic case files. Voices evoke the violence unaccompanied young people feel when repeatedly asked, or made, to tell their story, as well as the violence of not being asked nor being heard, and most of all their strength in the face of injustices.   

Dr Rosen will join the conversation via Zoom.

Find out more about the film here.

Residential workshop on anti-racism,
arts and the environment
with
Mojisola Adebayo
Asmelash Dagne
and Nicole Wolf

Agri/cultural practices is a practical experimental workshop that provides an introduction to Permaculture (permanent agriculture) sustainable design ethics and principles through games and exercises from Theatre of the Oppressed, aimed at rehearsing solutions for change. Both Permaculture and Theatre of the Oppressed are informed by Indigenous, Black and working-class knowledge and experience. This way of combining Permaculture and Theatre of the Oppressed was developed through the Neighbourhood Academy at Prinzessinnen Garden, Berlin in 2019. However, this workshop goes further by not only providing an introduction but focussing on anti-racism, climate justice, decolonizing, addressing power structures, understanding the link between colonialism and environmental chaos, challenging environmental racism and exploring the potential of art. The site of the workshop is a garden in development, and we will explore possibilities to design the garden with questions of the workshop in mind.

We will be playing games, doing practical exercises, reading, creative writing, observing the landscape and designing, watching theatre, film screenings, receiving contributions from guests, discussing as well as enjoying the countryside, eating healthy food and relaxing in nature.

Followed by an optional few days of practical planting workshop activity at Groß Kreutz in 2023.

The workshops are delivered in partnership with Havel Kranich e.V.

Film Day

A Place To Breathe 11:00

2020, 86 mins

The film explores the universality of trauma and resilience through the eyes of immigrant and refugee healthcare practitioners and patients. This feature-length documentary intertwines the personal journeys of those who are transcending their own obstacles by healing others. Combining cinema vérité and animation, the film highlights the creative strategies by which immigrant communities in the U.S. survive and thrive.  

The film weaves together the arcs of Rodrigue (DR Congo), Socheat (Cambodia), Norma (Guatemala), and the young couple Edgar and Yania (Mexico and Uruguay) as they pursue their dreams of supporting their communities’ healing. Common ground and chance connections join these unique stories as the film humanizes those who have migrated here, sharing their wisdom and perspectives that enrich and strengthen our communities. 

Read more.

Constance on the Edge 12:30

2016, 77 mins

One family. Two wars. Three countries. What does it take to forge a new life far from home? Filmed over ten years, this is an unflinchingly honest portrayal of one refugee family’s resettlement story in Australia. Brave, lion-hearted, charismatic Constance, mother of six, confronts her painful past in war-torn Sudan, and risks everything in Australia so her family can thrive.  Mary, Constance’s niece, finds it impossible to find a job. Vicky, her daughter, studies every morning from 4am, hoping to get into university. Charles, 23, is struggling with alienation and depression. The film gets to the heart of a contemporary untold story about the courage and resilience it takes to build new lives. The film also highlights the important role communities play in encouraging a sense of welcoming, healing and belonging.

Read more.

Free lunch provided by pierOG Berlin.

All profits from food go to the Volunteer Kitchens Ukraine.

I Don’t Feel At Home Anywhere Any More 14:45

2020, 16 mins

Thirty-year-old Viv Li is studying art in Belgium and hasn’t lived in her native China for ten years. During the Christmas holidays, she pays a nine-day visit to her family in Beijing, where it soon becomes clear how uprooted she has become by her life abroad. Losing your roots is a painful process, Li shows, though it has its humorous moments. This short and wistful but witty account of a trip to Beijing portrays the discomfort of the bird that has flown returns to the nest.

Read more.

The Game 15:00

2022, 90 mins

Manuela and Bernd first wanted to organise an auxiliary transport to the Bosnian NGO SOS Bihac and make a short documentary about the transport of clothes, sleeping bags and tents from Germany to Bosnia. As they arrived in Bihac, they joined the team of SOS day-to-day. They saw wounded people, refugees with no shoes, no food or water and whole families without anything. After a few days, they decided that the documentary cannot be about the transport, but about the current situation of refugees and inhabitants at the Croatian-Bosnian border. They started visiting many different locations in Bihac, Velika Kladusa and their surroundings. They talked to refugees, protesters, to refugee camp neighbours and to smugglers. Lots of people are part of the GAME, the illegal crossing of the European border. Manuela and Bernd didn't immediately know that very soon they would become part of the game too. Read more here.

The Universality of it All 16:30

2020, 90 mins

A documentary film that focuses on human migration and inequality from a fresh and nuanced perspective. The filmmaker tells the story of his best friend Emad, a Yemeni refugee living in Vancouver, Canada, and by doing so, he ends up arriving to a profound realisation about the interconnectedness of all the major events of the 21st century. The film takes the viewer on a journey around the world, analysing different cases of migration from an economic and historical perspective, while simultaneously delving into the life, thoughts and experiences of Emad.

This back-and-forth juxtaposition between narratives is what ultimately allows the audience to see the similarities and correlations that all migrations on earth share. Among the topics encompassed are the Yemeni Civil War, the migration of Nicaraguans to Costa Rica, the experience of North-African in France, the Brexit referendum, the 2016 US Election, the rise of the far-right in Germany, and the future impacts of climate change in migration patterns. Read more.

Artist Salon

We warmly invite you to four afternoons of an artist space occupation to experience how a room, a salon of sorts, can heal or hold, responding to this year’s theme of Refugee Week of ‘Healing’.

We invite you to pop in the studio space for a conversation, to sit in a quiet healing space or to talk to like-minded people, perhaps to write, exchange ideas, discover if you can exchange a skill with someone else in the space or just have a cup of tea or a piece of fruit.  

You may wish to show each other a short film on your laptop, ask advice on something in progress that you are developing, make friends, find a mentor.

This is an experiment and we have in mind a democratic, self-managed space where ideas can be shared with a group, or just with a person sitting next to you, or the space enjoyed on your own. Where ideas can be hatched. Maybe something new made there and then.

We are inviting you to steal a moment away from everything and everyone else. It often feels that in migratory lives there is barely ever space or a moment to catch a breath. Maybe this can be space to do just that.

An experiment, a living room, a working studio of sorts. With a couch, a table, chairs, cushions and cups of tea and cake. An invitation to migrant artists and artists interested in migration.

We really look forward to meeting you.

The Salon is organised as a collaboration between Hinterraum in Herzberger Straße 65, 10365 in Berlin Lichtenberg, run by artist Aidan Wallace, and Counterpoints Arts London.