Spaces

In 2010, Brandenburg’s Heinrich-Böll foundation assigned us to find a way to make open-mindedness a subject of discussion in clubhouses in Wittenberge, Zossen, Fehrbelling and Oranienburg. We developed a simple approach: we asked a chosen few experts with similar interest to our club members to host workshops that we would facilitate – the experts were foreign.

This led to an Oranienburg choir practicing for a performance together with a Berlin gospel choir; a Korean chef triying to make sushi from roaches and basses; a Native American from the Canadian Blackfoot tribe teaching gun owners from Wittenberge how to make arrows; two drag artists from Kreuzberg jolting the men’s ballet from Fehrbelling carnival club into action and performing at Berlin’s SO36. SPACES is not about shrill stagings, but about creating a communicative space and frame to enable conversations about prejudice, fear and racism. Nowadays, Brandenburg’s Heinrich-Böll Foundation implements the format developed by us into their work autonomously.