We read together pronouncing the words out loud, emphasizing the relationship of the body of text and the collective body. Young Girl Reading Group is a sonar-social architecture of shared curiosity and synchronicity. An audition for audacity, where reading becomes a rhizomatic network of voices, suggestions, references.Young Girl Reading Group 157 will read together with the audience selected chapters from Richard Sennett’s “Flesh and Stone” and Ursula K. Le Guin’s short story “Coming of Age in Karhide” in bare darkness.

Immersion

Immersion 2018

Gropius Bau

Young Girl Reading Group (Dorota Gawęda & Eglė Kulbokaitė): YGRG157: The Cloak of Darkness

Young Girl Reading Group (Dorota Gawęda &amp; Eglė Kulbokaitė): YGRG157: The Cloak of Darkness

Festivals & Programme Series

The Berliner Festspiele organise a range of festivals and art exhibitions, concerts, dance and theatre performances, readings, lectures, debates and much more throughout the year. These events are presented at a range of locations across Berlin but are concentrated primarily at their own two venues: the Gropius Bau and the Haus der Berliner Festspiele.

Berliner Festspiele

The Berliner Festspiele programme archive includes all events from 2004 onwards.

The archive pages of the current festivals and programme series can be found in the menu of the respective festival under Programme/Archive.

Berliner Festspiele&rsquo;s own events, guest events and past festivals and programme series are listed on this page.

2018

Begleitprogramm Philippe Parreno

Accompanying Programme

The exhibition Welt ohne Au&szlig;en featured&nbsp;<a href="${link:{uuid:{2c73e2c6-49c0-4fee-bd5c-c2b366a2c3e2},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/programm/archiv/immersion/2018/welt-ohne-aussen/welt-ohne-aussen-werke}}}">art works spanning from the late 60s to the present day</a>, together with <a href="${link:{uuid:{67429755-4d38-423e-8eba-e09194fd9c18},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/programm/archiv/immersion/2018/welt-ohne-aussen/begleitprogramm-welt-ohne-aussen}}}">live works and workshops</a>. For the first time, Gropius Bau issued passes that gave permanent access to the exhibition and all its activities, inviting visitors to explore all facets of the show and to actively participate in the daily workshop programme.

Curated by Thomas Oberender and Tino Sehgal, the exhibition traced a development from the pioneers of immersive installations to contemporary artistic practices, bringing together a wide range of art forms and disciplines. Featuring installations, virtual reality, 3D-film, a smell organ, as well as live works and workshops, the exhibition developed a unique dramaturgy that allowed visitors to enter into these immersive spaces, with each work unfolding within its own temporality.
These situations – requiring a process of arrival, immersion and emergence – were created within a format that, since its advent, has usually operated with an almost opposed modality: the exhibition. This ritual of Western modernism can be seen as an expression of a particular set of ideas about being in the world: a world that we, as human beings, confront in opposition, evaluating objects (including art objects) from a critical distance. Immersion, on the other hand, stimulates a direct and immediate experience. Entering and immersing oneself as a part of – and in relation to – an experience is prioritised over the evaluating observation. In this sense, immersive practises are an expression of a changing relationship with the world, one that is based not on a dualism between subject and object, but rather on the entanglement of situation and experience.
As the gap between the spectator and the work narrows questions of energetic charge, density and embodied engagement come to the fore. Starting with works in the minimalist tradition, “Welt ohne Außen” arrived at formats on the threshold of art and non-art, coming from different contexts that were rooted in varied arrangements and understandings, from immersive journalism to workshops and live works that took place in weekly rotation.
The exhibition opened with a series of historical works from the late 1960s, with early works by Larry Bell and Doug Wheeler contrasted with an Environment by Lucio Fontana and Nanda Vigo. From here, the arc spanned from more recent works like Carsten Höller’s “Light Wall” and Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster’s “Cosmodrome” – two seminal works from the early 2000’s – to Cyprien Gaillard’s “Nightlife”. Gaillard’s hypnotic 3D-film marks the threshold of the transition from analogue to virtual spaces, on the other side of which VR-pioneer Nonny de la Peña makes social realities tangible with the aid of virtual worlds. Beside the multi-layered scent-compositions of Wolfgang Georgsdorf, there were weekly rotating live works in the Schliemann-Saal and a series of workshops co-curated by artist Isabel Lewis, exploring the elements that defined “Welt ohne Außen” as a format between exhibition and live experience, between tangible works and social process, between art and non-art.
As a central element of the exhibition, the Schliemann-Saal opened its doors several times a day to present live works that exist in a tension between the staged and the situational. Artists from a wide spectrum of contexts were presented in weekly rotation, among them Claire Vivianne Sobottke, Peter Frost and the Group Le Frau, Maria Francesca Scaroni, Xavier Le Roy and two-women-machine-show &amp; Jonathan Bonnici.
Bringing together a broad range of approaches to embodied practice from different practitioners, the workshops focussed on ‘feeling’ as a bodily occurrence rather than ‘thought’ as a distancing intellectual process. The workshops spanned three connected rooms where visitors were invited to move through stages of deepening participation from ‘hospitality and orientation’ to ‘guided bodily practice and full-bodied engagement’ and eventually ‘self-orientation, experimentation and play’. The workshops presented an opportunity to get involved in a variety of practices that aren’t necessarily artistic in nature but require dedication, commitment and engagement. They focussed on locating practitioners in the world, rather than outside of it. Participation was open to all and walk-ins are encouraged.
In the spirit of the exhibition, Berliner Festspiele issued a permanent ticket, which allowed multiple visits and participation in all workshops and live-works throughout the entire duration of the exhibition.
With <a href="artist_connector">Cibelle Cavalli Bastos</a>, Larry Bell, <a href="artist_connector">Laura Burns</a>, <a href="artist_connector">Renée Coulombe</a>, <a href="artist_connector">Lou Drago</a>, <a href="artist_connector">Fernanda Farah</a>, Ed Fornieles Studios &amp; Omsk Social Club, Lucio Fontana &amp; Nanda Vigo, <a href="artist_connector">Peter Frost</a> and the group <a href="artist_connector">Le Frau</a>, Cyprien Gaillard, Dorota Gawęda &amp; Eglė Kulbokaitė (Young Girl Reading Group), Wolfgang Georgsdorf, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Stefanie Görisch, Jeppe Hein, <a href="artist_connector">Michael Helland</a>, Hidden Agency / <a href="artist_connector">∞OS</a> and guests, Carsten Höller, Josh Johnson, <a href="artist_connector">Ana Jordão</a>, <a href="artist_connector">just in f kennedy</a>, <a href="artist_connector">Lea Kieffer</a> with <a href="artist_connector">Angela Schubot</a> &amp; <a href="artist_connector">Rocio Marano</a>, Dambi Kim, <a href="artist_connector">Isabel Lewis</a>, Matthew Lutz-Kinoy, <a href="artist_connector">Ángela Muñoz Martínez</a>, <a href="artist_connector">Susan Ploetz</a>, <a href="artist_connector">Thomas Proksch</a>, Tabita Rezaire, Xavier Le Roy, Maria Francesca Scaroni &amp; Mieko Suzuki, Chris Scherer, <a href="artist_connector">Scent Club Berlin</a>, <a href="artist_connector">Tino Sehgal</a>, <a href="artist_connector">Colin Self</a>, <a href="artist_connector">Coral Short</a> &amp; <a href="content_link_text;type=kbb_festspiele.kuenstler_detail;gid=d24e5505-9bc4-4a26-8727-c311ad2f0d6a">Jean P\'ark</a>, <a href="artist_connector">Iv Shri</a>, <a href="artist_connector">Claire Vivianne Sobottke</a>, <a href="artist_connector">Jessy Tuddenham</a>, <a href="artist_connector">two-women-machine-show</a> &amp; <a href="artist_connector">Jonathan Bonnici</a>, Doug Wheeler, Helga Wretman, XenoEntities Network
Curators: <a href="artist_connector">Tino Sehgal</a> and <a href="artist_connector">Thomas Oberender</a> 
 Associate curator: Annika Kuhlmann 
 Workshops: concept &amp; programme: <a href="artist_connector">Isabel Lewis</a>
A group exhibition organised by Berliner Festspiele as part of the programme Immersion.

Welt ohne Außen

The Berliner Festspiele&rsquo;s programme series &ldquo;Immersion&rdquo; presented the work of artists who transcended the conventional oppositions between work and viewer, stage and auditorium, object and observer.

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Exhibitions & Projects

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Performing Arts Season_neu

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Reflexe und Reflexionen

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The international and interdisciplinary festival produced by the Berliner Festspiele

Performing Exiles

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37th&nbsp;International Festival Berlin

Tanz im August

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The international literature festival berlin, or ilb for short, is considered one of the most important literary festivals in the world.

25th international literature festival berlin

Leichte Sprache

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You can listen to some of our events this year digitally in the Berliner Festspiele Media Library after the live concerts.&nbsp;In addition, On Demand offers from past years are available.

Musikfest Berlin in the Media Library

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The international Jazzfest Research Lab&nbsp;welcomes academics and students to take a critical look at the festival’s archive, its programmes, creators, musicians and – last but not least – its myths. In two seminars during the summer semester of 2024, students from the Berlin University of the Arts and the University of Hildesheim have explored the festival’s history from various perspectives. In this film, the participants give a first look at how they dealt with their research subject.

Introducing: Jazzfest Research Lab

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To mark its 60th anniversary, Jazzfest Berlin is celebrating the cultural diversity of the neighbouring district of Moabit in collaboration with around 35 official partners and initiatives and with over 350 participants of all ages.&nbsp;In June 2024, interviews were conducted with 20 partners who presented their perspectives, wishes and ideas for the Jazzfest Community Lab Moabit. You can get a first impression with this film.

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Curated by&nbsp;Meron Mendel and Saba-Nur Cheema&nbsp;

From 13 to 16 June 2024, the interdisciplinary themed days “Reflexes &amp; Reflections” on the Israel-Palestine conflict and its consequences for society in Germany took place at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele. You can now find video and audio recordings of the discourse events in the Berliner Festspiele Media Library!

Reflexes &amp; Reflections. 7 October, the war in Gaza and the debate in Germany

In the Media Library

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The 10 Remarkable Productions 2024

On 26 January, the Theatertreffen’s jury of critics announced their selection of 10 remarkable productions for the 2024 Theatertreffen at a press conference. Our congratulations go to the nominated production teams and all participants! The programme will be published on 5 April.

Theatertreffen 2024

“Radical Playgrounds”, an art parcours at the Gropius Bau, is spending eleven weeks exploring the differences between the concepts of play as competition and free play. Visitors are invited to walk and climb on the various installations and sculptures, to activate them and to shape the project collectively.

Summer School 2025

As part of Performing Exiles there will be a Summer School from 16 to 28&nbsp;June 2025. This will offer workshops, seminars and mentoring. The participants will see the performances and guest productions in the festival programme and visit artistic initiatives and cultural institutions in Berlin that operate across a wide range of disciplines and contexts. A public presentation of the participants’ current work and research at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele will complete the programme.

Open Call

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The massacre, hostage-taking and rocket attacks by Hamas have shaken us deeply. The grue-some attack on Israel on 7&nbsp;October left us stunned and initially lost for words.

The Berliner Festspiele on Current Events in Israel, Gaza and Germany

With this letter of intent, we, the signing cultural organizations, express our intention to welcome, host and stage Ukrainian theatre artists in our venues, to make Ukrainian dramatic work visible to the European community.

Support of the Ukrainian Cultural Scene

More Berliner Festspiele

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Musikfest Berlin 2025 brings together guest performances by the world’s best symphony orchestras and choirs from the Netherlands, France, Belgium and Italy, which are rarely heard in Berlin. The full programme is online and tickets are available now.

Musikfest Berlin

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In August 2025, the festival Tanz im August will be a guest at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele with three productions. Two productions are already on pre-sale.

Tanz im August

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The international literature festival berlin, or ilb for short, is considered one of the most important literary festivals in the world. The programme for the 25th&nbsp;ilb will take place from 11 to 20&nbsp;September 2025. The Young Programme will run from 15 to 24&nbsp;September 2025. The main venue is the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, with additional locations for the Young Programme including Theater an der Parkaue and the Gelbe Villa.

25th international literature festival berlin

Upcoming

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<h3>Theatertreffen</h3><h4>2 to 20 May 2024</h4>The 10&nbsp;remarkable productions, selected by a jury of critics, were announced in a press conference on 26&nbsp;January 2024, 11:00. The programme will be published on 5&nbsp;April, advance ticket sales will start on 19&nbsp;April at 14:00

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The Berlinale as a guest at Haus der Berliner Festspiele

75th Berlin International Film Festival

Key Visual Neu

Marking twenty years since artist, writer and performer Vaginal Davis made Berlin her home, Gropius Bau presents the first comprehensive solo exhibition of her work in Germany. In her expansive oeuvre, punk meets glamour, queer activism meets Black counter-culture and resistance meets desire. Fabelhaftes Produkt offers an overview of Davis’ practice and artistic collaborations.

Vaginal Davis:&nbsp;Fabelhaftes Produkt

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Since the 1950s, Yoko Ono has been ahead of her time, leaving her mark on visual arts, music and activism. To honour her groundbreaking work, Gropius Bau presents the comprehensive solo exhibition&nbsp;YOKO ONO: MUSIC OF THE MIND. Spanning the first floor and the atrium of Gropius Bau, the show brings together over 200 works from seven decades, revealing her radical approach to language, art and participation that continues to speak to the present moment.

YOKO ONO:&nbsp;MUSIC OF THE MIND

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A&nbsp;Play Space for Kids

Playing, laughing, making noise, letting off steam, doing nothing – all in an exhibition venue! With BAUBAU, the artist Kerstin Br&auml;tsch designed an&nbsp;admission-free play space for kids, where more is allowed than forbidden. On Gropius Bau’s ground floor, colourful wallpapers, structures, objects and open-ended material called “loose parts” configure flexible spaces that are shaped by children’s activities.

BAUBAU

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A Short History from 1900 to the Present

What has been the role of play in public space, both historically and in the present? Complementing BAUBAU, our free play space for kids, Gabriela Burkhalter’s&nbsp;Playing in the City&nbsp;presentation traces the history of playgrounds since their emergence in 1900 to today. The free presentation is open to all and can be seen in two rooms next to the play space’s entrance.

Playing in the City

Currently at the Gropius Bau

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Theatre, Performances, Stage Marathon, Summer School, Discourse &amp; Party

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<h3>Radical Playgrounds: From Competition to Collaboration</h3><h4>27 April to 14 July 2024</h4>Berlin is known for its numerous “Spielpl&auml;tze” for kids, but the project “Radical Playgrounds” is a place where play gets serious.&nbsp;It arrives at Gropius Hain for eleven weeks like an itinerant, temporary funfair: both melancholic and light-hearted, sad and joyful, funny and serious.&nbsp;

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We have been following EMAS guidelines for sustainable environmental performance since 2013. Find out more about our goals and the measures that we have already taken on the website of our umbrella organisation.

Sustainable Environmental Performance

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Active since 2018, the national network DIE VIELEN formulates clear positions against enmity, right-wing extremism and attacks against artistic freedom. With the campaign “SHIELD &amp; SHINE”, the alliance is calling out to take an even stronger stance in support of a plural, democratic orientation of the world.

SHIELD &amp; SHINE – We Are Many

<h3>Sustainable Environmental Performance</h3>We have been following EMAS guidelines for sustainable environmental performance since 2013. Find out more about our goals and the measures that we have already taken on the website of our umbrella organisation.

<h3>Musikfest Berlin</h3><h4>24 August to 18 September 2024</h4>In 2024, the Musikfest Berlin will once again open the concert season in late summer with top-class international orchestras, celebrated conductors and remarkable soloists. The full programme is online. Advance ticket sales has started.

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<h3>Performing Arts Season</h3><h4>9 October 2024 to 25 January 2025</h4>The second season, presented between October 2024 and January 2025, will concentrate on memory and heritage in contemporary performing arts, with a focus on New York’s dance and performance scene.

All year round, Berliner Festspiele host a multitude of festivals, exhibitions and individual events in two houses – the Haus der Berliner Festspiele at Schaperstra&szlig;e and the Gropius Bau near Potsdamer Platz – and other venues in the city.

The Berliner Festspiele

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The video documentary about the large-scale jazz festival Community Lab Moabit accompanies some of the protagonists through the Moabit neighbourhood from 28&nbsp;October to 3&nbsp;November 2024 and makes the cultural diversity of the numerous projects and initiatives that have appeared as part of the project audible.

Exploring: Jazzfest Community Lab Moabit 2024

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In addition to the recording of the opening ceremony, the concerts from the Treffen junge Musikszene are available in the Berliner Festspiele Media Library until November 2025. The 2024 selection is very diverse and energetic: urban rock, crossover, but also earthy rock and new metal are represented, as well as catchy pop songs, intimate ballads and psychedelic folk songs.

Treffen junge Musikszene

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In addition to the recording of the opening ceremony, the readings and talks from&nbsp;Treffen junger Autor*innen are available in the Berliner Festspiele Media Library until November 2025. The young authors deal with political issues, but also express their social anger. There are everyday observations that become a razor-sharp snapshot of the world, as well as many big, sad and heavy themes.

Treffen junger Autor*innen

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Texts and videos on artists and events of the Performing Arts Season, for example the recording of the lecture by choreographer and dancer Lucinda Childs, can be found in the Berliner Festspiele Media Library.

Performing Arts Season 2024/25

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Find out more about some of MaerzMusik’s 2025 artists, including Joan La Barbara, Laura Bowler and Pamela Z: talks, interviews and a portrait have been published in the Berliner Festspiele Media Library.

MaerzMusik 2025

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Experience the 2025 Theatertreffen at home: the “Starke St&uuml;cke” of 3sat, discussions of the „Forum Theatertreffen 1965–2025” and more will be available in the Berliner Festspiele Media Library shortly after the respective event.

Theatertreffen 2025

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On the future of debate culture: The videos of the second edition of “Reflexes &amp; Reflections with lectures, discussions and a late-night programme are now available in the Media Library.

Reflexes &amp; Reflections 2025

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In addition to the recording of the opening ceremony, the productions from the Theatertreffen der Jugend are available in the Berliner Festspiele Media Library until June 2026. The dominant theme is fear: fear of the system in which we live, of the events and catastrophes that come thick and fast, fear of war, poverty and failure, fear of manipulation and being overwhelmed by social media The topic of equal opportunities also plays an important role.

Theatertreffen der Jugend 2025

Performing Exiles is an international and interdisciplinary festival produced by the Berliner Festspiele, that seeks to make diasporic lives in the city of Berlin visible and explore the contemporary meaning of exile. The second edition of the festival will present both works by internationally acclaimed artists and those of artists who are still at the beginning of their careers. It will focus particularly on the artistic positions of persons who identify as diasporic and who have chosen to base their lives in Berlin. Performing Exiles will take place from 19 to 28&nbsp;June 2025 at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, the HAU – Hebbel am Ufer and Ballhaus Ost.

13 to 23 February 2025

Once more, like every year, the Berlinale will be a guest at Haus der Berliner Festspiele with a diverse film programme. On this occasion the house will be transformed into a high tech cinema.&nbsp;The spectrum of films at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele ranges from premieres and reruns of the&nbsp;Competition, Berlinale Special&nbsp;and&nbsp;Berlinale Special Gala&nbsp;to the&nbsp;Panorama&nbsp;section.

On 22 January, the Theatertreffen’s jury of critics announced their selection of 10 most remarkable productions for the 2025 Theatertreffen at a press conference. Our congratulations go to the nominated production teams and all participants!