Sophiensæle

Calendar

Programme

Programme
Today | 20:00
Lecken
Queer Social Reproduction
Lecken©Souad_Hervé 02
June 01 | 20.00
Other
Kantine | Eintritt frei

What are the actions, responsibilities, and relationships that go into queer world-making, and who is doing this labor? The queer-feminist rave collective, Lecken, devotes the second issue of their zine, Queer Social Reproduction, to these questions, along with an evening program surrounding its launch.

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Tomorrow | 18:30
Freddie Wulf mit Alicia Jane Turner
we are all made of stars
stars_freddie wulf_credit manuel vason Fierce 2022_pink2
June 02 | 18.30
Performance
Hochzeitssaal | 15/10 €

we are all made of stars is a journey through the body as a living landscape. Performed in a bathtub using an endoscopic camera, movement & lip-sync, Freddie Wulf explores the close-up textures of body, water and plant. Inspired by philosophies of vital materialism, the show combines visual languages from body horror and nature documentaries, moving between atmospheres of discomfort, dis/connection, and bliss. With a live sound score by Alicia Jane Turner.

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Tomorrow | 23:00
Lecken
Queer Social Reproduction
Lecken©Souad_Hervé 01
June 02 | 23.00
Rave
Kantine | 15 €

The queer-feminist rave collective, Lecken, features on the second day of their program the foremost prefigurative practice of queer worlding – an all-night rave expanded with dance performances, public sculpture, and light installations.

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June 08 09 | 19.30
Tickets
Hochzeitssaal | 15/10 €

“Main character syndrome” is a social media/pop culture invention in which a person behaves as if they were the main character of a fictional story. The performance uses this notion to explore and challenge senses of selfhood and togetherness in times of pornographic narcissism. It blurs the lines between personal and fictional, experienced and represented, individual and relational.

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June 08 09 | 21.00
Tickets
Festsaal | 15/10 €

Criptonite is a crip-queer theatre project by Edwin Ramirez and Nina Mühlemann. In their current manifestations as Dionysos and Medusa, they invite the audience into the underworld. Surrounded by the rivers of hatred, wailing, fire and oblivion, we find ourselves on the islands of pleasure, celebrating the intersection of pain, pleasure and kink. What does it mean to negotiate consensual giving and receiving together in a pleasurable way, through movement and care? Where do we find moments of pleasure despite pain or exhaustion? 

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June 10 | 15.00
Eintritt frei

With the Sophienstraßenfest we call the neighborhood around the Sophiensæle into the street. For one day we celebrate the neighborhood of Spandauer Vorstadt, its residents and their stories. In the afternoon, neighborhood choirs (Kiezchöre) sing in Sophienstraße and a photo exhibition shows its transformation. For the crowning finale, we invite you to a joint street dinner in the evening: everyone brings their own seating furniture, dishes and culinary delights of choice – with just enough for your direct neighbors to enjoy as well. Together with neighbors and guests, we form the longest dinner table in Berlin.

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June 12-16 19-23 26-30
July 03-07 10-14
Performance

After the success of The River I in the summer of 2022, this special boat tour now returns on Berlin’s waters. The team surrounding Aimé C. Songe invites you to an encounter in a rowing boat, alone or in pairs with a friend or loved one, just in time for sunset. Together with various artists, participants embark on a dreamlike journey to question the concept of an active and productive life, while to taking time to unwind.

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June 13 | 16.00 - 21.00
June 14 | 18.00 - 21.00
June 16 | 16.00 - 22.00
June 17 | 18.00 - 22.00
Kantine | Eintritt frei

Sickness Affinity Group (SAG) is a group of art workers and activists who work on the topic of sickness/disability and/or are affected by sickness/disability. In a cozy installation – with places for rest and hanging out, stimming and wiggling – SAG now looks back on their six years of existence. At the Zine-Library, in collective co-writing and co-reading sessions or group meditations: We invite you to share sick, sleepy, caring crip time with us.

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June 13 14 | 19.00
Tickets
15/10 €

Lay Me Low looks at the terror of standing still and standing up for yourself or others when physical and emotional balance is a struggle. The performance also ponders on why taking a break, resting and cutting oneself some slack is such a pain today. Hence it looks at the techniques, as well as joys and fears of going down and feeling horizontal.

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June 13 14 | 20.30
Tickets
Festsaal | 15/10 €

EveryBody’s Fantasy explores erotic fantasies and questions how we look and experience them. The performance is inspired by Gertrude Stein’s 1937 Everybody’s Autobiography. Considering the biographical, the life-lived as an accessible format for others to enter, visit or witness with care and understanding, this work looks toward what would happen, what we could anticipate happening again and the fantasy that rests just beside.

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June 14 | 16.00 - 18.00
Kantine |

The collaborating queer BIPoC disabled group KIWI – Knowing institutions from within invites to an open meeting in the SAG space on Wednesday June 14. The group, hosted by Tizo All, is an attempt to bring folks to share their experiences in working with institutions.

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June 14 | 22.00
Eintritt frei

This self-governed talk between Liz Rosenfeld and Jen Rosenblit offers an encounter to reflect on what it is to hold one’s own flesh and what it is to witness that intimacy. What these two artists show and how they show it in their work. The functions of their bodies as desired objects and how they approach similar topics from completely different practices and perspectives. What are their magics and how do they enact them?

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June 16 17 | 19.30
Tickets
Hochzeitssaal | 15/10 €

Planets, water, plants, inanimate objects, human animals – everything vibrates and resonates with each other. In different states we vibrate differently: in sadness differently than in joy, in fear differently than in ecstasy. Siegmar Zacharias, together with scent alchemist Liza Witte, textile artist Lea Kieffer, and musician Steve Heather, invites us to listen with our whole bodies and become a space of collective transformation as resonant bodies for one another.

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June 16 17 | 21.30
Eintritt frei

h0chbegabt deal with social structures and translate them into humorous fantasy worlds. Their latest work, VAMPIRE(N), is a mockumentary about the casting and production process of the new vampire film “Vampires in the Dark”. The mockumentary portrays two potential protagonists – real vampires – and provides insight into their lives. We accompany the two and the beginning of their special friendship in the face of discrimination and prejudice.

» more

June 16 17 18 23 24 25 | 22.30
Tickets
15/10 €

Who has always used the night as a place of resistance? What rituals were and are practiced under the protection of the night? Inspired by the “Take back the Night” demonstrations
that have been taking place on Walpurgis Night since the 1970s, the result is an interactive audio night-walk about nocturnal politics of pleasure and lust. Inspired by the figure of the witch, the young ensemble explores the allure of the night in hidden places in Berlin’s urban space, re-enacts various rituals, tests utopias and conquers the night.

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June 17 | 16.00 - 18.00
Kantine | Eintritt frei

Since 2021, Sickness Affinity Group (SAG) has organized a regular reading group engaging with critical thinking in queer and crip studies. In their first in-person reading group session, to be held at Leisure and Pleasure, they will collectively investigate ideas and feelings around different experiences intertwined with walking.

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June 17 | 22.00
Tickets
Concert
Festsaal | 15/10 €

Hans Unstern's lyrics oscillate between modern fairy tales, criticism of the myth of the binary gender system and of their own working conditions in capitalism. A concert between lyrical softness and punk moments, from pompous slide harp clouds to improvised free sequences.

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June 22 23 24 25 | 20.00
Tickets
Hochzeitssaal | 15/10 €

In Vanilla three performers explore the relationship of pleasure, sexual desire and food to question normativity in sexual practices.Through the intimate and vulnerable sharing of personal and fictional sex stories, the performance conducts a warm and soft exercise of imagination.

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June 23 24 | 20.30
Tickets
5 €

In this immersive live work, fragmented landscapes are built and unbuilt; transforming the basement of Sophiensæle into a dark room where people are invited to move through, cruise and lounge together. Inspired by the defiance of communal gatherings, public sex and specifically the politics of taking up space, an*dre neely and Liz Rosenfeld consider their own differently-gendered, differently-aged, differently-transitioning bodies and relationships. They are bound by notions of chosen family and resonating with desires of how to care for and be cared for by one another, or how to carry and tell each others stories.

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June 24 | 16.00
June 24 | 18.00
June 25 | 11.00
June 25 | 13.00
June 30 | 19.00
July 01 | 19.00
June 30 | 21.00
July 01 | 14.00
Tickets
Kantine | 15/10 €

Colonastics is the world’s first fitness workout without the exoticizing bullshit of Zumba, the pseudo-spiritual, esoteric shenanigans of white yoginis and neo-colonial appropriations! Why? Because it feeds solely on the physicality of white cultural practices. Stiffen your joints, throw your limbs around uncontrollably and perfect your air guitar. Feel white supremacy flowing through our collective consciousness and become part of a movement that will revolutionize the fi tness world!

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June 28 29 | 19.00
Tickets
Festsaal | 15/10 €

Orientation is the perception of space through the body. Ceylan Öztrük, who received the 2022 Swiss Art Award, proposes a rethink of spatiality through disorientation. As disorientation involves becoming an object or a sculpture, a dreamy perception is created by text, choreography, costumes and an impressive stage installation. A narrative unfolds about the collision and fusion between the body and the building, the person and the institution, the bent and the stiff.

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June 29 30 | 20.00
July 01 | 16.00
Eintritt frei

In the Leisure Garden of Sophiensæle, a temporary island of the unblessed is being created. Nuray Demir invites to bar-chat conversations about loss, death, collective melancholy, and resistance.

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June 30 | 18.00 - 23.00
July 01 | 18.00 - 23.59
Hochzeitssaal | Eintritt frei

Rest Rebellion sets up a space for rest in a calm, low-stimulus environment and offers a training camp for those who want to learn more about the transformative quality of resting. 

» more

July 01 | 15.00
July 01 | 18.00
Eintritt frei

In 2020, a group of suddenly unemployed Berlin-based dancers started to regularly meet in public space to play Double Dutch – a rope-skipping game played with two ropes swung in opposite directions. What started as a response to the Corona lockdowns, has since blossomed into an ongoing practice where five artists regularly explore the jumping game’s connection to club culture – from early hip hop to techno; but also joy, creativity, non-productive artmaking, playfulness and togetherness as a safe haven within the twisted lifestyle of freelance dancers.

» more

July 01 | 20.30
Various Locations | Eintritt frei

For the festival and season closing, the Sophiensæle open their backyards and bars to everyone from 15 h. There will be an artistic program, drinks, snacks – and from 20.30 h also major and minor gala moments and surprises with artists, the Sophiensæle team and many friends. 

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Specials

Specials
Festival

Leisure & Pleasure

SOP_LEI+PLEA_Grafik_HP_2
© Jan Grygoriew

MAY 25–JULY 01

As a joyful finale of the last season under the artistic direction of Franziska Werner, Sophiensæle invites you to a festival on the political dimensions of Leisure & Pleasure. For six weeks, the festival explores the connections of pleasure and activism, questions art’s ability to heal societal exhaustion – and dreams of life beyond work.

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News

TANZTAGE BERLIN 2024 | SAVE THE DATE

SOP_TATA23_1200x900_SCHWARZ_pur
Jan Grygoriew

The next edition of Tanztage Berlin is currently planned for 4-20 January 2024, and it will again take place under the artistic direction of Mateusz Szymanówka. This year's open call will be published at the beginning of August.

» more

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Queer Darlings 4 Liz Rosenfeld URSA-X

  • URSA_©DorotheaTuch_Querformat
    © Dorothea Tuch
  • LizRosenfeld-URSAX-by-Christa-Holka-19Apr23-071
    © Christa Holka
  • LizRosenfeld-URSAX-by-Christa-Holka-19Apr23-126
    © Christa Holka
  • LizRosenfeld-URSAX-by-Christa-Holka-19Apr23-220
    © Christa Holka
  • LizRosenfeld-URSAX-by-Christa-Holka-19Apr23-268
    © Christa Holka
  • LizRosenfeld-URSAX-by-Christa-Holka-19Apr23-399
    © Christa Holka
  • LizRosenfeld-URSAX-by-Christa-Holka-19Apr23-484 (1)
    © Christa Holka
Performance
2023 April 20 21 | 20.00
2023 April 22 23 | 18.00
Hochzeitssaal

Premiere

In English with German and English subtitles | Relaxed Performance

April 20 + 21 | Performance with German audio description. The preceding tactile tour takes place from 6.45 to 7.15 pm. For audio description and pick-up service, you can register Monday to Friday between 10 am and 6 pm via 030 27 89 00 30 or barrierefreiheit@sophiensaele.com.

It is mandatory to wear an FFP2 mask during the performances.

Please klick here for the German Audioflyer.

Starting 60 minutes before the performance, the access dramaturge will answer individual questions about accessibility and can provide detailed information about the performance (in the Hochzeitssaal-Foyer, 3rd floor). More details in the accessibility information.

URSA-X is an immersive and interdisciplinary performance about change and transition(s). Inspired by the notion that transitions arrive and take on many formations throughout our lives, Liz Rosenfeld and their International team of intergenerational collaborators look at their own notions of transitions beyond binaries of gender, loss and expectations of what life brings our way.

In a fusion of cinematic and performative elements, URSA-X tells the story of the main character URSA, a literal and metaphorical hole that cannot be filled and yet yearns to be. At the same time, the work explores the Greek myth surrounding the constellations Ursa Major and Minor (the Big and Little Bear). Performers R. Justin Hunt and Liz Rosenfeld encounter URSA in a choreography that understands their own flesh as collaborative material and experiments with practices of physical transmission. Together they explore how bodies are always in flux and how one can spatially reflect on one's own body in flux.

  • The show is not suitable for people experiencing Trypophobia (fear of holes).
  • Full nudity
  • Explicit description of sexual acts
  • Listing of food and eating

You can find more information on working with content notes on the house here.

If any questions remain from the following information, please feel free to contact Hannah Aldinger at barrierefreiheit@sophiensaele.com or 030 27 89 00 35. Please note that details may change by the day of the event. Therefore, if you find out after you have purchased your ticket that the performance is no longer accessible to you, you can contact us for a ticket return at ticketing@sophiensaele.com or 030 27 89 00 45 until 5 business days after the event (Monday through Friday between 10am and 6pm).

Duration

  • Approx. 75 minutes

Language

  • English spoken language
  • English and German Subtitles
  • In one improvised scene, there are no subtitles to the spoken words. Instead, a different text specifically written for this scene will be projected

Light

  • Light-intense performance with dark scenes and frequent light changes
  • Light circle surrounding the dance floor that alternates brighter and darker and can be blinding
  • Occasionally pulsating or blinding lights in some parts of the audience
  • Light projections in several intense colours on the ceiling and wall
  • In two scenes, animated projections of hole drawing will be projected, sometimes onto the audience.

Sound

  • Several scenes with loud music
  • Regularly bass music and vibrations that can be felt physically
  • Various sounds are produced with metallic foil as well as latex gloves.
  • In a very dark scene, holes are repeatedly poked in the foil with a loud noise.
  • In one scene, the soundscape works with a pulsating heartbeat for several minutes.

Other effects

  • Stage fog is used.

Audience

  • Suitable from the age of 16
  • The audience is seated in a circle around the performance space.
  • All seating options are step-free accessible (chairs with backrest, beanbags, wheelchair seats).
  • 6 beanbag seats bookable according to availability
  • 2 wheelchair seats bookable according to availability
  • The Audience is invited to move and leave/re-enter the space at any time during the performance. A chill-out space will be provided next door.
  • The performers might come close to the audience, but without any physical contact.
  • During the performance, a costume made of fur is handled several times near the audience.

Relaxed Performance

  • Noises and movements from the audience are explicitly welcome. Visitors can leave and return at any time.
  • There is a chill out space (with weighted/unweighted pillows, weighted/unweighted blankets, noise-cancelling headphones, earplugs and stim-toys) next door in the Hochzeitssaal-Foyer that is available during the performance.

Pre-Show Access

  • Starting 60 minutes before every performance (Thu + Fri: 19:00; Sat + Sun: 17:00) you can meet our access dramaturg in the Hochzeitssaal-Foyer (3rd floor).
  • The access dramaturg will be there to talk you through the access of the performance and answer questions related to your individual access needs.
  • At 19:30 (Thu + Fri) or 17:30 (Sat + Sun) you will be able to enter the performance space with the access dramaturg for some minutes, to make yourself familiar with the space and choose a seat that matches your access needs. On request, it is also possible to experience strong lights or sounds.

Tickets

  • Reservations can be made via the ticket telephone at 030 283 52 66, Monday to Friday from 4pm-6pm
  • Via the online ticket shop
  • At the box office

You can also find more information about accessibility here.

LIZ ROSENFELD (USA/DE, they/them) is a visual artist and performer working in film/video, performance and experimental writing, based in Berlin. Liz Rosenfeld received an MFA in Performance from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2005, followed by an MA from the Department of Performance Studies at New York University in 2007. Liz's films and performances have been shown in international museums, festivals and venues including The Forum Expanded Program at Berlinale 2022, Bergen Assembly 2019, Berlinische Galerie, Mapa Teatro, Sophiensæle, Hebbel am Ufer, Maxim Gorki Theater, Arts Admin, Galerie Emanuel Layr, Tate Modern, Hammer Museum, Leslie Lohman Museum, Barbican Centre, CAC-Glasgow, Tramway, Stedelijk Museum, C/O Gallery and the German Historical Museum. Liz's short films are represented by Video Data Bank and LUX Moving Image. Liz's first immersive 360° film, White Sands Crystal Foxes, conceived for a planetarium, had its world premiere as a Special Event of the Forum Expanded Program of Berlinale 2022 and was nominated for a Teddy Award for Best Short Film. Liz was shortlisted for the Anti Festival Live Art Prize 2022.

PERFORMANCE, CONCEPT, DIRECTOR Liz Rosenfeld PERFORMANCE, ARTISTIC COLLABORATION, CHOREOGRAPHY R. Justin Hunt STAGE DESIGN Sadie Weis COMPOSITION, SOUND DESIGN Neda Sanai LIGHT DESIGN Joseph Wegmann ORIGINAL TEXT Johanna Linsley DRAMATURGY An*dre Neely ACCESSIBILITY DRAMATURGY Noa Winter COSTUME DESIGN Marquet K. Lee TECHNICAL DIRECTION Elliott Cennetoglu ARTISTIC ASSISTANCE, VOICE COACH Alex Piasente-Szymański ADDITIONAL ORIGINAL SOUND Shara Heshiimu ORIGINAL AUDIO DESCRIPTION Ursina Tossi, Nicole Meyer DISTRIBUTION Kira Koplin PRODUCTION Anna von Glasenapp / High Expectations SPECIAL THANKS: Leah Marojevic, Season Butler, Christa Holka, Nadja Krüger, Colin Self, Jessica Gadani, Leila Jones

A production by Liz Rosenfeld in co-production with SOPHIENSÆLE Berlin and Kampnagel Hamburg. Supported by the Capital Cultural Fund. Media partners: Berlin Art Link, Rausgegangen, Missy Magazine, Siegessäule, tipBerlin, taz.die tageszeitung.