Olivia Hyunsin Kim/ddanddarakim: Be thankful, they said | Oct 04, 05, 06, 07 | Festsaal – Sophiensæle | Independent Theater in Berlin
Olivia Hyunsin Kim/ddanddarakim:
Be thankful, they said
Be thankful, they said
German, English, Korean, comprehensible without knowledge of Korean
10€/15€
Relaxed Performance
04.10./ 05.10. with German Sign Language interpretation of spoken language
05.10. With audio description
2023 marked the 70th anniversary of the first transnational adoption from South Korea and the critical voices of adoptees have never been louder. In Be thankful, they said, the international artistic team around Olivia Hyunsin Kim/ddanddarakim humorously re-appropriates clichéd adoption narratives, confronts the erasure of their identities and shows how those affected reclaim their own stories.
Based on interviews with experts, artists and activists from the South Korean diaspora, who were themselves adopted as children into Western countries, the performance traces the aftermath of a history of global entanglements that still receives little attention. A history that was not only characterized by charity and humanitarian aid intentions, but also by the reproduction of colonial structures, white savior fantasies, patriarchal oppression, forced migration and human trafficking. How do transnational adoptees reflect on their childhood in retrospect? And what political demands arise today from the lived experience of transnationally adopted people?
Be thankful, they said is a multidisciplinary artistic exploration of (pop) cultural and media images of transnational adoption and the real individual perspectives of the people affected.
The information on accessibility is still in progress and will be updated as soon as possible. If any questions remain unanswered until then, please feel free to contact the communication department 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).
Early boarding
If, for artistic reasons, the door to the auditorium does not open until very shortly before the performance begins, there is the option of early boarding.
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 at the house here.
Artistic direction, choreography: Olivia Hyunsin Kim
Dance: Daniel Jeremiah Persson
Korean traditional coach: Ji Sun Hagen
Video design, lighting: Jones Seitz
Stage: Soojin Oh
Costumes: Kristin Gerwien, Arnita Jaunsubrena
Sound artist: Tatiana Heumann
Technical direction: Gretchen Blegen
Dramaturgy: Maria Rößler
Outside eye: Lena Sunhee Meierkord
Access consulting: Hyemi Jolee
Production management: ehrliche arbeit – freelance cultural office
Transcriptions, assistant director: Mel Brinkmann
Graphic design: Christian Cattelan
DGS interpreting in tandem: Hyemi Jolee, Aniella Tiedje, Lisa Leonhardt
Audio description: Hannah Aldinger, Ari Althaus, Johanna Krins
Guest appereance: Olivia Hyunsin Kim, Ji Sun Hagen
Thanks to: kimura byol lemoine, Mirae Kate Rhee, Vic So Hee Alz a.o.
A production by Olivia Hyunsin Kim/ddanddarakim in co-production with Sophiensæle. Supported by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion and with funds from the Capital Cultural Fund. Thanks to Uferstudios, PSR Kollektiv and Theaterhaus Berlin. Media partners: Missy Magazine, Siegessäule, taz.
Olivia Hyunsin Kim/ddanddarakim work collectively on choreographic works with a queer-feminist and postcolonial focus. Through fiction, they renegotiate power relations and offer empowering alternatives to the present. Their works have been shown at Sophiensæle, Art Sonje Center, Staatsoper Hannover, Museo Universitario del Chopo, among others. The permanent team consists of Kristin Gerwien, Olivia Hyunsin Kim and Jones Seitz.
Kristin Gerwien creates costumes/objects for performances. As a singer, she explores songwriting and karaoke. She curates exciting music with Juckpulver as co-director at TNT Marburg.
Olivia Hyunsin Kim works as a choreographer, director and curator. She was a scholarship holder of danceWEB, the Tarabya Cultural Academy, Vila Sul Bahia and won 1st place in the Amadeu Antonio Art Prize in 2019. Her first opera Turning Turandot premiered in November 2023.
Jones Seitz develops the lighting and video design for her own installations and performance projects and is a founding member of the FLINTA* network Gefährliche Arbeit e.V.
ehrliche arbeit – freies Kulturbüro has been a production office for the independent performing arts since 2006. As a platform and infrastructure for independent projects, ehrliche arbeit combines concept and project development with project management and production management, dramaturgy, press and public relations work, curation, editing, text work and translations. ehrliche arbeit works in Berlin but also internationally with individual artists, temporary project groups, permanent ensembles, collectives, institutions, festivals and program series. ehrliche arbeit is a collective – without hierarchies, without salary levels.
Maria Rößler is a freelance dramaturge. As such, she works internationally with independent theater and performance makers as well as for festivals and other artistic programs.
Sunniva Vikør Egenes is a dancer currently based in Oslo. She has worked as a dancer in the free scene in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the United Kingdom since she graduated Trinity Laban in 2010. As a dancer she has worked for choreographers such as Martin Nachbar, Rosalind Crisp and Eleanor Bauer. From 2019 to 2021 she studied at the MA program New Performative Practices in Stockholm under Chrysa Parkinson. Between 2021 and 2024 she worked for Ravnedans Festival in Norway as curator, producer and board member.