Sophiensæle

Olivia Hyunsin Kim/ddanddarakim: Hello – Sophiensæle | Independent Theater in Berlin

Program

Saison 25/26
17:30
Start: Kasse/Box office
Dance, Musical theater, Concert Ticket
Dance, Musical theater, Concert Ticket
Dance, Musical theater, Concert Ticket
Dance, Music Ticket Premiere
Dance, Music Ticket
Performance Ticket
Dance, Music Ticket
Performance Ticket
Dance, Music Ticket
Performance Ticket
Performance Ticket
Performance Ticket
Performance Ticket
Dance Ticket Premiere
Dance Ticket
Showing Ticket
Dance Ticket
Dance Ticket
Performance Ticket Premiere
19:00
Hochzeitssaal
Dance, Installation Ticket Premiere
19:00
Hochzeitssaal
Dance, Installation Ticket
19:00
Hochzeitssaal
Dance, Installation Ticket
18:00
Start: Kasse/Box office
19:30
Festsaal-Foyer
Talk Free admission
Performance, Dance Ticket Premiere
Performance, Dance Ticket
Performance, Dance Ticket
Performance, Dance Ticket
Performance, Dance Ticket Premiere
Performance, Dance Ticket
Dance Ticket Premiere
Performance, Dance Ticket
Performance, Dance Ticket
Musical theater Ticket Premiere

Olivia Hyunsin Kim/ddanddarakim:
Hello

Three people stand on a stage under blue lighting. They wear colorful outfits, sing into microphones, and extend one arm forward. Behind them, three screens display flower projections.
Olivia Hyunsin Kim/ddanddarakim:
Hello
Dance, Performance
Duration: 1h 10 Min.
German, DGS, Korean with English and German subtitles
10€/15€/20€/25€

Premiere

Accessible in DGS (German Sign Language):

08./09.10., 20:30
10.10., 20:00
11./12.10., 18:00

If possible, please bring a smartphone with you to the event. Please arrive at least 10 minutes before the start of the event.

North Korea appears to many as an impalpable country, inhumane and completely closed off. Based on research and interviews, the interactive performance Hello questions superficial and one-sided assumptions about North Koreans.

In three differently designed rooms at Sophiensæle, visitors work in small groups to learn about the situation of various people whose mobile autonomy has been or continues to be restricted by the state. Using a specially developed system, the audiences find blind dates that tell semi-fictional stories aside from grand state acts, propaganda, parades and other showcase measures and give insights into everyday North Korean culture. Through music, movement, customs, games and food, Hello invites you to make encounters beyond political dividing lines, to rethink prejudices and to imagine the lives of North Koreans in more personal and complex ways.

How do political borders shape identities, and how are authoritarian regimes subverted? Between official narrative and personal experience, between the known and the underground, the performance also reveals invisible migration stories and hybrid biographies that connect North and South Korea and even extend to Europe.

Download evening information

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).

Duration

  • 70 minutes without intermission

Language

  • German and Korean spoken language, German sign language
  • German and English surtitles
  • Interpretation of spoken language into DGS October 8/9, 8:30 p.m., October 10, 8:00 p.m., October 11/12, 6:00 p.m.

Lighting

  • The lighting is moderate.
  • There are changes in lighting, but they are not abrupt.

Sound

  • There are songs at some points in the play.
  • There are no sudden noises.

Interaction

  • The entire performance is based on interaction.
  • The audience becomes part of the performance in small groups and interacts with each other and the performers.
  • The groups are divided up by means of a quiz. The quiz is operated via an app that is installed on your own smartphone. Technical support is available and it is possible to borrow a smartphone.

Audience

  • The audience is divided into different groups and moves through the building (wedding hall, wedding hall cloakroom, canteen).
  • Seating options vary depending on the group: There are chairs with backrests, beanbags, and seat cushions. If you have specific seating requirements, please contact barrierefreiheit@sophiensaele.com or make a note of this on site.
    Two beanbag seats can be booked subject to availability.

Smells

  • There is a strong smell of food in the canteen.

Other

  • Food is cooked and served to some members of the audience.
  • The ingredients are: rice, injoggi (made from soy), spice paste made from soybean oil, chili powder, hot chili, onion, and salt.

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, performance: Olivia Hyunsin Kim
Co-direction, video design, lighting: Jones Seitz
Dance, performance: Hyemi Jolee, Ji Sun Hagen, Jung Sun Kim
Stage, Costumes: Luca Plaumann
Sound art: Tatiana Heuman
Technical direction: Gilda Coustier - Gefährliche Arbeit
App programming: bleeptrack & Leo G. Alonso
Dramaturgy: Maria Rößler
Outside Eye: Marielle Schavan
Access consulting: Hyemi Jolee
Production management: Christo Schleiff
Press and public relations: Kerstin Böttcher
Artistic collaboration: Somi Dubuque
Graphic design: Christian Cattelan
Interpreters for German and German Sign Language: Aniella Tiedje, Mille Jepsen


Thanks to: JINBEOM, Kim Okin, Liana Kang, Mira Schmitz, Oh Eun Jeong, Robert R. Grund/ ZUSAMMEN-Hamhung e.V., Sun Mu, Yeom Haryong, Alma Arnoul, Leo Nagel, Aktion Mensch, Gefährliche Arbeit, SARAM - Stiftung für Menschenrechte in Nordkorea, ehrliche Arbeit  - freies Kulturbüro 

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 MagazineSiegessäuletaz.

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.

Olivia Hyunsin Kim works as a choreographer, director and curator. She has received scholarships from 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 their own installations and performance projects and is a founding member of the FLINTA* network Gefährliche Arbeit e.V.

Hyemi Jolee is a deaf artist, activist and web designer from South Korea. She lives in Berlin, is on the board of jubel³ mit Gebärdensprache e.V. and works at Koreaverband e.V.

Ji Sun Hagen is a dancer trained in traditional and contemporary dance in Seoul, South Korea. She has been working as a freelance performer in Berlin since 2014 and her work focuses on experimental approaches between Korean dance and contemporary interpretation.

Jung Sun Kim is a choreographer, dancer and mentor working in South Korea and in Germany since 2007. Her work focuses on the intelligence of the body between movement, healing and performance. Inspired by group movements in Korea and the GDR, she focuses on collective and individual body awareness.

Tatiana Heuman has been working in the fields of sound, media art and somatic movement research in Argentina and Europe since 2009. Heuman’s current research focuses on sound ceramics, perceptual phenomena and the dream field. Heuman also leads the collaborative transdisciplinary projects Near and Remote Memory activation practices and Siestaria, facilitating labs and workshops that understand sound and physical listening as a means to connect with oneself, each other and the environment.

Luca Maria Plaumann studies at the Kunsthochschule Weißensee Berlin and works in parallel as a stage and costume designer in the theater and music scene. In the broadest sense, her work revolves around the design of space and the body, with a particular focus on sustainability and inclusivity.

Leo G. Alonso is an interdisciplinary artist based in Berlin with a current focus on theater technology, lighting design and new technologies in performance art.

bleeptrack is a creative technologist and artist from southern Germany. She specializes in generative art, artificial intelligence and digital fabrication.

Gilda Coustier develops performances between puppet theater, robotics and queerfeminist speculation at manufaktor. She/they work in event technology both freelance for various theater groups and permanently at Ballhaus Ost Berlin. Gilda is an active part of Gefährliche Arbeit, a tech-artistic FLINTA* association.

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.

Marielle Schavan is a founding member of the queer-feminist theater collective Henrike Iglesias and also works as an author, performer and dramaturge on independent theater projects and discourse formats.

Kerstin Böttcher studied humanities in Marburg and Berlin. From 2003–2024 she was responsible for press and public relations at TD Berlin. In addition to her ongoing work for the Theaterdiscounter, she also worked regularly for independent groups and projects. In 2011, she also took over the press and public relations department at Ballhaus Ost. From 2021-2024 Böttcher worked in collaboration with Acker Stadt Palast. Since 2021 she is Head of Communications at DOCKART.

Somi Dubuque moves between stage, education and research. With a focus on perspectives of Asian-read people, Dubuque creates spaces for representation and resistance. Whether in performance, theater, workshops or artistic texts, Dubuque combines artistic practice with empowerment.

Aniella Tiedje is a trained interpreter for German Sign Language and German spoken language. She works in Berlin as a freelance interpreter and as a part-time employee at manua GmbH. In her final theses, she dealt with the topic of spaces and minorities.

 

 

  • A person sits at a table in front of a large fan-shaped backdrop. They wear a black top with a crane pattern, have orange eye shadow, and their mouth open. Small sticks and playing cards are on the table.
    © Mayra Wallraff
  • A person in a white top and wide pink skirt spins with outstretched arms on a dark stage. A spotlight shines from above.
    © Mayra Wallraff
  • A person in a white chef’s jacket stands at a table with many bowls and glasses. Behind them, a large screen shows an overhead view of the same cooking scene. To the right, another person in a light jacket stands.
    © Mayra Wallraff
  • A person in a blue suit speaks into a microphone. Behind them, another person in a light jacket stands slightly out of focus, mouth open.
    © Mayra Wallraff
  • Three people in colorful hanbok, traditional Korean clothing with wide sleeves and bright colors, and sunglasses sit laughing on a white cloth, holding playing cards.
    © Gedvilė Tamošiūnaitė
  • Close-up of the hands of three people in colorful hanbok, traditional Korean clothing with wide sleeves and bright colors, sorting playing cards on a white cloth.
    © Gedvilė Tamošiūnaitė
  • Three people in colorful hanbok, traditional Korean clothing with wide sleeves and bright colors, and sunglasses pose in front of a brick wall, each holding different props.
    © Gedvilė Tamošiūnaitė
  • Three people in colorful hanbok, traditional Korean clothing with wide sleeves and bright colors, and sunglasses pose outdoors, one holding a cooking pot, another holding playing cards.
    © Gedvilė Tamošiūnaitė
Hochzeitssaal, Hochzeitssaal Garderobe, Kantine
Hochzeitssaal, Hochzeitssaal Garderobe, Kantine
Hochzeitssaal, Hochzeitssaal Garderobe, Kantine
Hochzeitssaal, Hochzeitssaal Garderobe, Kantine
Hochzeitssaal, Hochzeitssaal Garderobe, Kantine
Hochzeitssaal, Hochzeitssaal Garderobe, Kantine
Hochzeitssaal, Hochzeitssaal Garderobe, Kantine
Hochzeitssaal, Hochzeitssaal Garderobe, Kantine
Premiere Ticket