Melanie Jame Wolf: Is this a joke to you?: Comedy as critique in feminist performances for the screen – Sophiensæle | Independent Theater in Berlin
Melanie Jame Wolf: Is this a joke to you?: Comedy as critique in feminist performances for the screen
Comedy helps us test or figure out what it means to say “us.” Always crossing lines, it helps us figure out what lines we desire or can bear.
Lauren Berlant & Simone Ngai
Is this a joke to you? comprises of a screening of short films by Ania Nowak and Melanie Jame Wolf followed by a conversation between the artists and moderator Liz Rosenfeld. This discussion will explore the use of comedy in the three’s work as artists who all move between live choreographic practices and performance for the screen.
What is an embodied camera in queer-feminist film practices? How is comedy useful in “going deeper, faster” in political and social critique? When does the absurd lend itself to explorations of gender and power relations? Why is silly so helpful in dealing with the deadly serious? This conversation departs from the use of humor and slapstick in video material in Wolf's current solo performance MIRA FUCHS (a reprise) to talk about comedy in various feminist moving image practices.
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.
With: Melanie Jame Wolf, Ania Nowak, Liz Rosenfeld
Media partners: Missy Magazine, Siegessäule, taz.
Melanie Jame Wolf macht Kunstwerke, Performances und Texte über Macht, Persona und das Phänomen des „Showbusiness“: das Grenzwertige, das Überzeugende, das Täuschende, das Inszenierte und das Performative im Politischen, Theatralischen und Alltäglichen. Ihre Arbeit erforscht die Verletzlichkeit des Live-Moments und den Körper als widerspenstiges politisches Rätsel. Diese Untersuchungen werden durch Formveränderung und das Spiel mit der Sprache auf überraschende und humorvolle Weise ausgedrückt.
Ihre Arbeiten wurden unter anderem gezeigt im Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Kunstmuseum Basel – Gegenwart, KW – Institute of Contemporary Art, HAU – Hebbel am Ufer, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, nGbK, The National 2019: New Australian Art biennial, VAEFF – Film Festival NYC, Arts Santa Monica, Schwules Museum, Sophiensæle, Münchner Kammerspiele, Arts House Melbourne, Kasseler Dokfest, Bärenzwinger Berlin, SOPHIE TAPPEINER und am Institute of Modern Art Brisbane. Wolf war eine der 8 Nominierten für den Berliner Kunstpreis 2022.
Ania Nowak approaches vulnerability and desire as ways towards reimagining what bodies and language can and cannot do. Nowak develops formats such as live and video performance, installation and text. In her practice Nowak engages with bodies in their nonlinear feeling and thinking capacity to tackle the difficulties of companionship and care in times of perpetual crisis. Nowak’s works have been presented at HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Berlinische Galerie, Sophiensæle, Akademie der Künste, KW, Berlin; Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki; & Salzburger Kunstverein among others.
Liz Rosenfeld is an interdisciplinary artist working with performance, moving image, drawing, and experimental writing. Their practice explores cruising methodologies, queer memory, and the politics of taking up space through flesh as a non-binary collaborative material. Rosenfeld’s first auto-theoretical book, Crossings: Creative Ecologies of Cruising (cowritten with João Florêncio), was published by Rutgers University Press in 2025.