Never Work Talks: Helen Hester, Anajara Amarante, Olivia Hyunsin Kim – Sophiensæle | Independent Theater in Berlin

Never Work Talks: Helen Hester, Anajara Amarante, Olivia Hyunsin Kim

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Over the course of two days, the festival’s artistic program will be accompanied by a series of lec­tures and discussions.

We begin on June 24 with a look at a possible future and the question of what a “post-work” society might look like—a world in which work is organized very differently and no longer forms the center of our identity and social organization. For this, we have invited Helen Hester, who has gained international attention through her publications Xenofeminism (Polity, 2018), After Work: A History of the Home and the Fight for Free Time (with Nick Srnicek, Verso, 2023), and Post-Work: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How We Get There (with Will Stronge, Bloomsbury, 2025). Following a keynote, she will discuss with artists Anajara Amarante and Olivia Hyunsin Kim what visions for artistic work in a post-work society might look like.

On June 25, philosopher and author Amelia Horgan and sociologist and author Nicole Mayer-Ahuja will engage in a keynote conversation about the realities of our current world of work under capitalism, contemporary class society and the divisions that wage labor creates, as well as the potential of “resistant idleness” and sometimes unexpected alliances.

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With: Helen Hester, Anajara Amarante, Olivia Hyunsin Kim

A production by Sophiensæle. Never Work—International Performance Festival is a festival by Sophiensæle, supported by the Capital Cultural Fund (HKF). Sophiensæle is supported by the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion. Media partners: Berlin Art Link, Missy Magazine, Siegessäule, taz.

Helen Hester is Professor of Gender, Technology and Cultural Politics at the University of West London. Her publications include Xenofeminism (Polity, 2018); After Work: A History of the Home and the Fight for Free Time (with Nick Srnicek, Verso, 2023) and Post-Work: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How We Get There (with Will Stronge, Bloomsbury, 2025). 

Anajara Amarante is a Brazilian crip & lgbt+ artist who is Berlin based, working at the intersection of disability justice, dissident bodies and arts. Their main media of work is the moving body. Their professional interests are personal and political: queer, dissident bodies, marginalized communities and art practices. Their main artistic practice is concentrated in the field of performing arts (focus choreography), and some visual arts. As someone who studied biology and as a former teacher, they are interested in nature and the people who defend it, as well as access-centered pedagogies & environmental education.

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.

  • Helen Hester sits at a table, resting their chin on folded hands. She wears a denim jacket and looks pensively into the camera. Trees are visible in a blurred background through a window.
    Helen Hester © Ione Saizar
  • Black-and-white portrait of a person against a light background. The person wears a crew-neck sweater and smiles gently into the camera.
    Anajara Amarante © Magdalena Sebald
  • EN: Close-up of a person with long black hair wearing an olive green jacket. The person looks calmly into the camera. Water and a blurred city skyline are visible in the background.
    Olivia Hyunsin Kim © Christian Cattelan