Ortstermin 2022: Here to be Heard

Aug. 16, 2022

Every year since 2006, the art festival Ortstermin has been welcoming audiences from Berlin and beyond to the Moabit and Hansaviertel districts to engage in a weekend filled with art and numerous other events, such as film screenings and concerts. Coordinated by the Kunstverein Tiergarten, artists and cultural workers from the community will once again open the doors to their studios, workshops, project rooms, galleries and even restaurants and bars, to present their works to the wider public. With artists from across all disciplines taking part, the festival provides an opportunity for exchange and communication, so as to draw attention to the neighbourhood’s multifaceted cultural scene.

This year’s festival, which will run from August 26th to 28th, is adopting the slogan ‘lieber laut’ as its encompassing theme. After the past two years of social distancing, the current focus is about becoming active once more. By placing artistic works, images, videos, performances and more into the Moabit district, the audience will be invited to discover the area not only with their eyes, but also their ears. Sonic interventions will intertwine with the hustle and bustle of the city to arouse a dynamic energy and electrify the area. In addition to artists opening their work spaces, curated exhibitions and events will invite active participation and engagement with the different frequencies and manifestations that compose the term ‘laut.’

After a series of introductions and welcome speeches on August 26, the festival will kick off with a DJ set by Mark Reeder at Galerie Nord. Reeder is a musician and record producer, who started the first record label founded in East Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall, MFS (Masterminded for Success). Galerie Nord will also present the exhibition ‘Battle Cry.’ Opening on the occasion of Ortstermin and running until September 23rd, Ukrainian artists, curators and colleagues will come together to use the space as a “carte blanche” of sorts. Wishing to scream aloud about the consequences of the war, artists will both use and undermine the means of communication and strategies of manipulation used in mediums such as social media. Artists include Christian Falsnaes, Maksym Kodak, Zhenia Stepanenko and Bohdana Zaiats, among others.

On August 27 a selection of talks, film screenings and book launches will take place. Venues include Hansabibliothek, Afrika Haus Berlin, and the Pickle Bar, which is located steps away from Slavs and Tatars studio in Moabit. Pickle Bar offers different fermented items and spirits, the artist collective’s “doubly bubbly answer to the bourgeois staples of wines and cheeses.” After a series of performances and poetry readings, the programme at the bar will end with a concert featuring a saxophone and “Zauberkiste,” or “magic box,” followed by an Open Air Kino at Filmrausch Moabit.

Ortstermin will also be collaborating with 48 Stunden Neukölln and artspring berlin, this year under the title of ‘around the corner.’ Four artists—Silvia Morandi + Kristian Filip Jarnuskiewicz (Moabit), SINTkollektiv (Neukölln) and Daniel Chluba (Pankow)—will stage performances on August 27th. Another curated performance running alongside the festival is film programme ‘echos.’ Expanding the festival with transnational contributions, curator Ellen Martine Heuser will invite international Berlin-based artists to create sounds with their voices and bodies. The goal is to allow listeners the opportunity to become “resonance chambers” and “to feel the material in the noise, sounds, and screams from which music, singing, and speaking are born.”

A festival that starts loud will also end loud. On August 28th, after a day of performances and film screenings, audiences can look forward to a barrel organ concert at Galerie Nord, performed by Niclas Riepshoff. Visitors are invited to check the website for a detailed programme and to discover the voice of Moabit.