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Photos GAS Berlin: Cornelia Herfurtner / Ost West Club Meran: Sonja Steger / Basis Schlanders: Katrin Gruber / Kubatur Verein Tagusens: Karin Schmuck
>>>>>>>>>> 23.08.´22 7pm
Etwas wagen (Herz, Hand, Verstand) @ Floating University. The reading will be accompanied by holistic exercises by Berit Fischer (Radical Empathy Lab).
English Reading related to Rachel Carson, Robin Wall Kimmerer and Wangari Maathai.
>>>>>>>>>> 04.09.´22
Etwas wagen (Herz, Hand, Verstand) @ Prinzengarten / Berlin Wedding, within the ecofeminist festival „Seeding Freedom“ / organized by Positive Lab Berlin.
German / french reading related to Starhawk. Lise Chevalier reads the french part, Emelie Langlade translates the introduction.
>>>>>>>>>> 07.09.´22
Etwas wagen (Herz, Hand, Verstand) Offshoot: Planting of a fig tree in the gardening school Tempelhof – Schöneberg in memory of Wangari Maathai, together with class 2B of the Wangari Maathai International School Berlin.
>>>>>>>>>> 20.10.´22
Etwas wagen (Herz, Hand, Verstand) Offshoot: Reading from the children’s book about Wangari Maathai in the biotope of the Ev. Schule Lichtenberg
The reading series Etwas wagen (Herz, Hand, Verstand) brings together the life stories of three eco-feminists. Reading aloud from their autobiographies and other texts, a space of connection opens up here: to the activists themselves, their words and their powerful actions. The thinking of these eco-feminists is holistic, reminding us that everything is interrelated. „Protect, preserve, renew“, is both recognised and put into practise, as knowledge that is vital to our survival.
In the centre, anchored in the earth, are garden stakes representing the eco-feminists. They bear their names and are all connected to each other with brightly coloured strings. They are equipped with objects: a globe, a fossil from the Dolomites, a shell from the Mediterranean, a drawing, a fig leaf, an aubergine, and a printed textile. This mix of objects links the activist narratives with each other and at the same time creates an arc to the visitors. Selected objects are passed from hand to hand, and a space is created to pass on one’s own experiences.
Part of the outdoor setting is also a see-through bamboo blind on which the words „To dare sth.“ and „How dare you“ (G.T.) are painted, brightly coloured and mirrored. ‘To dare something’ and ‘to warn’ are part of eco-feminist practice. Fabric covers, printed with silkscreen prints of vegetable cells, provide seating. Embroidered, shiny lines connect these cell colonies with imprinted hands. Existing knowledge about the heart, the hand and the mind is shared and multiplied in small groups.
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Texts were read by the following:
Vandana Shiva – Indian academic and environmental activist who has worked on food sovereignty, advocating for seed diversity and free distribution.
Wangari Muta Maathai († 2011) – Kenyan biologist and environmental activist who initiated the ‘green belt movement’, a reforestation project in which predominantly women planted trees to actively counteract the advance of soil erosion in their country.
Starhawk – American writer, activist, witch and permaculture designer. She interweaves her view of eco-feminism with magic and ritual. In her writing, she explores ‘power-from-within’ – a power based on immanence that diverges significantly from a principle of ‘power-over.’
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The 1st edition of the reading series took place in the summer of 2021 at the Gartenarbeitsschule (an educational garden) in Tempelhof-Schöneberg, Berlin and in South Tyrol (IT) at Basis Vinschgau, at the Ost West Club, Meran and the Kulturverein (cultural association) Kubatur in the Schlern region. A reading took place under the ginkgo tree of the Haus des Wandels (House of Change), Steinhöfel, as part of the Oya magazine is here programme.
The series in Berlin was created in cooperation with the GartenarbeitsschuleGarden School Tempelhof-Schöneberg and was supported by the Dezentrale Kulturarbeit programme of the Tempelhof-Schöneberg borough. The readings in South Tyrol were supported by the Cultural Office of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano and the respective venues.
A continuation of the reading series is taking place 2022 in collaboration with Floating University Berlin, the Œcoféminothek of the PositiveLab Berlin, the Wangari-Maathai-International School Berlin and the Evangelische Schule Lichtenberg.