DaNceministerium Berlin 2022

Fresh AIR Residency - Stiftung Berliner Leben/Urban Nation

Globes, disco balls, maps and a green screen dance floor in the studio space, were central objects and means of deconstructing and reconstructing borders and restrictions. At the same time was the studio of the residency located right at Bülowstrasse, a place where many public demonstrations in Berlin take place as well as being a central location for Berlin's queer community and in/visible sex work taking place around the area. Hence, freedom of movement was also addressed in the project from the perspective of invisible restrictions in the light of the former physical wall present in the city. The result was the production of several music videos recorded in public space, green screen montages recorded in the studio and live performances including an open studio tour and opening performance at the scholarship exhibition.

Music Videos

Installation

Performances

MUSIC VIDEO

YOU DON'T OWE ME

You Don't Own Me, is a music video to the song You Don't Own Me by SAYGRAZE (feat. G-Eazy) addressing the problems caused by the German Prostitute Protection Act passed in 2017. A pair of high heels with open lips, are strutting across the Reichstag to the song that was played loudly during a demonstration of sex workers and those in solidarity protesting against this law on 4th June 2022, International Whore’s Day, along Bülowstrasse.

Th ‘Prostitution Protection Act’ obliges sex workers to officially register for a pass; a process which requires a lot of confidential data when anonymity is essential to protect sex workers. The Danceministerium Berlin residency studio was directly looking ont0 Bülowstrasse, a place where sex work is visibly taking place.

Green Screen/

Berlin City as Dance Floors

freedom of movement performed in a formerly divided city

INSTALLATION

The installation (photo), as part of 'PICTURING DEMOCRACY’ exhibition', shows the central elements of the project including a globe, disco ball, a 70-year-old photo album documenting the micro-performances and a monitor placed on the green screen dancefloor. The screen shows a compilation of the music videos including the (YouTube) moment when GDR press spokesman Günther Schabowski publicly announced on television in November 1989 that there was “immediately” freedom to travel between the FRG and the GDR.