Archiving Werkstatt der Kulturen: (Post)Migrant Histories in Berlin Arts - Detailseite

The Werkstatt der Kulturen (WdK) in Berlin operated from 1993 to 2019 as the city’s only state-funded institution dedicated to showcasing art and culture by migrant communities and communities of colour. It offered a platform for artistic experimentation in genres and forms that had been largely excluded from other state-supported cultural spaces. This was achieved through diverse formats such as festivals, workshops, and transnational collaborations.

After its closure by the Berlin Senate, the WdK left behind approximately 200 boxes of archival material. These include video, audio, photographic, and textual records that document nearly three decades of work. The archive reflects the contributions of thousands of actors, including organisations, artists, curators, activists, and researchers who engaged with the institution.

This course will examine the materials left behind by the WdK. Using a decolonial lens, participants will construct a preliminary inventory (Findbuch), identify key themes for archiving the collection, and develop concepts for its future use.

Follow the link for more on the archive and WdK:https://taz.de/Archiv-der-Werkstatt-der-Kulturen/!6054710/

(Course languages: English and German)

1. Stoler, Ann Laura. Along the Archival Grain: Epistemic Anxieties and Colonial Common Sense. Course Book. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2009.
2. Derrida, Jacques. Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression. Translated by Eric Prenowitz. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1996.
3. Mbembe, Achille. “The Power of the Archive and Its Limits.” In Refiguring the Archive. Edited by Carolyn Hamilton et al., 19–26. Cape Town, South Africa: Springer Dordrecht, 2002.
4. Arondekar, Anjali. For the Record: On Sexuality and the Colonial Archive in India. Durham: Duke University Press, 2009.
5. Vertovec, Steven (1996) Berlin Multikulti: Germany, 'foreigners' and 'world-openness'. In: Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies; July 1996, Vol. 22 Issue: 3 p381-399, 19p.
6. El-Tayeb, Fatima (2004) The Archive, the Activist, and the Audience, or Black European Studies: A Comparative Interdisciplinary Study of Identities, Positionalities, and Differences. DOI 10.5070/T711009696
7. Mignolo, W. and Vazquez, R. (2013). Decolonial AestheSis: Colonial Wounds/Decolonial HealingsSocial Text Online. https://socialtextjournal.org/periscope_article/decolonial-aesthesis-colonial-woundsdecolonial-healings/
8. Terkessidis, Mark. (2014) Schiffbruch ohne Zuschauer? Über die Neuausrichtung des Kulturbetriebs an der Vielheit der Gesellschaft. In: Komische Oper Berlin (Hg.) Selam Opera! Interkultur im Kulturbetrieb p147-161. Leipzig: Henschel Verlag.
9. Langhoff, Shermin. Interview with Katharina Donath. Die Herkunft spielt keine Rolle - "Postmigrantisches" Theater im Ballhaus Naunynstraße, Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung, 10 March 2011, Retrieved from www.bpb.de/gesellschaft/kultur/kulturelle-bildung/60135/interview-mit-shermin-langhoff?p=all
10. El-Tayeb, Fatima (2016). Undeutsch: Die Konstruktion des Anderen in der postmigrantischen Gesellschaft. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783839430743 p7-28, 19p.

All lectures will take place at Objektlabor, Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik (HZK): Campus Nord, Haus 3, E.G; Phillipstr. 13; 10115 Berlin.

Objektlabor - Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik

Das Seminar findet als Blockveranstaltung, freitags, 10-15 Uhr, an folgenden Terminen statt:

25.04.2025 - 1. Sitzung
16.05.2025 - 2. Sitzung
06.06.2025 - 3. Sitzung
20.06.2025 - 4. Sitzung
27.06.2025 - 5. Sitzung
18.07.2025 - 6. Sitzung

Hausarbeit oder mündliche Prüfung