Last May, demonstrations were held against the verdicts of the Gezi trials, in which Osman Kavala, for example, was sentenced to life in prison. Together with the artist Zehra Doğan, the journalists Can Dündar and Deniz Yücel, the writer Aslı Erdoğan and the human rights activist Peter Steudtner, all of whom were imprisoned in the aftermath of the Gezi protests, the demonstrators marched from the Federal Chancellery to the Bundestag and on to the Turkish Embassy to send a signal against arbitrary justice and autocracy in Turkey. This year, on 14 May, elections are due to be held in Turkey, which represent nothing less than a crossroads. At the same time, it is the tenth anniversary of the events around Taksim Square.
Image above: from the play “Everything will be beautiful”, premiere 26.05.2023, Photo: Esra Rotthoff
The GORKI takes both as an opportunity and an offer to engage with the current political upheavals and hoped-for departures in Turkey and worldwide. From 26. May until 25. June the GEZİ – TEN YEARS AFTER will take place at the GORKI, with Zehra Doğan, Can Dündar, Aslı Erdoğan, Peter Steudtner and Deniz Yücel actively participating as curatorial advisory board and contributors. Deniz Yücel as Curatorial Advisory Board and contributors actively participate. Subtitled A Prologue in Spring, it is the first part of the 6th Berliner Herbst Salon (Berlin Autumn Salon) LOST, in the context of which one actively asks oneself in view of all the crises and wars of our time: What to do?
Gezi was and is a symbol for building a society worth living in together. Together with contemporary witnesses who were actively involved in the events and now live in exile, especially in Berlin, GEZİ – TEN YEARS AFTER attempts to trace this legacy for the future through exhibitions, workshops, performances, film screenings, discussions and other formats.
For example, the play Alles wird schön sein (Everything will be beautiful) will have its world premiere on 26 May 2023 as part of the 6th Berlin Autumn Salon. This is what it’s about: A man receives a fatal diagnosis. He will die before his daughter is born. So he tries to record an audio cassette for her and asks himself whether it is even possible to preserve something beyond one’s own death. What remains of him? Disappointments? Sins? Hurts? Ideals? The memories of the sound of waves on the Black Sea, the zombie films of the 80s, rented in a West Berlin video store, the mood in a country after a military coup? How is someone supposed to talk about himself who just wants to forget the dark sides of his past, like the country he grew up in, Turkey. He has no words, so he tries to reconstruct his fragile life with songs that moved him.
GEZİ – TEN YEARS AFTER
Curated by Shermin Langhoff Co-Curator Erden Kosova Assistant Curator Nele Lindemann Scenography Pia Grüter Curatorial Advisory Board Zehra Doğan, Can Dündar, Aslı Erdoğan, Peter Steudtner, Deniz Yücel
Curators of Spaces and Projects Serkan Altuniğne, Ezgi Asar, Zehra Doğan, Yeşim Duman, Şirin Fulya Erensoy, Anthony Hüseyin, Nil Mutluer, Alp Tekin Ocak, Murat Özbank, Necati Sönmez, Peter Steudtner
Dramaturgs and Consultants of Spaces and Projects Ivo Dreger, Yunus Ersoy, Oliver Frljić, Valerie Göhring, Johannes Kirsten, Holger Kuhla, Simon Meienreis, Çiğdem Özdemir, Clara Probst, Theresa Welge
WHEN?
Thursday, 25th May – Monday, 26th June 2023
WHERE?
Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin
Am Festungsgraben 2
10117 Berlin-Mitte
