From 4. to 7. December 2025, the Humboldt Forum in Berlin will present the second edition of the Transkontinentale festival, featuring international guest performances from the worlds of dance, theatre and performance art with artists from Africa, Asia, Australia and South America. While the focus of the 2024 festival was dedicated to commemorating 140 years since the Berlin Africa Conference, this year’s programme artistically explores various facets of family: growing up in conflict zones, a cross-generational family celebration, communication with ancestors, the search for a father, experiences of lost motherhood, and artistic and queer chosen families.
Image above: © Sarah Imsand / Studios Kabako
Africa, Asia, Australia and South America: Transkontinental presents guest performances from four continents on the theme of family. The programme for the four-day festival in 2025 includes a total of nine productions from four continents. All performances will be complemented by encounters and discussions with the participating artists.
The second edition of Transkontinentale features several European premieres, German premieres and Berlin premieres. The programme includes guest performances by choreographer and dancer Faustin Linyekula, choreographer and performer Stéphanie Mwamba (both from the Democratic Republic of Congo), performers Tetembua Dandara and Cris Moreira (both from Brazil), choreographers Choy Ka Fai (Singapore/Berlin) and Joel Bray (Australia), artist and architect Nitish Jain (India/Czechia), poet and multidisciplinary artist Logan February (Nigeria) and author and director Koleka Putuma (South Africa).
All productions were selected with reference to the collections of the Humboldt Forum. In addition, three of the guest performances will take place directly in the exhibition areas of the Ethnological Museum and the Museum of Asian Art.
A wide range of artistic formats will be presented: contemporary dance, sensory encounters with the audience, an interactive lecture performance, and a theatre trip for babies and their parents.
Faustin Linyekula: „My body, my archive“
The Congolese choreographer and dancer sets out in search of the women in his family.
Tetembua Dandara: „En tenho uma história que se parece com a minha“
The Brazilian invites the audience to celebrate with her, her mother, her sister, her niece and her grandmother – with moqueca and cachaça, music and stories.
Cris Moreira: „Quadra 16“
Cris Moreira also comes from Brazil with her lecture performance about families that will never exist after miscarriage or abortion.
Choy Ka Fai: „SoftMachine: The Return“
In SoftMachine: The Return, Choy Ka Fai from Singapore asks two dancers from his artistic family of choice, with whom he started his professional career over ten years ago: ‘How can we grow old together, think and play together?’
Joel Bray: „Daddy“
Joel Bray from Australia involves the audience in his dance performance about the search for his indigenous father.
Stéphanie Mwamba: „KIZAZI“
In ‘KIZAZI’ (Swahili for womb), Stéphanie Mwamba from the war-torn eastern Democratic Republic of Congo describes the female body as an oppressed territory, a combat zone.
Nitish Jain: „Homeward“
In his interactive performance, Nitish Jain tells the story of the Jacobin cuckoo, a migratory bird eagerly awaited in India as a harbinger of the monsoon season, which starts a family by destroying the eggs of another family.
Logan February: „Afro-queere Halluzinationen”
In the exhibition of the Ethnological Collection, Logan February embarks on a poetic search for her Yoruba ancestors.
Koleka Putuma: „Scoop“
The South African author and director invites babies up to 12 months old and their parents to her theatre tent.
The festival serves as a transcontinental platform for exchange between audiences and artists, from which new connections and artistic projects can emerge in the future. All guest performances are accompanied by encounters and discussions with the participating artists. Transkontinentale was curated by Jan Linders, Head of Events at the Humboldt Forum, in dialogue with festivals and their participants in numerous countries.
WHEN?
Exhibition dates:
Thursday, 4. December, until Sunday, 7. December 2025
Opening hours:
Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun: 10:30 am – 6:30 pm
Tue: Closed
WHERE?
Schloßplatz
10178 Berlin
COST?
8-20 EUR (Partially free admission or admission with the Humboldt Forum ticket)
