Festival der Kooperationen mit Alexander Kluge & friends “Der Elefant im Dunkeln”

Over the course of 10 days, more than 120 contributors present literature, films, works of visual art, performances, choreographies, dialogues, workshop talks, and discussions at the Literaturhaus Berlin and at other institutions. From the 17th to the 26th of September, the “Festival der Kooperationen mit Alexander Kluge & friends ‘Der Elefant im Dunkeln’ ” will take place for the first time. The numerous events held inside the house or in the garden of the Literaturhaus Berlin and its 20 partner institutions will also be streamed on the YouTube channel of the Literaturhaus Berlin as well as on dctp.tv—the webTV by Alexander Kluge.

The “Festival der Kooperationen” takes a look at the overlapping social, political, and ecological crises of the present. A diverse group of people is involved in the festival: Alexander Kluge, Jonathan Meese, Hannelore Hoger, Stefan Rahmstorf, Asal Dardan, Peter Weibel, Ulrike Draesner, Bruno Latour, Eva Horn, Bernd Scherer, Isabel Mundry, Lothar Müller, Teresa Bücker, Matthias Glaubrecht, Muriel Pic, Nuran David Calis, Mara-Daria Cojocaru, Ottmar Edenhoer, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, Hanns Zischler, Annett Gröschner, Durs Grünbein, Yoko Tawada, and Helge Schneider, among others.

In the words of Asmus Trautsch, curator of the festival: “In times like these, cooperation is more important than ever. The current crises cannot be solved single-handedly by individual disciplines, institutions, or social groups. With this festival, we dare to try something new: we are happy that we were able to interest this many institutions and individuals to participate and, for ten days, tackle the urgent questions of our present: artistically, scientifically, with dedication, and also controversially. The festival offers unique formats that invite us to explore cooperation as a mode of understanding and acting. After all, as an old Southeast Asian proverb has stated long before: only together can we spot the elephant in the dark.”

Next to the main partner, dctp, the cooperating institutions include the ARGOS centre for audiovisual arts and Bozar in Brussels, the Botanical Museum Berlin, the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program, the Cinéma Paris / Yorck Kinogruppe, the Deutsche Kinemathek, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop, the Goethe-Institut Brussels, the Inter-University Centre for Dance Berlin (HZT), the Institut français Deutschland, KLANGZEITORT – Institute for New Music, the ZfL, the Mobile Akademie Berlin, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Spector Books, Suhrkamp, the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, and the Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe.