BERLIN GLOBAL

How entangled is Berlin with colonial history really? And how is this legacy dealt with today? Because the traces of German colonial history can still be found everywhere in Berlin today. In the PERSPEKTIVRAUM series, BERLIN GLOBAL invites experts and activists, critics and friends of the exhibition to share their perspectives on selected topics in order to enter into conversation and enrich current discourses and debates.

What we see, but also how people are talked about, shapes our view of the world. The media can help break down stereotypes. But often they do the opposite. Does the pleasure of some mean the exclusion of others, and why are we not further along today?

The “Boundaries” room of the BERLIN GLOBAL exhibition makes boundaries literally visible. An illuminated map on the floor shows Berlin’s roads and waterways. Tall glass cases containing remarkable historical objects stand on the map, indicating the boundaries that surrounded, divided and were determined in Berlin in the past. The map is also surrounded by media stations in the form of surveying equipment. For Polish Berliner Dorota Kott, the room has a special significance.

Originating in the Bronx in New York City, the musical genre hip hop would also play an important role in Berlin in the 1980s and 1990s – both in the West and in the East. While German-Turkish youths developed the genre in West Berlin youth centres, hip hop in East Berlin became a means for musicians to seek free spaces against the backdrop of the GDR regime.

In the film "Entertain Berlin", Black filmmaker Jermain Raffington speaks with other Black Germans about the past, present and future of identity and racism in Germany. The film can be found in the “Entertainment” room of BERLIN GLOBAL.

Henri Vogel is a transgender religious and cultural scholar and activist who lives with his husband and cat in Berlin. In this video, Henri presents an extraordinary object in the “Free Space” room.

Located between the “Entertainment” and “War” rooms of the BERLIN GLOBAL exhibition, the “Exile Wall” features the signatures of numerous artists and cultural figures of the 20th century. They include Marlene Dietrich (1901 - 1992), Kurt Weill (1900 - 1950), Tilla Durieux (1880 - 1971) and Bertolt Brecht (1898 - 1956), among others, all of whom were forced to flee Nazi Germany.

Past, present and future: much of what happens in Berlin has an impact on the world. And much of what happens in the world affects Berlin. BERLIN GLOBAL, an exhibition on 4,000 square metres of space at the Humboldt Forum, shows how the city and its people are connected with the world.