The measures planned by the Berlin Senate to consolidate the state budget announce drastic budget cuts for the coming years. The cultural sector, but also related areas such as education, social affairs and science, are particularly affected.

We still do not know at this stage to what extent the budget cuts will affect our specific work at Ballhaus Ost. However, we are very concerned about the Senate’s priorities and the policy of social coldness that they reflect. Concerned about the future of Ballhaus Ost and the many people with their diverse life stories with whom we work. Concerned about the future of Berlin.

There are many people involved in the fight against the Berlin Senate’s short-sighted and socially unjust cost-cutting agenda. We have collected particularly important initiatives and statements whose concerns we support and share in the following (constantly updated) link list:

https://unkuerzbar.de/

https://www.berlinistkultur.de/

https://www.bbk-berlin.de/news/16122024-pressemitteilung-von-berlinistkultur-zu-den-dezentralen-aktionstagen-vom-16-181224

https://diversity-arts-culture.berlin

https://stiftung-kulturelle-weiterbildung-kulturberatung.berlin/

https://www.laft-berlin.de/kulturpolitik/berliner-kulturpolitik-aktuell

https://www.tanzraumberlin.de/kulturpolitik/aktuelles-aus-berlin

https://freieszene.berlin/statement-arbeitsraumprogramm/

https://www.theater-on.de/aktuell/aktuelles-detail/pressemitteilung-arbeitskreis-berliner-kinder-und-jugendtheater-vom-10-dezember-2024/2a58364f630c6d78da47abd8c37aebde

https://schaubude.berlin/de/news/statement-ag-puppen-und-figurentheater/

https://nachtkritik.de/images/stories/pdf/OffeneBriefe/Stellungnahme_Jury_HKF_Kulturkuerzungen.pdf

There is always a dispute in the forest of mythical creatures. No two of them ever agree. But it’s not the arguments that are the problem, it’s how we deal with them. Tricky situations call for mouse courage, squirrel humour and peace techniques. Together with the animals, the audience tries out the conflict management toolbox.

Sebastian Mauksch develops theatre productions, primarily for children and young people, as a shared space for experience and discovery. The productions are created in a collective departmental working method with various artists, who this time also perform themselves.

In addition to »Warum der Hund das Fleisch durch den Fluss trägt« (2023, HKF funding, longlist Augenblick mal! 2025) realized Sebastian Mauksch &Team in cooperation with Ballhaus Ost, »Normans Norm« (2024, Senate funding), »Junge Leute« (2022, HKF funding, longlist Wildwechsel 2023), »Fennymore oder wie man Dackel im Salzmantel macht« (2019, HKF funding, invitations to the festivals Augenblick mal! and Wildwechsel 2021), »Karl & Knäcke lernen Räubern« (2020, Senate funding). The focus of his artistic research is »The Art of Adolescence« and its principles of self-empowering theater work. He is a juror at the »Theatertreffen der Jugend« and develops various artistic projects at Berlin schools. http://sebastianmauksch.de/

Times are tough! But did you know that tragedy + time = comedy? If not, you’re probably not a comedian. These troubled fools know how to walk from their pain to your pleasure. If you’ve ever wondered what it sounds like when life-shattered comedians process their selves – join us at JOKEHAUS OST! From freezing your eggs, growing up in war, or just their daddy’s leaving them – trauma dumping is our love language! You’ll be glad that times are rough when these international comedians have you laugh your pain away! 

With Anna Beros, Gözde Güngör, Palma Palacios and Mila Panic

Curated by EXPERT BY IDENTITY

ACCESS NOTE
The event room is only accessible via stairs.

Connectedness in the fight against anti-Muslim racism & anti-Semitism.

11.12. 18:00-23:00
Mit Denken

12.12. 18:00-23:00
Mit Sprechen

Livestream ab 18:30 hier.

Witness the full majesty of the musical muses : Shirley Knott and Madame Eve. An evening of iconic pop covers, comedic sketches, sensual performances, moments of catharsis, piano karaoke, and raw energy to set your loins on fire. A drag show like no other, the pair invite some of Berlin’s finest drag entertainers to shine in this multisensory showcase. Daniela Candela, Dean Flicker, & Lawunda Richardson. Join the Dames around their big pink furry piano for this once in a lifetime spectacle.

Amour, humour & glamour.
The Dames is a musical duo created in 2022. Starting as a camp piano-karaoke evening in queer bars and private events, it evolved into an immersive, almost ritualistic performance in theaters and art galleries. It is between these two extremes that they create magic.

Gathered under the title »Souls Out«, the final semester projects of the UdK Berlin stage design class deal with the socio-political and aesthetic urgencies of our present and create multimedia-influenced spatial stagings that make it possible to test contemporary issues with artistic means.

http://buehnenbild-udk.xyz/
Instagram: @audick_udk_buehnenbildklasse

Welcome to a living room that turns into a smouldering scene of remembering and forgetting. Here, between a grandmother suffering from Alzheimer’s and her daughter, worlds collide: an interplay of anger, sadness, despair and disorientation.

Tobias Yves Zintel (1975, Passau) studied conceptual art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. In his works he combines methods of experimental film, theatre staging, music and installation art. Zintel consciously crosses the boundaries between fact and fiction, document and fragment, and examines questions of subject constitution as well as rituals, knowledge and belief systems that characterise identity.

دختران خیابان انقل داستان خیابانی به درازای ۵ کیلومتر در قلب شهر تهران است که از اسفند ۱۳۵۷ تا کنون صحنه‌ی ایستادگی زنان در برابر نظام اسلامی حاکم بر ایران بوده است. جایی که در ویرانه‌ها و خانه‌های متروک آن طرح‌های نو و تئاتر شوریدن پدیدار می‌شود.  

The play is about people who refuse to submit. Of women who challenge generations of oppression and find their identity, their voices and their expression. It connects the story of the protagonist and her mother with the collective struggle for freedom – a struggle that finds its most visible expression on the revolutionary street.

در پاییز ۱۴۰۱ همزمان با خیزش زنان، آیت نجفی در تهران مجموعه‌ای از کارگاههای زیرزمینی تئاتر را هدایت می‌کرد. این پروژه از سال ۱۴۰۲ با پیوستن جمعی از هنرمندانِ سایر کشورها به گروه در برلین ادامه یافته است.

In fall of 2022, Ayat Najafi led a series of underground theater workshops in Tehran during the women’s uprising. From this work, an ensemble emerged, which he has continued to develop in Berlin with international artists since 2023.