VESTITOPOLY

VESTITOPLOY

VESTITOPLOY

Vestitopoly@48hrs Neukölln ©Paolo Gallo | Abgebildet u.a. Lotti Seebeck und Aïcha Abbadi & Festivalbesucher:innen

VESTITOPOLY @ 48 Stunden Neukölln, Saturday, 24th June 2023

In front of a branch of a well-known second hand store chain. The planet is burning under the midday sun. The pouring rain from the evening before has disappeared, the air is hot and the streets are filling up. On Alfred-Scholz-Platz, the VESTITOPOLY playing field is already spread out, the rolling clotheshorses ready in their starting blocks and the oversized dice made from used clothing is attracting the first players.
Es berichtet die kritsche Modeforscherin Aïcha Abbadi

 

Es kommen: Nachbar*innen jeden Alters, Tourist*innen, Feiernde und Aktivist*innen, Juror*innen und Freund*innen auf Abifahrt: alle bereiten sie sich erwartungsvoll vor auf ihre erste Runde. Im bunten Gewusel erhaschen wir Blicke auf bunte selbst gehäkelte Tops und selbstgemachten Schmuck, Crop Tops und Cargohosen, Seidenröcke und Stickereien – auch ein Turban ist dabei. Inspiriert von der Hitze wird eine Spielerin zum spontanen Kleidertausch verleitet: ein luftiges STREETWARE-Kleid für das eigene Outfit, für die nächste Person am Spielfeldrand gelassen. Mit Sonnenschirmen in der Hand wir die Umrundung der Fragen- und Aufgaben-Felder zum lässigen sommerlichen Flanieren auf dem Neuköllner Boulevard.

Meanwhile, the first STREETSHOPPING tour is already back and has collected: fittingly, a t-shirt from “ON TOUR” with a label reading “made in Europe”, various sportswear items “Made in Syria”, a delicate floral prayer dress, a collection of shoes and much more. Freshly laundered, the latest collection is won by a new round of players. During VESTITOPOLY, they learn from one another, clothing stories, swap store tips and styling ideas. For each other, they put togehter: an opera outfit with a work apron, an elegant shell for the first ever drag show with crystal-embroidered red underwear and an offwhite long jacket, a birthday look with a sequined floor-length dress and rubber boots.

Few steps further: a group adorned in satin slip dresses with lace trims, draped over sweatpants and trekking sandals is conspiring about the latest repair workshops. Nostalgic memories come up about the dressy streets of Kinshasa, wishing a simultaneous transmission to the public squares of Neukölln. But look over there! The wishes have been heard and already the crowd is dressing up and everybody strikes a pose. Too soon, the playing round is over, but the players are not yet ready to move on. Skipped fields are caught up to test out every challenge.

all photographs © Paolo Gallo

In the meantime, the garments are accumulating on the world map in the centre of the playing field, sorted by production country. As expected, they pile up highest in Asia, but Europe is filling up as well. The USA and Ethiopia are represented, too. They do not stay there long, however, as they have already caught the eye of new players, who roll the dice until the last minute. Faster than expected, the sidewalks are rolled up. Disappointed faces and longing looks – the DB-Shirt is already gone, the BVG one too – but the game will go on tomorrow! Who knows what new wares the streets will bring?

We played VESTITOPOLY in the cultural summer programme of DRAUSSENSTADT / Supported by the Stiftung für Kulturelle Weiterbildung und Kulturberatung / Stiftung öffentlichen Rechts / Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalt
Lumpen-Peep-O-Rama

Rag-Peep-O-Rama

Rag-Peep-O-Rama

Performance in the windowsof the gallery nord/ art association Tiergarten (c) Joachim Gern & Paolo Gallo

I’M ONLY HUMAN AFTER ALL

I’M ONLY HUMAN AFTER ALL

DON’T PUT YOUR BLAME ON ME,

DON’T PUT YOUR BLAME ON ME

Rag ’n‘ Bone man

my body my choice – der Freiheitskampf von Lumpen und Gesindel

What meaning does clothing have when naked survival is at stake? When vestimentary codes become an existential confession and when the refusal of a certain dress code means that life hangs by a hair. What ethics does military chic follow and what attitude is hidden behind the camouflage? What endows the steely body sex appeal in an outfit that signals readiness to kill, and what message does a first lady send from the cover of Vogue?

Wo:men. Life. Freedom

Performers from STREETWARE examined their bodies, their own and other people's perceptions, put uniformed aesthetics up for debate and transformed the windows of the Galerie Nord into a space of breaking boundaries: Look at us! Alice, barbara, Flora, Jan, KDindie, Lotti, Nazanin and Oksana presented their bodies to the public and passers-by, covered and uncovered themselves, deformed their corporality and distorted their faces. They have formulated their perfect imperfect and flirted with the bad-bitch image, indulged in body worship and brushed each other's armpit hair. Butt cheeks to the left and right of the thong g-string challenged the eye and invited for a visual walk across body landscapes: Do[n't] hurt me!
I am only human after all, don’t put your blame on me!

Peep O Rama

by Boris Steinberg 2022

Am Ende des Kaleidoskops
zeigt sich
die Peep Show des Lebens
Essenz unseres Seins
im Labyrinth ohne Ende
Mosaike und Farben
Gesichter und Hände
Hereinspaziert, Hereinspaziert !
Eintritt ist Frei !
Schaufensterartikel
die Peep Show beginnt
Komm, sei dabei…!

Peep-o-Rama

Feind küsst Feind
Krieg umarmt Frieden
Liebe küsst Hass
und Dass
was bisher vermieden
wird unumgänglich
nun sein…

Gesindel tanzt
in Haute Couture
High Fashion
mutiert zu Lumpen
Löcher und Strass
trägt jedes Gewand
Risse und Wunden
trägt jedes Kleid
Und alle Sinne bereit
am Puls der Zeit

Peep – O- Rama

Es ist für mich
Es ist für dich
Es ist für Uns

There were peeps by

Flora Carmim | barbara caveng | Alice Fassina |  Kdindie | Jan Markowsky | Oksana Moskovchenko | Lotti Seebeck | Nazanin Shamloo | leider erkrankt: Boris Steinberg

Photographs by Paolo Gallo and Joachim Gern
Technical support: Stephan Kolb and Gallery stuff
Idea 
and rehearsal management: barbara caveng
Organisation and production management: Alice Fassina

Flora Carmim

is addicted to languages. Among other things, she studied German. Bass guitar was the first instrument of her youth, followed by guitar, cavaquinho - but singing occupies the favourite place in her heart. Her favourite thing is to perform as a drag performer on the street and on public stages.

barbara caveng

is an interdisciplinary working visual artist with a focus on three-dimensional artistic practice, participatory art, interventions and performances.

 

Alice Fassina

is an observer, Japanologist and costume designer whose artistic approach and working processes are based on sustainability and circular economy. She shares her expertise on alternatives to fast fashion as a guide, lecturer and workshop leader in various collaborations, including Circular Berlin, Green Fashion Tours, community organisations and educational institutions. In recent years, she was a co-creator of the participatory art project challenges fast fashion and worked in various cultural and artistic projects with young people from different backgrounds. The exchange with the new generations is important to her, as it also enables an indirect and sustainable shaping of the future.

Kdindie

"Kdindie is a Berlin based italian-polish performance artist. Creates body architectures at the intersection of dance, theater and costume design. Through his self-made visionary characters triggers people imagination with a queer decolonial approach. Facilitator of conscious movement practices by his creative method indiemotion bridges diverse communities to be unique and united."

 

Jan Markowsky

was an engineer in the GDR, in East and West Berlin. Contact with opponents through dissidents in Jena after imprisonment of his brother Bernd who was detained related to Wolf Biermann's expatriation, Jan emigrated to West Berlin in 1984. Various jobs as energy consultant and engineer for building services. Left the office in January 2000 after a dispute with his boss, then left his apartment.
"As a flexible and open-minded person, coped well overall with life without an apartment. Have had time to participate in preparing meals for the homeless, play theater, give lectures, participate in political committees. After a few years, regularly contributed to the social street magazine 'Strassenfeger' and later participated in 'Strassenfeger-radio'. During that time often photographed and interviewed.
Credo: I have nothing to hide, I can show myself!"

Oksana Moskovchenko

Born and raised in Ukraine. I spent a lot of time working with people, as I am a nurse by profession. However, I often went to Kyiv, where meetings of the Ukrainian Journalist Foundation were held, because my mother is a journalist, and I helped her in her work. I love creativity and art, as well as learning something new, learning from interesting people.

I value openness and respect for personal boundaries in people.

Now I'm learning German, and I'm learning to live in a new country and understand the local mentality. I left for Germany because of the war that russia started in my country.

Now it is difficult for me to think and plan, but I definitely want to find a job here, maybe not in the medical field, as I am open to something new, and I want to be able to help those who remained in Ukraine.

Lotti Seebeck

is an artist and cultural organiser who has been developing performances in collective formations that bring social issues into public space for several years. Intervention and site-specific research are always an important part of her work. She is part of the Common Ground initiative at the Berlin University of the Arts, which provides academic access to the arts for marginalised artists, and develops her own projects on community building, urban transformation and anti-discrimination.

Nazanin Shamloo

was born and raised in Iran. In the haze of the intellectual families of Ahmad Shamloo and the newspaper owner Towfigh, her biography was always strongly interwoven with the political events of the country. As the only child of early divorced parents, she spent her school years at German schools in Tehran, Paris, Vienna and the Odenwald, then studied medicine in Essen and has run a psychotherapy practice since she was 34. She has had three children, early, at 21, and late, at 40. She has danced and sung all her life and more intensively in the last 15 years, which she does passionately in her artistic home Berlin.

Become an influencer for a wearable future: Ecologize, decolonize and degender your style!

Kindly supported by the Bezirksamtes Mitte, Berlin as part of the Recycling Design Prize exhibition. Special thanks to http://sektorheimat.de/, Institut für urbane Gestaltung.

Wir verwandeln Fetzen in Kultur! Performance im Marta Herford

the turn rags into culture! Performance at Marta Herford

the turn rags into culture! Performance at Marta Herford

A sign against war- Alice Fassina | Annelie Wörpel | Céline Iffli-Naumann & KDindie  ©Paolo Gallo |26.09.2022 Marta Herford
'Awarded Ideas' STREETWARE saved item was awarded the special prize at the 2022 Recycling Design Award for its Berlin-famous MHLD - Multifunctional Hybrid Laundro Drive. The annual prize is organized by the Recycling Boerse Herford. The juried exhibition 'Excellent Ideas', curated this year by Oliver Schübbe, took place at Museum Marta Herford.
On September 24, Alice Fassina, KDindie, Céline Iffli Naumann, and Annelie Wörpel transformed Berlin rags into culture at the Lange Kultur Nacht and entered into dialogue with the artworks of the museum collection.
They transform rags into culture: Alice Fassina | Annelie Wörpel | Céline Iffli-Naumann | KDindie | ©Paolo Gallo 
The public was invited to be inspired by the spirit of the saved items up close. 
A few days later, a museum visitor described to us how she experiences the comfort and the efficacy of our circle fashion:.
'I was at the performance at Marta Herford and wanted to write to you that I found your presence and project very impressive! I also discovered and purchased two garments from you and now proudly wear your logo on my new blazer. Your performance has had an after effect on me, as I consider this garment a piece of your performance and thus carry my experience (i.e., the experience I had with you that evening) with me. I also wondered: who might have worn this garment in the past? And has it been lost? Has it disappeared? Or was it intentionally thrown away? Is it perhaps a piece of evidence? And is there perhaps a bad event behind this garment?

Then it struck me that these questions should arise in the same way when you look at clothes in the stores. There it is even more likely that there is a criminal atrocity and suffering behind the clothes' production.

Who are the human beings who made these clothes?"

Wir freuen uns über die Gedanken von Annemarie und laden alle euch alle ein

WALK WITH US – degendre, decolonize, ecologize your style!

Die Große Wäsche

The Big Wash

The Big Wash

The BiG Wash - installation, performance, interventiuon at Waschsalon 115, Torstraße, Berlin-Mitte

'I don’t like washing but my job for now requires that I wash for my boss and her family. The children play outside, and the clothes get dirty. Sometimes, I hide what I find difficult to wash so that I don’t have to wash them.
I need this job so I must pretend that I like it and it’s the only way I get money to take care of my daughter and my family.' Juliet Laker, house help/maid

STREETWARE X MIVUMBA – barbara caveng, Beatrice Lamwaka | Eria Mutalwa | Jim Joël Nyakaana | Josephine Nakiyimba – SSuubi Design | KisituAloysius | Rose Katusabe | Ruth Faith Nalule
Concept and realisation at Waschsalon 115 - STREETWARE saved item – Alice Fassina, barbara caveng, Lotti Seebeck, Stephan C.Kolb
Special thanks to Tobias Breithaupt, managing director of Waschsalon 115 in Berlin - Mitte

A woman scrubs the 'big laundry' with a brush, maltreats the hems that limit her life. The traces are erased - the stains shine blindly. From 15 to 30 November 2021, a white sheet in the window of laundromat 115 on Berlin's Torstraße became a projection screen for videos in which women's hands rubbed textiles, providing an example of an economy of washing that is predominantly female but does not appear in any gross national product. Passers-by who walked across the threshold of Berlin's most famous laundromat on Rosenthaler Platz were confronted with images hurling at them from the drums of the machines: In colourful basins, hands wringed and trafficked the textile accumulation of their household. From pants to laundry, no intimacy was hidden from them, no trace of bodily divestment spared.

"Laundry, washing welfare" - The role of women is enmeshed in the history of washing ; colonial continuities are played out in the global divide between eco-wash and water bucket.

During an artist residency in Uganda in summer 21, barbara caveng let herself be guided by the laundry spread out on meadows and over hedges. Together with the author Beatrice Lamwaka, the fashion designer Ruth Faith Nalule, the photographer Jim Joël Nyakaana and the social entrepreneur Kisitu Aloysius Musanyusa, laundry became their material for an artistic research and exploration about economy, ecology, feminisms and coloniality.

I have to do it - it is my routine

by Rose Katusabe | The Big Wash

'I always have a house help to wash but sometimes I must do it on my own. I don’t like but I must do. I have my clothes and my two daughters to wash. Every time, I am washing, I am thinking about money and how to get it.' Giovanna Lamunu, Lawyer

'I wash twice a week since the baby is always in pampers. I have a positive attitude towards washing but the problem finding time to wash because it takes so much time. There is a day when I kept my baby’s clothes not washed for two days and the stains refused to get off, because she had started drinking and eating, I think these ones need to be soaked with a strong detergent like for two days.

And I like clothes with a good smell after drying, so I prefer sunlight washing powder and put sosoft to soften her clothes and have a nice smell. If you are a stay home mother, I think washing every day is better or after one day; soak one day and wash the next day, and also, I must say that it's expensive to buy soap and other detergents.' Fortunate Tusasirye, new mother and Programme Assistant, FEMRITE

'I am responsible for my hygiene and health, so I must wash. I was for my partner as well. Sometimes, I wish he could assist me, and we wash together, and I also wish he could wear his clothes for a little longer, so I don’t have so many clothes to wash.' Giovanna Lamunu, Lawyer

to the left: Beatrice Lamwaka embroidering quotes from conversations about washing on bedsheets & to the right: 'female economy' barbara caveng © Lotti Seebeck

In cooperation with Beatrice Lamwaka, a series of interviews on the subject of washing was created. These explored together with the laundresses the physical and psychological effects of manual textile care without electricity and water as available commodities and explored the impact on the individual biographies, self-realisation and professional lives. Excerpts from the conversations were audible in one of the salon's clothes dryers: 'while doing laundry', one of the women interviewed said, she also thought about how her family could survive at all. 'I have to do it' - Rose Katusabe's voice rang out in the drum. 'It is my routine.'
Under the titel How to measure a man through handwashing an essay by Beatrice Lamwaka is published on our website. 

Is the washing machine the great liberator of women?

We explored this question in series of events at the salon with laundry maestro Stefan Targatz, director of the Laundry Museum Eberswalde, we embroidered with students of the master program Art in Context of the UDK while Beatrice Lamkwaka told about the daily routine of washing by women’s hand in Uganda and fashion designer Ruth Faith Nalule sang a song of praise to love as the driving energy for any human action. Meanwhile, visitors to the laundromat unloaded their items from suitcases and bags into the washing drums and chose the appropriate program to wash their dirty laundry clean.

As a highlight we presented the industrial film ‚Wäsche - Waschen- Wohlergehen‘ (Laundry - Washing - Wellbeing), which was produced by Universum Film on behalf of the Henkel Group in 1931 and premiered in 32, a tribute and testimony in moving images to the belief in progress according to the social rules of a patriarchal society.

On the photographs: Alice Fassina | barbara caveng | Ruth Faith Nalule | Beatrice Lamwaka | Jim Joel Nyakaana | Kisitu Aloysius Musanyusa | Sidney Noemi Stein | Stefan Targatz | ©Lotti Seebeck 

ps: Returning to Uganda, Ruth Faith Nalule sought out a laundromat - they exist in Kampala too, but their use is reserved for the few. During a telephone conversation on december 17 she demanded 'the right for all to use a washing machine - Our country must develop towards this before we die over the basin.'

'The Congress on the Clothes Dump' described a series of events between September and November 2021 dedicated to an inclusive and participatory philosophizing about the meaning of clothes, their production, distribution and consumption. Invited guests and random attendees digged into textonic layers, searched for solutions, questioned the ethics of the second skin. Clothing protects and adorns. It represents basic aesthetic and existential needs, but its mode of production destroys the environment on a large scale and endangers the physical and psychological well-being of the people who cope with the manufacturing processes in socially intolerable conditions. How could sustainable production and economy look like - this is what we explored between November 16 and 28 together with author Beatrice Lamwaka, fashion designer Ruth Faith Nalule, photographer Jim Joel Nyakaana and Social Entrepreneur and environmental activist Kisitu Aloysius Musanyusa in a multi-perspective way. Venues for the public pondering were Bikini Berlin, the laundromat 115 in Torstraße and the Vestithek in the Helene Nathan Library.

Poltische Haute Couture – STREETWARE X MIVUMBA im Bikini Berlin

Poltische Haute Couture – STREETWARE X MIVUMBA im Bikini Berlin

Poltische Haute Couture – STREETWARE X MIVUMBA im Bikini Berlin

Politische Haute Couture in der Box 12 der Galerie SLP i Bikini Berlin 19.11. -29.11.2021 © Astra Pentaxia

On September 12, STREETWARE invited to the catwalk of the socio-economic utopia at Tempelhofer Feld as part of the Berlin Fashion Week. Thirty models presented saved items from the Berlin asphalt and questioned the production methods of the fast fashion, but also the behavior of consumers. The canon of beauty ideals and aesthetics dictated by the fashion industry was put up for discussion by shiny people with bodies beyond the norm.

From November 19, some of their effigies were presented as large-format prints on canvas opposite photographs taken during a session in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, in July this year in collaboration between Ruth Faith Nalule, Eria Mutalwa, Rose Katusabe, Reagan Ahabwe, barbara caveng and photographer Jim Joël Nyakaana .

The images provided the aesthetic context for the presentation of the first pieces from Ruth Faith Nalule's collection of political haute couture. Behind bars, Box No12 of Galerie SLP at Bikini Berlin became the setting for an exploration of how much colonial continuity we wear on our skin and how much of the world we want to further destroy with fashion.

Die fashion designerin Ruth faith Nalule im ‚cage dress‘ an der Eröffnung am 19.11. im Bikini Berlin© Astra Pentaxia und  Purvi Dhranghadaryia

"There is no escape" - Ruth Faith Nalule's creations of 'political haute couture' describe the clash of European second-hand clothing exported to Africa and local manufactured fabric and garments: associations and images are connected, colonial continuity is interrupted:  The pin-up bunny is no longer grinning from the chest of a T-shirt by a Japanese Label, but sits fat on the bottom of a dress that fuses traditional Kitenge with an animal print dressing gown from Victoria's Secret, a lumberjack shirt from Germany and a Nike shirt: 'Blood the Body' lettering cut from a fast-fashion shirt, reminiscent of the Black Live Matters movement as underarm cuffs.. At the opening, the fashion designer and fashion activist wears the 'cage dress': her body, wrapped in a dress made again of kitenge, is caught in a mesh of strips of tire material, additionally knotted with sisal cord.

'The Congress on the Clothes Dump' described a series of events between September and November 2021 dedicated to an inclusive and participatory philosophizing about the meaning of clothes, their production, distribution and consumption. Invited guests and random attendees digged into textonic layers, searched for solutions, questioned the ethics of the second skin. Clothing protects and adorns. It represents basic aesthetic and existential needs, but its mode of production destroys the environment on a large scale and endangers the physical and psychological well-being of the people who cope with the manufacturing processes in socially intolerable conditions. How could sustainable production and economy look like - this is what we explored between November 16 and 28 together with author Beatrice Lamwaka, fashion designer Ruth Faith Nalule, photographer Jim Joel Nyakaana and Social Entrepreneur and environmental activist Kisitu Aloysius Musanyusa in a multi-perspective way. Venues for the public pondering were Bikini Berlin, the laundromat 115 in Torstraße and the Vestithek in the Helene Nathan Library.

fast fashion secondhand Africa – don’t waste what you wear

fast fashion secondhand Africa – don’t waste what you wear

fast fashion secondhand Africa – don’t waste what you wear

fast fashion secondhand africa: Kisitu Aloysius Musanyusa | KDindie©Paolo Gallo |26.11.2021

Das Wasser der Spree ist nicht süß - [The water of the Spree is neither sweet nor fresh] 

Days 10, 11 & 12 of the 'congress on the clothes heap'
Excerpt from the logbook of barbara caveng

 'I hope the tour was worthwhile for you ' - so it is friendly inquired in the email of 1.12.2021. Our friends are long since back in Uganda. In the morning of the 28th of November at 6:50 the plane had taken off punctually from Berlin in the direction Brussels and later in the morning left the continent behind, direction for Entebbe.

CUT
27.11.2021

I saw a tear run down Ruth's cheek. If pain burns, it must be hot. The warmth on that cold morning came from the pain. It was the 11th day of our sojourn, the last. We had set out to visit the African Quarter - where colonial history had inscribed itself in the street names. Mnyaka Sururu Mboro, who was to guide us, had suggested the Ugandan Street/African Street- junction, as a meeting point.

Viewpoints and insights at the corner of Uganda and African Street: Lotti Seebeck, Ruth Faith Naluke, Mnyaka Sururu Mboro, barbara caveng, Kisitu Aloysius Musanyusa, Jim Joel Nyakaana ©Jim Joel Nyakaana, Céline Iffli-Naumann.

CUT
25.11.2021

"If you need a lot of space to board, the pier at the Caprivi Bridge is best",Astrid had advised on the phone. 'Where?'- 'Caprivi Bridge,' the shipping manager repeated, 'in Charlottenburg.' -'Caprivi - with K or with C?'-'With C.'

CUT
27.11.

source:www.welt.de/geschichte/article111963581/Deutschlands-Exportgut-nach-Afrika-war-Schnaps.html

I recognized a map in the hands of Mboro, more precisely - a copy of a map from a book. Later on the web I find a similar one: The map is drawn with pen and ink and colorized. Togo, German Southwest Africa, German East Africa and Cameroon are watercolored reddish-brown - the shade of dried blood. The borders are depicted as red hemlines. The contours of German Southwest Africa resemble a skull with a strange slender, beak-like outgrowth. The tentacle is bulging into northeastern Namibia.

CUT
26.11.

From U-Bismarckstraße we had moved to Caprivibrücke in a procession of rag pickers. Our hybrid vehicles were loaded with clothes from our collection of 'Saved Items' from the last ten months: We had picked up a ton of clothing and textiles from the asphalt of the city.

The Caprivi Bridge, named after Leo von Caprivi, Imperial chancellor after Bismarck between 1890 and 1894 

Since 1927, the Zambezi has meandered parallel to the Uganda Road through the African Quarter. In 1890, German interests focused on Africa's fourth largest river - after all, it seemed that a direct connection between German Southwest Africa and German East Africa could be established via the water. Germany ceded Zanzibar to England and in return "received" Heligoland and the aforementioned strip of land.

The word 'Zipfel' unavoidably makes me think of sausage.

Kisitu wore a classic wool coat, of a straight cut with narrow lapels over his grayish trousers with flaed legs down to the ankle, vest and shirt of an Indian label. We had all coveted the piece, but the garment did not fit anyone or the coat didn’t suit the wearer - until Kisitu tried it on. Its label: United Colours of Benetton - fished out of the gutter on some corner of the city - saved by Streetware. .

While we hoisted our rolling clothes racks over the railing and affixed our banner to the top deck, the social entrepreneur and environmental activist stood on the jetty of the Caprivi Strip giving an interview. The stern of the MS Sylvia pointed toward Westhafen. They call the Zambezi River 'the Spree' at this spot.

The Imperial Chancellor Caprivi came up with the clever plan of connecting German Southwest Africa and German East Africa, which was supposed to boost trade in colonial goods. However, his bold dreams were dashed at the Victoria Falls and his economic visions were shattered on the cliffs of the waterfalls.  

We sailed our rag boat past the containers on the harbour site of Westhafen, boxes that symbolize the global and often enough post-colonial trade in goods - like the export of our last season's fashion preferences disposed of in the clothing containers towards Africa.

The proud clinker facade of the Behala building blocks the view to LaGeSo (Landesamt für Flüchtlinge und Soziales). The limbo of the buildings is haunted by people without papers. Perhaps they came by ship from the Libyan coast across the Mediterranean, wearing the second-hand clothes that once hung in our closets.

We pass the Humboldt Forum - a museum site with global aspirations, in which colonial continuities in thought and action are shamefully manifested. One of the alliance partners of the campaign No-Humboldt 21 is the association Berlin Postkolonial, whose founding member is Mnyaka Sururu Mboro.

CUT
29.11.

Reading up: The Caprivi Strip on Namibian land was renamed the 'Zambezi Region' in August 2013. Since then, the port city of Lüderitz is called „!Nami≠Nüs“ -'Hug' 

fastfashion – Second Hand Africa – Don‘t waste what you wear!

 Dressed as ragamuffins à la mode in rags of fast fashion, we cruised merrily along the Spree and chanted our slogan with verve to passers-by on the banks. Eye patches instead of rose-colored glasses.

On the walk of remembrance in the African Quarter of Berlin, we as white and black humans had to endure, see, read and hear about what the historical basis is on which we meet as fellow colleagues and friends.

Why, I wonder, did the Caprivi Bridge not get a new name at the same time as the area was renamed Namibia? For example in 'Privi_Lege Bridge'.
This would not be an embrace but perhaps a rapprochement and the riverside beer garden would then perhaps be called 'Pleasure Garden of Privileges' and not CapRivi.

'The Congress on the Clothes Dump' described a series of events between September and November 2021 dedicated to an inclusive and participatory philosophizing about the meaning of clothes, their production, distribution and consumption. Invited guests and random attendees digged into textonic layers, searched for solutions, questioned the ethics of the second skin. Clothing protects and adorns. It represents basic aesthetic and existential needs, but its mode of production destroys the environment on a large scale and endangers the physical and psychological well-being of the people who cope with the manufacturing processes in socially intolerable conditions. How could sustainable production and economy look like - this is what we explored with people from the global - as well as Berlin - North and South in a multi-perspective way.

Mnyaka Sururu Mboro, born and raised in Tanzania, came to study in Germany in 1978 and then settled in Berlin. He is a board member and co-founder of Berlin Postkolonial e.V., and for decades has been active in advocating for a critical confrontation of German colonialism. One of his main concerns is the restitution of human remains, which were stolen during the German colonial era and which to the present day are found in the collections of the “Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz” (SPK), the “Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte” (BGAEU), as well as several other institutions all over Germany.
http://justlisten.berlin-postkolonial.de/en/mnyaka-sururu-mboro

Quelle Umbenennung der Stadt Lüderitz: www.dw.com/de/deutsche-ortsnamen-verschwinden/a-17009617#:~:text=Nami%E2%89%A0N%C3%BCs%22.,bis%201915%20eine%20deutsche%20Kolonie

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