Invitation to transformation. A party for a decade of District. We are founding a Verein.

— 15/05/2019

to be a party to: to be involved in, to be associated with, to be concerned with, to be participant in. Visuals: Emma Wolf Haugh, Photo District: Khaled Barakeh

Commoning

7 – 10pm Celebration Banquet created by Bia with ScrewBowl&HighBowl buzz mixed by Anneli Schütz
8pm Introduction of the new District * School Without Center Verein by its to be appointed Vorstand / Committee (Andrea C. Keppler, Ferdiansyah Thajib, Nuray Demir, Suza Husse, Naomi Hennig/Nino Halka) and ProgramCollective (Verena Melagarejo Weinandt, Vika Kirchenbauer, Fine Freiberg, Nine Eglantine Yamamoto-Masson, Nastaran Tajeri-Foumani, Peggy Piesche + Vorstand)
8.30pm A blessing performed by a queer star (to be announced)
We will have a bonfire all night, nurtured by Johanna Ekenhorst.

After months of shared fabulating and cobbling together a new structure, on May 15 District is becoming the Verein District*School Without Center and invites everyone to celebrate and collectively initiate this metamorphosis. Together with you we want to welcome and commit to this new composition as a commons for polyphonic and entangled ways of living and doing, of knowing and un_learning through trans*disciplinary artistic and political work and research: a place where we can continue and re-imagine collectivities lived in queer, intersectional ways, that nurture feminist and decolonial futures while being open to cracks and transformations along the way.
While engaged in making change, District like many other spaces in this city is threatened financially and spatially. The only way we can imagine to deal with this is in coming together in many-headed ways and alliances, for example at a big party:

Squash, squeeze, ding dong – offerings for celebrating transformation – a decade of District

7 – 11pm gestures, oracles and songs, rituals, dance, memories, readings, imaginations, warnings and laughter towards transformation by artists, researchers, activists, educators, curators, writers, lovers, friends and family who have been drumming the beats of our dance in the past decade
The Mis*tress of Metamorphosis leads through the night
From 10pm Open decks – music and dance until 2am supported by the SoundSysters

We celebrate a decade of District and the people that have nurtured and inspired District as a space, idea, practice and community. Multiple offerings will be shared to cherish the art, imagination, entanglements, struggles, support and solidarity that helped us shape-shift multiple times towards the queer feminist arts and community center that we continue to become.

Become a member
– and go on a bender (together)

8.30 pm to midnight founding member’s registration with a rite of passage created by Liane Aviram and Konstantina Athinaiou and a membership bling designed by The Many Headed Hydra

From 15 May 2019 membership in the new District*School Without Center is open to everyone who would like to participate in the general aims stated in our Satzung. The community of members will run the Verein, shape and share its programmatics and resources together. Until the first general assembly in summer 2020 the ProgramCollective is commited to accompany the formation of the association, its community life and programm. Members contributions are the annual membership fee of 60 Euro or a reduced fee of 30 Euro as well as multiple non-monetary contributions which people are invited to bring in.

On the night of District * School Without Center’s founding celebration we call everyone interested in a queer midwifing of this new collective being to become its founding members.

Becoming a member is voluntary at the night of founding and thereafter. If you would like to become a founding member, but cannot join the celebration in person, we will be happy to make that possible. Please contact Naomi at nh@district-berlin.com.

Accessibility: We are working on making the event wheelchair accessible, please contact us for further information: press@district-berlin.com.