The city is an archive of the visions of all those who have lived and worked here before. People who offered resistance, built up something new and showed their solidarity. How are all these histories visible in our urban space today? What aspects of the histories are accessible today, and how? And how do we speak of the past? Four views of the city of Kassel and its history as a place of new ideas and utopias. They speak of the philosophy of the“First Cyberfeminist International” and of the discussions at the “Free International University”; of patriarchal counterculture and of the makeshift solutions which have ended up remaining. (Lili Hartwig)
They met at documenta 5 in the Büro für direkte Demokratie (Office for Direct Democracy) and became friends. She was an art historian and connoisseur of Greek mythology, he the great, unconventional artist. They shared a belief in a new social order. Rhea Thönges-Stringaris became Joseph Beuys' advisor and close confidant. Together they founded the outpost of the Free International University (FIU) in Kassel, had discussions and disputes with intellectuals such as Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, Rudi Dutschke, Rudolf Bahro, Urs Jaeggi, Petra Kelly and many others. In interviews, Rhea Thönges-Stringaris shares her view of Joseph Beuys as an artist and as a person. Memories of a time of trying out new ways of thinking and of the places in the city of Kassel where her and Beuys worked.… >>>
Nominated:
Goldener Hercules
The University of Kassel began teaching in the 1970s and there was an urgent need for spaces. The so-called „Aufbau- und Verfügungszentrum“ was build up in one year with a highly provisional purpose. It was planned to move the school later to the new campus and to close this one, but financial issues occurred and plans were pushed. By now the building is still in use but inheres a spooky abandoned atmosphere. The film is an observation of the architecture with all the details and non-details typical for functional buildings from that time. Get lost in all the same looking hallways.… >>>
Nominated:
Goldener Hercules
- Director: Christina Ströbele, Niels Walter
A city is filled with stories of resistance and utopias. But rarely are they publicly visible or recognised. For who is it that writes the history, approves the monuments and names the streets? A look at sites of feminist resistance in Kassel in the 1990s asks what these struggles mean for utopias today. Which histories are visible in the city and how are they viewed? What gaps are there and what archives do we have access to? In performative gestures, places are reinterpreted and their continuities uncovered. Utopia becomes a mind space for possibilities, liberated from the prevailing power structures, and a collective field for creativity.… >>>
Premiere:
World Premiere
Nominated:
Goldener Hercules
The Orangerie in Kassel: the First Cyberfeminist International happened here in 1997. This collective and feminist project was part of the alternative history of early net culture. The part that happened outside of the major institutions, the part that explicitly did not conform to the white, male-dominated world of hackers. Resistant practices and perspectives shaped the cyberfeminist networks. Technology was used and questioned at the same time. Where are these stories of feminist networking today? The desire for an emancipatory approach to technology points to the problems of the digitalised present, to privatisation and regulation, forms of surveillance and the threatening disappearance of critical thinking.… >>>
Premiere:
Europe Premiere
Nominated:
Goldener Hercules
