Period (opening hours):7:30 – 10:30 PM
Venue:Kulturbar froelich & herrlich
Westflügel Leipzig
Hähnelstraße 27
04177 Leipzig
As part of the 12th Politics in Independent Theatre Festival (16-25 October 2025) in Leipzig, the International Cooperation Department of the City of Leipzig and the Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe Project Group of the Federal Agency for Civic Education (PG MOE) are jointly organising a three-part series of events entitled Local-Decolonial.
The series is dedicated to coexistence in post-migrant society in Germany and the decolonisation of discourses on East Central Europe and the now sovereign states of the former Soviet Union. The focus is on the perspectives of artists, experts and activists with a post-Eastern background.
Three events will take place at the Kulturbar froelich & herrlich in the Westflügel Leipzig on 17, 18 and 19 October 2025 from 7:30 to 10:30 PM:
Friday, 17 October 2025:
Belarus! Межы Памежжа - The border of the borderland
The location of Belarus in Europe is the subject of literary, social and political debates. Is the country on the "edge" of Europe, as the Belarusian word "kraj" suggests? In addition to "edge", "kraj" also means "country" or "homeland". Belarus has historically established itself as a kind of buffer zone. This in-between and non-binary characterises the national identity and is reflected in the cultural code - the division into "us" and "the others" only applies here to a limited extent, as Belarus has always been part of a larger political entity throughout its history. The evening will feature the poet and translator Volha Hapeyeva, the performer Igor Shugaleev and the producer Marina Dashuk. Hanna Harp will be the moderator.
>>> register here!
Saturday, 18 October 2025:
Framings, Namings, Solidarities - Bubbles between PostEast, Diaspora and Exile
What does it mean to be "PostOst", to come from Eastern, South-Eastern Europe, the Caucasus or Central Asia and to live and be politically active in Germany today? A new post-migrant reality is emerging between collective horizons of experience, multiple affiliations, migration histories and everyday life in German-speaking countries. Whether young ethnic German repatriates, Jewish contingent refugees or people with roots in Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Georgia, Bosnia and Herzegovina or other post-socialist countries - their perspectives are diverse and too little visible in the German migration discourse. How do they understand their identity today? What does belonging mean - beyond origin and national categories? And how can a city like Leipzig work more openly, cooperatively and sensitively with these communities? Julia Boxler and Ani Menua in cooperation with X3 Podcast will be guests in Leipzig this evening with a programme and invite you to a discussion and broadcasting session on the topic of PostOst. In addition to a panel discussion on self-image, visibility and the power of collectives, the performance "Garlic Ensemble" will also be part of the programme. In this sensual-political food performance, artist Yasmeen Al-Qaisi invites people to prepare garlic paste (toum/mujdei) together - as a culinary ritual and a gesture of resistance. The garlic becomes a symbol of collective care and a metaphorical weapon against patriarchal and colonial violence. An invitation to join in, think and flavour.
>>> register here!
Sunday, 19 October 2025:
Pluralism in exile - between tension and solidarity
The Russian exile community in Germany is heterogeneous: multi-ethnic, multilingual, not always politically united - but characterised by a common desire for change. Voices that are silenced in today's Russia come together on this evening: artistically, politically, uncompromisingly. The artist Natalia Zaitseva, who has been part of Moscow's feminist theatre scene for years, opens with a performance about memory, loss and the intrinsic life of foreign things - inspired by the collection of a deceased Leipzig woman. Dinara Rasuleva, a poet from Tatarstan, will read from her project "Lostlingual" - an experimental exploration of the gradual loss of one's mother tongue. The book of the same name was published by Rab-Rab Press in 2025. In the discussion, activists, artists and journalists ask: How does pluralism live in exile? What alliances are needed - and what space can a city like Leipzig offer? To conclude: TATAR KYZ:LAR, an electro-poetic duo from Berlin. Their debut album "AŞ", composed by allapopp with lyrics by Dinara Rasuleva, is a musical archive of memories - between childhood experiences, visions of the future and colonial linguistic alienation. The translingual songs in Tatar, English, German, Belarusian and Russian pick up on the artists' migration biographies. An evening with perspectives that are otherwise often ignored - loud, uncomfortable, touching.
>>> register here!
