Ana Pi/NA MATA LAB: Joy Is Not a Metaphor

Violence doesn't just start when it becomes visible. It can lie in looks, in language, in attributions, in the feeling of not being meant or not represented — and in the way we remember. If violence has many forms, then self-defense must also have a spectrum. With the School of Self-Defense, the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz invites you to rethink self-defense — not just as a reaction, but as a practice that can be shared: in the body, in space and together.

The starting point of the School of Self-Defence is the artistic practice of Davi Pontes and Wallace Ferreira. In their works, the two artists from Rio de Janeiro explore how violence is incorporated into the body and how to react to it and resist it with their own movements. The school opens up this practice: It transfers it into a collective space in which it can be shared, passed on and expanded from other perspectives. With its focus on participation and participation, the School of Self-Defense is an open context of workshops, talks, performances, ballroom events, dance theatre and collective formats. Artists, thinkers and communities from Berlin, Brazil and beyond come together to exchange and produce knowledge:

In discursive formats, voices such as theorist Denise Ferreira da Silva analyse global connections between racialization and violence. Discussions, including with dance theorist André Lepecki, also open up a view of performance as a political space.

A major ball on the big stage brings together international and local scenes. In categories such as runway, performance, or realness, identity, belonging and presence are not only presented, but also produced. A Kiki Ball in the Prater is aimed in particular at up-and-coming performers and local communities. In particular, new voices are invited who are audible and visible or would like to try out themselves.

The weekend will be complemented by workshops, lectures and discussions with international artists and thinkers: Brazilian artist Puma Camillê combines capoeira and voguing in her practice and develops physical strategies between martial arts and performance. Ana Pi, also from Brazil, works on the body, memory and diasporic narratives and explores how history is inscribed in the body. Artist and researcher Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro deals with physicality, spirituality, and resistance as forms of cultural self-assertion.