Postbank-Hochhaus
Hallesches Ufer 40-60, 10963 Berlin-Kreuzberg

The one-year performance program DISAPPEARING BERLIN is seeking out special places throughout Berlin. In the last century, the city has gone through a turbulent history as hardly any other metropolis. Countless changes, happening in rapid succession have inscribed themselves into the cityscape. An omnipresent pressure of growth and commodification threatens this dense complexity. Despite efforts of urban heritage conservation, more and more iconic spaces and buildings are on the verge of disappearing. With a set of site-specific performances, concerts and sound installations Schinkel Pavillon enters into the urban space. The city becomes the protagonist; its transformation becoming tangible through artistic interventions. DISAPPEARING doesn’t solely imply vanishing, it also ­ represents something yet to come.

GAY GUERRILLA GIRLS, the debut event of the programme, takes place in the old cafeteria on the 22nd floor of the former Postbank-Tower in Kreuzberg. Together with composer Maya Shenfeld, 16 female-identifying guitarists will be performing Julius Eastman’s Gay Guerrilla. The spectacular view onto the city lays bare a landscape filled with large-scale construction sites. After a lengthy quarrel between the city and numerous investors, the building itself will not be used for private housing, continuing to exist as a space for commercial use instead. As of now, the former cafeteria serves as neither one nor the other. Within its open, undefined structure, Eastman’s music collides with questions of gender politics and urban policy.