Join us for a collaborative reading of the play “В этом смысле да” (=“In that sense, yes”) with Ju Bavyka / Masha Beketova within the project "History Unit – Reframing Queer Narratives in media".

Date: 3 June 2024

Time: 18:30 

Location: Alexandrinenstr. 2-3, Entrance (Aufgang) C, Berlin

Languages: ENG, RU, DE, UA

In that sense, yes. Collaborative Reading of a Play About Queerness and Languages

What language does propaganda speak? Where does our desire to hear, see, and feel the Other begin and end? Which languages do you react to, and which ones sound in the background and could be ignored? Do you own these languages? How does our (queer and migrant) ability to ignore the words of hatred directed at us manifest? We invite you to a collaborative reading and discussion of a multilingual and intersectional play “В этом смысле да” (=“In that sense, yes”) recently published in the Queer Studies journal Interalia. The piece playfully reflects on the entanglement of queer migration and desire, on the genre of personal correspondence and on localisation when living queerly between multiple political and linguistic contexts.

The authors Masha Beketova and Ju Bavyka met in 2022 at the PostOst Kongress near Göttingen, where a bunch of people, queer and non-queer, with cultural connections to the former European East оттуда were trying to figure out what connects them beyond the usual migrant identity concepts (if anything). Masha has cultural ties to Ukraine and lives in Berlin, Germany. Ju has cultural ties to Kazakhstan and Germany and lives in Sydney, Australia, on Gadigal Land. At the Kongress the question of queerness presented itself as the most fragile and the least important one: in the context of the intergenerational migrant trauma on one hand, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the other. Nonetheless, the authors are interested exactly in this queerness, when developing out of 1368 text messages, 56 photos, 6 videos and 8 voice messages, 30 links and 1 gif over multiple time zones sent to each other in the months after the Kongress the experimental text, here called “В этом смысле да. an intersectional Play.”

Admission is free, donations for drinks and snacks are welcome. After the reading and discussion, we can continue talking in a small round.

„History Unit: Reframing Queer Narratives in Media“ is a project of the “Education Agenda on NS-Injustice” funded by the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (EVZ) and the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF).

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