Menu
The 2021 NORDWIND Festival, titled Soft Utopia, took place from December 1–13 at Kampnagel Hamburg. The festival featured an impressive lineup of artists, including Juli Apponen & Jon R. Skulberg, Duduzile Mathonsi, Vanasay Khamphommala, Carolin Jüngst, Ursina Tossi, Claire Cunningham, Sindri Runudde, Lars Werner Thomsen, Andreas Constantinou, Michael Turinsky, Ajayini Sathyan, Ewe Benbenek, Zamalisa Mdoda, Electa Behrens, Verena Brakonier, Dennis Seidel, and Thomas Prestø.
The grand opening event, HAUS PARTY / VOGUING BALL, was hosted by Mable Preach & Friends, setting a vibrant tone for the festival.
The festival’s conceptual framework emerged during a period marked by pandemic-induced uncertainty. Accessibility, solidarity, caution, and a gentle approach informed the festival’s ethos and programming. It centered on perspectives from disabled and non-disabled individuals, Black and BIPoC communities, and LGBTQIA+ representatives, challenging and transforming the hegemonic gaze on performing arts.
Soft Utopia embodied demands for systemic change—of the art market, society, and interpretations of authority and power structures—while emphasizing a “soft” yet persistent approach to enacting these shifts.
Under the theme “Exploring Blankness,” the 2019 NORDWIND Festival examines the consequences and potential of the Fourth Feminist Wave for the history and practice of feminism in Europe. It aims to critically re-read the movement of recent decades.
The “Fourth Wave” of feminism is characterized by its focus not only on physical and structural abuse but also on the effects of capitalist and colonial power structures. A central realization is that the category of “woman” alone is insufficient to capture and critically examine the complexities of oppression—such as in the case of a woman of color, a trans woman, or a woman with disabilities.
Gayatri Spivak describes “inaccessible blankness” as the “blindness” inherent in the Western-colonial perspective toward its own precarious patriarchal and racist structures—even within Western feminism.
The artists featured in this edition of NORDWIND explore the realities of feminism in the Nordic countries and other parts of Europe.
The 2017/18 NORDWIND Festival ran from November 7, 2017, to January 13, 2018, with a key segment held at Kampnagel Hamburg from December 8–16. A highlight of this edition was Songs of a Melting Iceberg – Displaced without Moving, which took place at Kampnagel from December 4–18.
This interdisciplinary program brought together artists from the Arctic region, Nordic countries, and the African continent, showcasing works spanning dance, performance, and visual arts. Key collaborations included Norway’s contemporary dance company Carte Blanche and Moroccan choreographer Bouchra Ouizguen. Laurent Chétouane partnered with Swedish dancer Mikael Marklund to explore themes of self-reflection and autonomy in turbulent times.
South African performer Athi-Patra Ruga and Canadian musician Tanya Tagaq, a 2015 Polar Prize recipient, presented a joint performance. Nigerian artist Qudus Onikeku and Icelandic performer Arnbjörg María Danielsen explored new forms of collective expression. Burkina Faso’s Serge Aimé Coulibaly extended his collaboration with Kampnagel by presenting Nuit blanche à Ouagadougou, following the success of his work Kalakuta Republic at the International Summer Festival.
The festival offered audiences a rich and inspiring exploration of global perspectives through artistic innovation.
The award-winning piece My Undying Love // Songs of Grief, presented by HIMHERANDIT and Vanasay Khampommala, was staged as a multidisciplinary and immersive performance designed for up to five participants. This intimate work told a universal story of death and love, inviting participants to deeply engage with a spatial installation and write a love letter to humanity.
The performance combined ritual, visual art, storytelling, a 3D sound installation, and a 360° video panorama, encouraging participants to share experiences of letting go and rediscovery.
With Songs of Grief, Vanasay Khampommala created a second space of silence, music, and voice. This space of resonance and care featured fleeting and ever-changing soundscapes built on participation.
The piece My Undying Love received the Scenekunstens Priser Award in 2021 and was nominated for the Reumert Award and Aarhus Stage Art Award in 2022. The performance was presented in both German and English.
Between 2021 and 2022, Lausitzukunft was developed under the direction of Sylvie Kürsten and in collaboration with cinematographer Matthias Heuermann. Filmed in locations including Großräschen, the project focused on capturing portraits of new initiatives within Lusatia, emphasizing the political, cultural, and social transformations in the region.
The project was funded by the Ministry of Justice and Europe of Brandenburg, the Sebastian Cobler Foundation, and the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Berlin. A German-Polish youth exchange, conducted in collaboration with Schloss Trebnitz e.V., accompanied the film. The project is considered a pilot for a long-term study on transformations in Lusatia.
Presentation on October 1 2021 in Studio Ramberg Berlin
On October 1, 2021, the preliminary project Lausitzukunft was presented at Studio Ramberg in Berlin. Initiated by NORDWIND in early 2021 in collaboration with artist Lars Ø Ramberg, the project aimed to explore the political, cultural, and social transformations in the Lusatia region.
Through extensive dialogue with local residents and experts, the team developed a comprehensive mapping of the area and core ideas for an initial conceptual draft. This effort combined local perspectives with artistic and scientific approaches to create an innovative representation of the region’s transformations.
The presentation, supported by the Ministry of Finance and Europe of Brandenburg and the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Berlin, marked the beginning of a long-term study of Lusatia’s dynamics and developments.
In five cycles of eternal becoming and passing, and through the intertwining of ancient and Indo-European myths with contemporary themes, the Orpheus myth was reinterpreted by Icelandic artist Erna Ómarsdóttir. With a mixed ensemble of actors from Theater Freiburg and dancers from Iceland Dance Company, she explored the metamorphoses and reproductive forces of culture and art that transformed Mother Earth into a renowned lyre player and her offspring into a tragic bride, who silently and softly followed her husband.
In her new borderline musical, Erna Ómarsdóttir questioned dualisms such as life and death, reason and emotion, artistic creation and silence, male and female. Who held the Golden Fleece? Where did the snakes come from? And did Eurydice even want to return to the (upper) world?
The production, conceived by Erna Ómarsdóttir, Gabríela Friðriksdóttir, and Bjarni Jónsson, was created in collaboration with Valdimar Jóhansson and the entire ensemble.
The accompanying program included a discussion titled “Sound of Silence – The Silent Eurydice” with Wiebke Hüster, Mateja Meded, Klaus Theweleit, and Erna Ómarsdóttir on December 18, and a concert with Ólöf Arnalds and Skúli Sverrisson on December 19.
One evening featured young Norwegian authors collaborating with Berlin-based group fxtrouble, known for their VULVA Club platform, to transform the Literaturhaus into a lively space of fresh gender critique.
Ingvild Lothe presented her poetry, reflecting on the lives of young women navigating careers, sexuality, Tinder, and loneliness. Marta Breen introduced her graphic novel Women in Battle, offering a sharp exploration of feminist history. Sofia Srour and Nancy Herz read excerpts from their book Shameless, humorously and insightfully depicting their experiences as young Muslim women in Norway’s welfare state.
The texts were performed by actors from Theater an der Parkaue, who added their perspectives to the readings. The evening was conducted in both German and English.
The event Wings in Flames focused on the life and work of Norwegian writer Dagny Juel, who challenged bourgeois conventions of the late 19th century with her provocative writing and independent spirit.
Anne Tismer brought Juel’s little-known texts to the stage in an innovative cross-over of science and fiction. Drawing on neuroscientist Dr. Barbara Fruth’s research on Bonobos and egalitarian societies, Tismer envisioned a matriarchal world where Juel’s social behavior would not have led to her tragic death.
In a discussion with author and filmmaker Lars Brandt, son of Rut and Willy Brandt and translator of Juel’s work, the contemporary relevance of Dagny Juel’s writings was explored.
NORDWIND at the Theater der Nationen in Moskau,. October 13 to 15 2017, and February 8 to 10 2018 at Kampnagel Hamburg
From October 2017 to February 2018, the NORDWIND Festival focused on transnational themes with Novy Mir – New World. From October 13–15, a performative discussion series curated by Jens Dietrich took place at the Theatre of Nations in Moscow. Artists and activists from Russia and Germany gathered to address entrenched global issues from the imagined perspective of a space station.
The theater-salon format combined discussions with music, pre-recorded segments, stand-up commentary, and audience participation. Esteemed theater practitioners such as Konstantin Bogomolow and Manuel Muerte contributed to the project.
The program continued from February 8–10, 2018, at Kampnagel in Hamburg, where topics included theater and media, welfare institutions as power structures, and the market for concepts. The aim was to create new discursive spaces for complex Russo-German themes through performative strategies.
On November 25, 2021, the Literaturhaus in Berlin transformed for one day and night into the world of Madame Nielsen. The multidimensional artist, renowned for her identity transgressions and playful exploration of gender roles, presented performances, readings, installations, and a late-night concert with her band The Nielsen Sisters.
Madame Nielsen, whose work spans literature, music, and performance, also introduced her novel The Endless Summer, first published in 2013 to critical and public acclaim.
The event provided audiences with a unique opportunity to experience Nielsen’s interdisciplinary approach and her impact on contemporary art and culture.
