heimaten
Discourse Series, Festivals, Exhibitions, Network, Publication
2024–2027
On Tuesday, the director of HKW Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, the deputy director Henriette Gallus and the co-curators Ibou Diop and Max Czollek presented the project heimaten.
heimaten aims to redefine the concept of the German term Heimat, taking as its starting point Germany as a plural society in reality. Launched today with a comprehensive, four-year nationwide programme, it is led by the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) and supported by a large and ever-expanding diverse network of civil society initiatives and cultural institutions.
On HKW’s Paulette Nardal Terrace, the team outlined the main dimensions of the project as well as the opening programme and the heimaten network—and gave a preview of the programme for the coming year.
heimaten as a verb and as a plural noun
According to Article 20, Paragraph 2 of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, all state power emanates from the people. Some things can be said with certainty about this people: almost thirty percent have a history of migration, people desire in different ways, have different political opinions, belong to different religious communities, are of different ages, and have different incomes and levels of wealth at their disposal.
But this also means that all state power emanates from a pluralistic society. The heimaten project addresses this reality. It understands heimaten as a verb––to heimaten––because home is something that we actively shape, and thereby constantly recreate. But heimaten can also function as a plural noun, because Germany is a place of plurality.
More about the project
The heimaten network
The heimaten network brings together actors from the plural society—from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The network includes:
ADEFRA e. V. – Schwarze Frauen in Deutschland
Afrika-Rat Berlin Brandenburg e.V.
ausARTen – Perspektivwechsel durch Kunst
AufBruch – Kulturtage jüdischer, muslimischer und postmigrantischer Positionen
Berlin Postkolonial e.V.
Chemnitz – Kulturhauptstadt Europas 2025
CPPD – Coalition for Pluralistic Public Discourse
Decolonize Berlin e.V.
Dekoloniale Erinnerungskultur in der Stadt
Demokratie Coach Vatan. Moderation, Diversity, Beratung & Bühnenevents
Dietrich-Keuning-Haus (DKH)
Dialogperspektiven – Religionen und Weltanschauungen im Gespräch
Each One Teach One (EOTO) e.V
fluctoplasma
globale° - Festival für grenzüberschreitende Literatur
glokal e.V.
Initiative 19. Februar Hanau
Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland e.V.
KATAPULT-Magazin
Koordinierungsstelle für einen gesamtstädtischen Prozess Berlins kolonialer Vergangenheit
Korea-Verband e.V.
Kurt Tucholsky Literaturmuseum
MAAYA
makemake produktionen Wien
not_your_bubble Zürich
RAA Berlin e.V.
Rechenzentrum Potsdam – soziokreatives Zentrum
Resonanzen – Schwarzes Internationales Literaturfestival
RomaTrial e.V.
Schauspielhaus Wien
Sinti Union Schleswig-Holstein e.V.
Stiftung Gedenkstätten Buchenwald und Mittelbau-Dora
Tage der jüdischen Kultur in Chemnitz e.V.
Theodor Wonja Michael Bibliothek
UNIVERSEN Schauspiel Hannover
WERTansich(t)
Opening programme
On the weekend of 13 to 15 September, heimaten opens at HKW with the exhibition Forgive Us Our Trespasses / Vergib uns unsere Schuld, a concert by BSMG (Megaloh, Ghanaian Stallion, Musa with Amewu feat. Albi X, Die P and Aisha Vibes), a discussion on the question Who Does Germany Belong To? (with Gün Tank, Ibou Diop, Max Czollek, Maximilian Steinbeis, Sharon Dodua Otoo), and the discursive and literary heimaten Summer Jam, where writers, musicians, designers, DJs, chefs, and academics come together (with Anna Hetzer, Björn Kuhligk, Darja Klingenberg, Hengameh Yaghoobifarah, Jimmy Bamba Sarr, Katharina Warda, Kelly Laubinger, Khuê Phạm, Lea Wohl von Haselberg, Lütfiye Güzel, Luyanda Mpahlwa, Minh Duc Pham, Moses März, Natisa Exocé Kasongo, Noa K. Ha, Ricardo Domeneck, Thomas Oberender, Philipp Khabo Koepsell, Oscar Atanga aka O.N.A., and others).
More about the opening programme
Preview of the programme in 2024 and 2025
In 2025, HKW begins a discourse series, bringing together strategies of heimatization with questions of approaches to plural memory work. The De-Berlinisierung (de-Berlinization) festival takes place at HKW at the end of March, while the decentralized heimaten festival, which takes place in cooperation with partners in all sixteen German federal states and in Switzerland and Austria, runs throughout the month of September ahead of the 2025 federal elections in Germany.
Heimatization
Talk series
2024/2025
‘Heimatization’ as a cultural and living practice means embracing a plurality of world influences. It requires a willingness to share the familiar and welcome the new. Heimatization therefore means creating platforms for marginalized knowledge and marginalized voices in art and discourse. Here, marginalized knowledge refers to knowledge that has long been unacknowledged or excluded by prevailing Eurocentric and heteronormative narratives.
De-Berlinisierung (De-Berlinization)
Festival
27.–29.3.2025
How do colonial structures continue to shape lives today? How can decolonization be specified and put into practice? How can colonial history be engaged with? What are the alternatives to established decolonization approaches? And what roles do mental and physical borders play in this? heimaten makes space to address these questions through the concept of De-Berlinization, offering a forum for a new form of discussion on postcolonial issues.
heimaten Festival 2025
Decentralized festival September 2025, 1.–30.9.2025
25.–28.9.2025 Festival at HKW
28.9.2025 Election Sunday Show at HKW
This decentralized festival takes place in all German-speaking countries, with the participation of the heimaten network of local institutions and festivals. According to Article 20, Paragraph 2 of the Basic Law, all state power emanates from the people. This people is plural. Accordingly, the political (self-)narrative of this society must be: all state power is derived from a plural society. The decentralized heimaten festival aims to make this plural society visible, working with partners from the entire German-speaking region, including Austria and Switzerland. This country belongs to the many who have built, shaped, nurtured, and reimagined it over the decades!
hkw.de/pressphotos
hkw.de/heimaten/en
Partner
heimaten (2024–2027) is funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media on the basis of a resolution of the German Bundestag.
Visit Information
Opening Times
Wed.–Mon. 12:00–19:00
Extended opening hours during evening programmes.
Free admission on Mondays and on every first Sunday of the month (Museumssonntag Berlin).
Childcare with programme
HKW offers free childcare for many of its programmes. For further information visit hkw.de
Current information about visiting and accessibility.
Weltwirtschaft Restaurant is open daily, from 12:00–00:00 on weekdays and 10:00–00:00 on weekends.
Contact
Jan Trautmann
Pressesprecher
Lead Communications Officer
Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW)
John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10
10557 Berlin
T: + 49 (0) 30 397 87 157
presse@hkw.de