Patterns for Life

At a time marked by increasing authoritarianism, militarisation, and the destruction of livelihoods, HAU's “Patterns for Life” festival is dedicated to different forms of feminist knowledge production as a possible counter-strategy and focuses on feminist cultural techniques from North Africa and the Middle East. The participating artists' works are inspired by cultural techniques and experiences from beyond the prevailing Western art canon. Inscribed within bodies, this knowledge draws on popular cultural practices including music, dance, crafts, and storytelling, serving as a means of emancipation from violent power and gender relations. Building on the previous festival “¡PROTAGONISTAS! Resistance Feminisms Revolution” (June / July 2023), HAU is providing a stage for a transnational continuity of feminist practices of resistance and survival, aiming to help build a society of solidarity and resilience.

The “Patterns for Life” festival focusses on giving visibility to a diverse array of feminist perspectives from North Africa and the Middle East, and more specifically, on dealing with cultural techniques from these regions. The festival programme was submitted in an application on 5 October 2023. Shortly afterwards, the political situation changed dramatically as a result of Hamas' brutal attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 and the subsequent war in Gaza, Palestine by the Israeli government along with its devastating humanitarian consequences. This also had an impact on the development of the festival programme, which as a result has been in flux up to now. The subtitle “Feminist Cultural Techniques from Iran, Israel, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia” was meant to express the attempt to make connections among cultural techniques from these countries, presenting them together in an artistic programme for a Berlin audience. This is becoming ever more difficult due to the increasingly catastrophic realities. In light of this, compounded by intense internal discussions as well as warranted criticism from outside, we have decided to change the subtitle to “A Festival on Feminist Cultural Techniques”.

Some artists have declined our request to participate or have withdrawn their scheduled appearance at the festival, which we regret, but also understand and respect. We take criticism seriously and incorporate it into our programme. As an institution, HAU is constantly learning and strives to remain a site of encounter – something we still hope that the festival can offer.

Berlin, 19 June 2024