Let's talk #2 – About Grieving in Current Times

The second part of this talk series explores conditions of collective grieving in the age of multiple crises. Three artists whose works contribute to the processing of current trauma, pain and terror will come together to share ideas. Until society as a whole agrees on an interpretation of recent attacks, crises and wars, activists and artists are often the ones to fill the void of remembrance and grieving. The panel asks: Which artistic means are helpful and adequate for dealing with the emotional and social devastation of the present? The goal is to use individual works and perspectives to highlight exemplary forms of artistic approaches and initiate broader debates. This event is not intended to cover every relevant crisis of the present in all its depth – we kindly ask for your understanding.

Luna Ali studied cultural studies and aesthetic practice in Hildesheim, literary writing at the German Literature Institute and anthropology at the University of Leipzig. Her debut novel ‘Da waren Tage’ was published this year by S. Fischer. She deals with questions about the significance of political action and collective desire in our present day.

Esther Dischereit lives in Berlin, writes prose, poems, essays and radio works. She is one of the most important literary voices of the second generation after the Holocaust. She is a prolific, and indeed radical, writer across literary and documentary genres. Her work presents a visceral pathography of post-​war continuities, crises and trauma. She has published fiction, poetry, journalism and essays, and is a regular writer for the radio, the stage and other artistic media. Between 2012 and 2017 she was Professor of Language Arts at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. She has been a Fellow at the Moses Mendelssohn Centre for European and Jewish Studies in Potsdam and the DAAD Chair for Contemporary Poetics at New York University, 2019. She was awarded with Austria’s prestigious Erich Fried Prize in 2009 and received the Alfred-Gruber-Preis in 2024 for her most recent works of poetry – among many more awards and honours. Recent publications: Ein Haufen Dollarscheine (Prose) A Bunch of Dollarnotes (2024), Hab keine Angst! Erzähl alles. Das Attentat von Halle und die Stimmen der Überlebenden (Ed., 2020). Sometimes a Single Leaf (2020), Flowers for Otello On the Crimes that Came out of Jena (2022) – both translated by Iain Galbraith. Wer war Fritz Kittel, Exhibition 2023: Berlin / Frankfurt am Main / Chemnitz / Nürnberg / Darmstadt.

Jonathan Garfinkel is an award-winning author whose work has been translated into a dozen languages. His plays include "Cockroach" (adapted from the novel by Rawi Hage) and "House of Many Tongues", nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama. The controversial "The Trials of John Demjanjuk: A Holocaust Cabaret" has been performed across Canada, Russia, Ukraine, and Germany. He is the author of the poetry collections "Glass Psalms", "Bociany" and theforthcoming "Do You Love Your Life?" His novel about post-Soviet Georgia, "In a Land without Dogs the Cats Learn to Bark" (Rowohlt Berlin: "Platz der Freiheit") was published in 2023, and his memoir, "Ambivalence: Crossing the Israel/Palestine Divide", has been published in numerous languages to wide critical acclaim (Mandelbaum: "Gelobtes Haus"). Jonathan's long-form nonfiction has appeared in the Walrus, Hazlitt, Tablet, the Globe and Mail, and PEN International, as well as "Cabin Fever: An Anthology of the Best New Canadian Non-Fiction". Named by the Toronto Star as “one to watch,” Garfinkel is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in the field of Medical and Health Humanities at the University of Alberta, where he is writing a memoir about chronic illness . He lives in Berlin.

Arkadi Zaides (b. 1979, Gomel, Belarus, former USSR) works as a choreographer, performer and researcher. He obtained a master’s degree at the AHK Academy of Theater and Dance in Amsterdam (NL). He is currently working on his joint practice-based PhD degree at Antwerp University, and Ghent University. He is a member of the CORPoREAL research group at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp and a member of the S:PAM (Studies in Performing Arts & Media) at Ghent University (BE). His artistic and activist projects were presented in multiple venues across Europe, Asia and The Americas. He is a recipient of numerous prizes, among them a prize for demonstrating engagement in human-rights issues, awarded to Zaides by The Emile Zola Chair for Interdisciplinary Human Rights Dialogue (IL).