Making Space for Ari
A Public Assembly on Urban Memory and Collective Futures
08 JULY 2026 / 13:00 – 20:00
ZK/U BerlinSiemensstr. 27, 10551, Berlin, Germany
The event is conceived as a public assembly that brings together activists, community members, cultural practitioners, local politicians, and others involved in shaping Berlin as a postcolonial and postmigrant city. It offers a space to present and discuss the ARI MAP, developed as part of the project Mapping Postcolonial Neighborhoods, which brings together stories, initiatives, and perspectives connected to Ari and to ongoing struggles against racist and sexualised violence across Berlin.
The ARI MAP seeks to make visible existing connections and solidarities while creating space for new encounters, collaborations, and strategies. At the heart of the assembly is a collective conversation about Ari’s future in the city. While Ari is currently located at ZK/U, participants are invited to exchange ideas and explore how she can become a lasting part of public space and Berlin’s diverse urban memory and collective future.
Program
13:00–13:30 | Arrival & Opening Ritual with Ari
Welcome notes by Philip Horst (ZK/U) and Regina Römhild (Project Postcolonial Neighborhoods), followed by a shared ritual with Ari, facilitated by the Sangre de mi Sangre collective, that weaves threads of connection from Ari's living network into the workshop spaces.
13:30–14:00 | Introduction & Launch of the Ari Map
with Carla J. Maier, Matthew Hansen, Nataly Jung Hwa-Han, Regina Römhild & others
14:00–16:30 | Part I: The ARI MAP – Mapping Connections
The first part of the event is dedicated to the ARI MAP, which will be officially launched on this occasion. Developed by the CoLab Mapping Postcolonial Neighborhoods, the map is the result of a year-long collaborative research of activists, artists and scholars who explored their own and other stories, initiatives, and neighbouring struggles connected to the Friedensstatue/Peace Statue Ari.
In this Open Workshop, the members of the CoLab and the participants will further map together the connections Ari creates across and beyond Berlin, the transnational solidarities she has activated, and the communities she has brought into conversation. Participants will split into three separate working groups organized around places of spatial condensation in Berlin where Ari's network becomes manifest in the urban landscape: Anton-Wilhelm-Amo-Straße, Martha-Ndumbe-Platz and Oranienplatz. They will engage in collective mapping, expanding and adding to the Ari Map.
The outcomes of this process will become part of an expanded version of the ARI MAP to be published online on the platform research catalogue, a digital space for artistic and activist research.
14:00–14:30 | Short introductions of the three Working Groups
14:30–14:45 | Break
14:45–16:30 | Working Groups
Table I: Ari, Anton Wilhelm Amo & W. E. B. Du Bois on Anton Wilhelm Amo Street: Future Mapping at the Decolonial Flânerie (2023)
Moderation: Carla J. Maier (Postcolonial Neighborhoods)
with Adela Taleb (Amo Collective Berlin) and political activists engaged in the renaming process of M*Straße
Table II: Ari & Movements Against Feminicide on Martha-Ndumbe-Platz
Moderation: Johara Sarhan (Decolonize Berlin)
with Nnenna Onuoha, Josepha Jendricke (both Postcolonial Neighborhoods) Sabrina Herrmann (Sangre de mi Sangre) , Matthew Hansen (SAVVY Contemporary) & others
Table III: Ari, Postmigrant & Queer Struggles on Oranienplatz
Moderation: Gabs Dumfahrt-Pérez (Postcolonial Neighborhoods)
with Nicole Pearson, Eryn Staiblin (both Postcolonial Neighborhoods), Napuli Paul Langa (O-Platz activist) & others
16:30–16:45 | Break
16:45–19:00 Part II: Making Space for Ari – the Future of and With Ari in Berlin
16:45–17:30 | From Connections to Futures
Presentation of the results of the Open Workshop
17:30–19:00 | Ari’s Utopia: Making space for creative visions
Bringing together local politicians, activists, community members, and other stakeholders, this public assembly explores possible futures for and with Ari in Berlin. How can Ari become a lasting part of public space, and what role can she play in shaping Berlin as a postcolonial and postmigrant city? The assembly begins with short opening statements, followed by a moderated discussion with participants.
We want to invite all participants to engage in thinking about and from the vision of a decolonial city. What would Berlin and life in the city look like if we viewed them from Ari’s perspective? What would she wish for us? Let’s use the expanded ARI MAP as a basis for imagining other future scenarios. Let’s look beyond the horizon towards the future we wish for – and from there back at our present: how can we take a step closer to this vision, and what strategies and collaborations can we think of to achieve this?
Moderation: Anab Awale (DGB Kreisverband Mitte, tbc)
19:00–20:00 | Dinner & Informal Exchange
Food, networking, and continued conversations
The event is organized & moderated by members and friends of the Research CoLab Mapping Postcolonial Neighborhoods: Anab Awale, Gabs Dumfahrt-Peréz, Sabrina Herrmann, Josepha Jendricke, Nataly Jung-Hwa Han, Matthew Hansen, Carla J. Maier, Nnenna Onuoha, Nicole Pearson, Regina Römhild, Johara Sarhan, Eryn Staiblin, Adela Taleb among others.
Free entry.
Partly in German, partly in English.
Whisper translation available.