The African-American lesbian poet and activist Audre Geraldine Lorde (1934-1992) had a significant influence on the Black women's movement worldwide with her work against homophobia, sexism and racism. Audre Lorde often spent time in West Berlin between 1984 and 1992. Here she gave readings and lectures, called for a fight against racism and encouraged Black women to make their own history visible.

To mark the renaming of a street after Audre Lorde, the FHXB Museum is showing the photo exhibition "Audre Lorde - The Berlin Years". This exhibition was originally shown in 2014-2015 at the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies at Freie Universität Berlin, where Audre Lorde held a visiting professorship in 1984. The portraits by Dagmar Schultz show Audre Lorde in various places in and outside Berlin, both in private moments and in her socio-political commitment.

Intervention in the permanent exhibition "ortsgespräche - ferngespräche - ortsgeschichten"

Duration: Extended until  08.09.2024

Re/Assembling Anti-Racist Struggles
An Open Archive

From May 22nd, 2022
Opening: May 21st, 5 pm

Anti-racist struggles and acts of resistance constitute part of the history of this country. Whether they have immigrated, were born here, or are simply passing through, people who have endured first-hand experiences of racism, anti-Semitism, and other forms of discrimination have been fighting for equality and social change for decades.

Their demands for social inclusion have played a significant role in shaping society, as have countless projects to combat racism and oppression. However, their individual stories and perspectives remain for the most part unseen and unheard. Their knowledge, experiences and voices are often co-opted or are omitted from the mainstream culture of remembrance and official archives.

For some time now, we have been working together with a range of people from East, West and reunified Germany to develop formats in which they can tell their stories of their own struggles against racism and anti-Semitism. We are working together to find and establish new ways of collecting, processing, and presenting this material.

An open archive has been established at the FHXB Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Museum showcasing the initial outcomes of this collaborative research. The archive comprises a collection of fragments and found objects which will be further expanded upon through workshops and with the support of visitors to the museum. This open archive is intended to become a site for debate—one that unites past experiences with contemporary debates and struggles against anti-Semitism, racism, and all other forms of discrimination.

This project is a cooperation of Georg-August-University Göttingen, Fachhochschule Kiel, Documentation Centre and Museum of  Migration in Germany e.V. (DOMiD) an FHXB Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Museum.

Funded by Federal Agency for Civic Education/bpb.