Menschen ins Bild setzen. Wie Kunst den gesellschaftlichen Blick auf Obdachlosigkeit verändern kann

In the organizer's words:

When it comes to homelessness and homelessness, we see the same images again and again in public. With the help of the artistic perspectives of photographer Debora Ruppert and graphic novelist Sebastian Lörscher as well as the perspective of city guide and former homeless person Dieter Bichler, this BERLIN GLOBAL event will focus on counter-images and how the topic can be presented in an appropriate and humane way.

Poverty, homelessness and homelessness are omnipresent in Berlin. Despite this, the people affected are often (deliberately) overlooked and marginalized. This is also because the common social image of homelessness is often marked by prejudices: alcohol, violence and dirt characterize this cliché.

Who are the people who sleep in emergency shelters or train stations? How can artistic views of homelessness succeed - without adopting a voyeuristic perspective? How can a picture tell the story of the person portrayed?

Photographer Debora Ruppert has been taking portraits of homeless people on the streets of Berlin for many years. The illustrator and author Sebastian Lörscher uses the medium of drawn reportage to tell the stories of Berlin's homeless.

As part of the accompanying program of the Freiflächen project "Mitten unter uns: Wohnungslose Frauen in Berlin*", we would like to address these questions.

We cordially invite you to the presentation of selected works by Debora Ruppert and Sebastian Lörscher.

Together with Dieter Bichler, city guide of the querstadtein e.V. association and formerly homeless himself, we will explore the possibilities of depictions of homelessness and poverty and discuss his perspective as a former victim.

The event is part of the accompanying program of the open space project "Mitten unter uns. Homeless women* in Berlin"

Participants:

Debora Ruppert works as a freelance photographer with a focus on socially critical portrait photography worldwide. In her artistic work, she deals with socio-political issues such as homelessness, poverty, human trafficking, flight and forced prostitution. From 2018 to 2021, the traveling exhibition "KEIN RAUM - Begegnungen mit Menschen ohne Obdach" was shown in Berlin's city halls and in the Senate Department for Labor, Integration and Social Affairs. In 2023, the multimedia project entitled "HOME STREET HOME - Ways out of homelessness" was exhibited in the German Bundestag. From September 12 to November 10, 2024, the newly developed exhibition "Voices of the Street - Perspectives of Homeless and Homeless People" can be seen at the Friends of the Willy Brandt House.

Sebastian Lörscher, born in Paris in 1985, is an illustrator and author and lives in Berlin. His graphic novels have won numerous awards. Lörscher's most recent works deal in particular with the medium of drawn reportage. His book "Shadows of Society", in which he tells the stories of homeless people in Berlin in drawings and texts, was published in 2022.

Dieter Bichler, born in Prenzlau in 1968, was homeless for a winter in 2012/2013. Dieter has been a city guide in the Charlottenburg district for the querstadtein e.V. association for ten years now and has developed a special tour on the subject of defensive architecture. Dieter worked as a volunteer at the "City-Station" homeless day center of the Berlin City Mission.

- 5 EUR, reduced 3 EUR

- from 10 years

- Languages: German, English, German sign language

- Venue: Berlin Exhibition, 1st floor, Room 5 Berlin Raum

- Belongs to: BERLIN GLOBAL Open space: In our midst