Pickle Bar Podcasts
The Pickle Bar Podcast invites other artists, thinkers, writers, and researchers to explore the limits of ideologies and the edges of belief systems within a Slavic take on the apéritivo bar.
All podcasts can also be found on our Apple Podcast channel, Spotify, Deezer, and Google Podcasts.
Fai Ahmed with Amal Mohammed: on Saudi underground music
In this podcast an artist, Fai Ahmed, as a part of her residency-mentorship program at Slavs and Tatars, invites a music researcher Amal Mohammed to reflect on Saudi underground music.
While Fai Ahmed talks about her new research, which explores the realm of the local underground music scene and its intricate ties to cultural memory and Hauntology. Together with Amal Mohammed they talk about the historical and social context of the underground recordings, delve into an era when sharing these recordings was rebellious and intolerable and share the echoes of suppressed voices and unconventional melodies that shaped culture and challenged norms in the region.
The residency and the podcast is supported by Art Jameel and Goethe-Institut Saudi Arabia part of a three years collaboration with Slavs and Tatars to support young practitioners from Saudi Arabia.
Irena Klepfisz: on creativity, resistance and lesbian activism in the 70’s and 80’s in New York
In this intimate podcast, Irena Klepfisz talks about her new book, creativity and resistance, coming out, and her experience of being a lesbian Jew in New York in the 70s and 80s.
Through her exclusive conversation with Ula Chowaniec, she shares personal memories and touches upon the lesbian activist and literally movements of her time, how political urgencies shaped her thinking, her relationship with Yiddish, while she recites some of her groundbreaking poems.
Ula (Urszula) Chowaniec is a Research Honorary Fellow at University College London School of Slavonic and East European Studies.
Irena Klepfisz is a feminist, lesbian and secular Jewish poet, Yiddish translator and teacher of Jewish Women Studies. She is the author of Her Birth and Later Years, Periods of Stress, Keeper of Accounts, Different Enclosures, A Few Words in the Mother Tongue and Dreams of an Insomniac.
The podcast is part of the Lavender Languages Institute programme of the Pickle Bar. The program is supported by Bezirkskulturfonds by the department of Art and Culture of the Bezirksamts Mitte von Berlin.
Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon: The Azbuka of Race: Blackness and Racial Imaginaries in Soviet Children’s Books
In this podcast, St. Julian-Varnon expands on her current academic work, which focuses on the study of the black diaspora in the Soviet Union and the analysis of the influence of the ideological narrative on the Soviet citizens' perceptions of Africans into children's books.
Together with Dora Vasilakou, Julian Varnon spoke about the main characteristics of the Soviet children's books before and after the 1917 revolution. How writers and illustrators of children's literature portrayed people of African descent and Africa in the early Soviet era and how their imaginary narrative changed during the decades.
Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon is a Ph.D. student of History and a Presidential Ph.D. fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.
The podcast is part of the Azbuka Strikes Back public program in the Pickle bar. The program is supported by Haupstadtkulturfonds.
Artiom Slota: Child education as a strategy of decolonization
The colonial education system, led by the ambitions of the Russian Empire (among other European states) in the 19th century, as well as the “secular” pedagogy under the scope of nation-building during the USSR era in the 20th century, contributed to educational reforms imposed on territories inhabited predominantly by Muslim populations.
The lecture “Child education as a strategy of decolonization: language and ethnicity in Jadid and Soviet schools” by the Kazan-based researcher, curator, and educator Artiom Slota juxtaposes these two historical educational reforms under decolonial theory. It explores the pedagogy from the position of the post-Soviet space and shares examples on historical alternatives, such as the “Jadid” schools.
The podcast is part of the Azbuka Strikes Back public program in the Pickle bar. The program is supported by Haupstadtkulturfonds.
Lisa Kirschenbaum: Scripted Ambiguities along the (Arabic) Line
This podcast looks at the condition of children during the Soviet revolution in the first half of the 20th century. After the 1917 Revolution, the newly soviet system was created to educate a new generation of “comrades” supposed to be more tolerant and respectful toward others. Research Lisa Kirschenbaum calls for a history written from the children’s perspective while sharing her analysis on the educational system produced at that time. Would this history be more inclusive in terms of gender and race? What is the influence of literature on shaping childrens’ ideas?
Lisa Kirschenbaum is a writer and teacher based in West Chester, Pennsylvania, USA, Philadelphia. Her research focuses on modern Russia and the Soviet Union. Her books explore the themes of early Soviet childhood, war and memory, and international communism.
The podcast is part of the Azbuka Strikes Back public program in the Pickle bar. The program is supported by Haupstadtkulturfonds.
Audio editing by @berlinology.
Alina Kokoschka: Scripted Ambiguities along the (Arabic) Line
“Scriped Ambiguites along the (Arabic) Line” is an exploration of the Arabic writing system’s special features and its challenging encounters with the digital realm.
Alina Kokoschka is a Berlin-based researcher, writer, and curator. She holds a PhD in Islamic Studies and investigates contemporary Islam at the intersection of things, images, and script.
The podcast is part of the series KNOT KNOW exploring craft’s potential for building solidarity and queering beliefs across Central Asia and China. The program and podcast is supported by Bezirkskulturfonds im Bezirk Mitte.
Audio editing by @berlinology.
The Collective for Black Iranians: Writing Ourselves into Existence
The Collective for Black Iranians was founded out of the necessity to be seen, heard, and understood. A creative and critically conscious initiative, the Collective invites its audience to think beyond the imaginary cultural boundaries placed upon oneself, share, listen, and celebrate the diverse Black and Afro-Iranian histories and points of view.
To know more about the Collective for Black Iranians follow @collectiveforblackiranians on Instagram and check their website.
The podcast is the second in a series of events devoted to exploring Black identity in Central Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe by Slavs and Tatars’ Pickle Bar.
Dr Elmira Gyul: Ikat and Abr textiles across geographies and cultures
The podcast discusses the specificities of the ikat print-textile and the difference between ikat and abr. Focusing on the role of ikat throughout the course of history, Dr. Gyul will offer her perspective through various cultural, religious, and social dimensions. Sometimes as a symbol of religious spirituality, or an everyday garment, and an indicator of the social attitude.
Prof. Dr. Elmira Gyul is a doctor in art history, a professor, and a leading researcher at the Institute of Art Studies at the Academy of Science of the Republic of Uzbekistan. A special place in Elmira Gyul’s research is occupied by the history of textiles. She has published two monographs on this subject: Carpet of Uzbekistan: History, Aesthetics, Semantics (2019); Gardens of Heaven and Gardens of Earth. Embroidery of Uzbekistan: Hidden Meanings of the Sacred Texts (2013).
The podcast is part of the series KNOT KNOW, exploring craft’s potential for building solidarity and queering beliefs across Central Asia and China. The program and podcast is supported by Bezirkskulturfonds im Bezirk Mitte.
Audio editing by @berlinology.
Dr. Mi You: Silk as a currency
Combining hearsays, histories and speculations, Dr. Mi You’s talk focuses on silk both as an artefact and as a cultural metaphor. Desired by the Romans, silk in antiquity was surrounded by trickery, theft, and outlandish cultural imaginations, so popular that it was preferred as a medium of exchange in Central Asia than gold coins issued by the Kushan empire. In China, silk was variously used in lieu of taxes, wages, and tributary payments. This then opens up a reflection on silk as a currency today, both in the cryptoworld for cross-border transactions and as a cultural currency, seen, for example, in ‘silkpunk’.
Dr. Mi You is a curator, researcher and lecturer at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. Her long-term research and curatorial projects oscillate between the two extremes of the ancient and futuristic. She works with the Silk Road as a figuration for deep-time, deep-space nomadic imageries, and old and new networks/technologies.
The podcast is part of the series KNOT KNOW, exploring craft’s potential for building solidarity and queering beliefs across Central Asia and China. The program and podcast is supported by Bezirkskulturfonds im Bezirk Mitte.
Audio editing by @berlinology.
Hana Ćurak & Tijan Sila: Tijan is a punk-rocker
“Tijan is a punk-rocker” is a conversation about being a punk rocker in Bosnia and Herzegovina and suddenly a refugee in Germany. As well as everything before, around, and after that. The discussion is with Tijan Sila, a rising star of German literature, whose third novelKrach has been trending all throughout the year 2021, and is moderated by Hana Ćurak (Sve su to vještice), a former Pickle Bar resident.
Hana Ćurak is a researcher, writer, and producer. Her eclectic experience involves work in strategic communication, visual arts production, project management, and advocacy in Germany and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
This podcast is produced in connection with Slavs and Tatars’ project Aşbildung in cooperation with the Kunsthalle Osnabrück, supported by the Sievert Foundation for Science and Culture and the Friends of the Kunsthalle Osnabrück.
Ana & Mari Mekineli: Growing up Migra (DE)
„Wo kommst du her?“ - „Nein wirklich, wo kommst du ursprünglich her?“ - „Wo kommen deine Eltern her?“
[Antwort]
„Ohhh exotisch!!“ - „Kenn ich nicht…“ - „Ah, dachte du wärst aus [anderes Land mit größtenteils dunkelhaariger Bevölkerung]!“
Jeder*jedem sollten diese Konversationen bekannt vorkommen - ob als diejenige Person, die die Fragen stellt oder diejenige, die sie ständig beantworten muss. Oder beides.
Migrant*innen werden tagtäglich mit Situationen konfrontiert, in denen andere oder auch sie selbst ihre [kulturelle] Identität hinterfragen. Die Schwestern Ana und Mari Mekineli, deren Eltern aus Georgien stammen, nehmen die Zuhörer*innen in einem Gespräch, was sie schon oft geführt haben, in ihre Vergangenheit mit und befassen sich mit dem Thema Identität[skrise].
In Kooperation mit der Kunsthalle Osnabrück, gefördert durch die Sievert Stiftung für Wissenschaft und Kultur und die Freunde der Kunsthalle. Aşbildung erweitert das Osnabrücker Döner Restaurant Toros um einen kontemplativen Moment und unterstreicht die Wichtigkeit, die Verdauung von geistiger und körperlicher Nahrung als Einheit zu betrachten.
In cooperation with the Kunsthalle Osnabrück, supported by the Sievert Foundation for Science and Culture and the Friends of the Kunsthalle Osnabrück.
Dr. Hongwei Bao: Metamorphosis of A Butterfly: Queer Art and Activism in Contemporary China
Drawing on the daoist philosophy of xing (性) (nature/sexuality), hexie (和谐) (harmony), and tianren heyi (天人合) (the unity between the human world and the non-human world), the lecture “Metamorphosis of A Butterfly: Queer Art and Activism in Contemporary China” by Dr. Hongwei Bao explores queer art beyond Western queer theory and modern gay identity, looking to Indigenous and ancient perspectives and addressing questions of sexuality, urban migration, and LGBT communities in recent years in China.
Dr. Hongwei Bao is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and the Higher Education Academy in the UK.
The podcast is part of the series KNOT KNOW, exploring craft’s potential for building solidarity and queering beliefs across Central Asia and China. The program and podcast is supported by Bezirkskulturfonds im Bezirk Mitte.
Audio editing by @berlinology.
Zavier Wingham: A Brief History of the African Diaspora in the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey
The first episode of the Pickle Bar Podcast introduces Zavier Wingham’s lecture “A Brief History of the African Diaspora in the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey”, which aims to briefly sketch the history of the African diaspora in the late Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey, with particular attention on the legacies of Ottoman slavery.
Zavier Wingham is a PhD candidate in the joint program for History and Middle East and Islamic Studies at New York University and currently a PhD fellow at Koç University’s Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations. He is also an editor at Ajam Media Collective.
The lecture was held on 5th March 2021 in the framework of the extended program for the exhibition “1 Million Roses for Angela Davis” at the Albertinum (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden) with the kind support of Goethe-Institut New York.
The podcast is the first in a series exploring various articulations of Black identity in Central Asia, Caucasus, and Eastern Europe as an attempt to complicate the Atlanticist notion of race most of us are familiar with.
Audio editing by Audiokombinat, Berlin.