Once We Were Trees, Now We Are Birds

From June 6 to 8, 2025, the interdisciplinary festival Once We Were Trees, Now We Are Birds will take place at Kunsthaus ACUD in Berlin. Organized by the Goethe-Institut in Exile in cooperation with the Martin Roth-Initiative, the festival showcases artistic perspectives on migration, belonging, and transformation. It complements the exhibition of the same name, on view at the ifa Gallery Berlin until June 8, 2025.

At the heart of the festival is the work of former fellows of the Martin Roth-Initiative—one of the world’s largest protection programmes for at-risk artists—coordinated by ifa – Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen and the Goethe-Institut. Participants include artists and cultural practitioners from Egypt, Belarus, Brazil, India, Iran, Colombia, Montenegro, Myanmar, Russia, Sudan, South Africa, Turkey, and Ukraine. Together, they offer a multifaceted view of loss and transformation—of what remains when home is lost, and what emerges when something new must begin.

The festival’s central image—birds who were once deeply rooted like trees and are now forced to seek new directions—captures its core theme: experiences of loss, new beginnings, and fateful encounters that spark new connections. “In this context, the festival is not just a framework—it is a temporary nest. A space of refuge where voices shaped by displacement can resonate with one another and create new imaginative spaces,” as the curatorial statement puts it.

The festival programme is divided into three sections:

Performance and film programme (curated by Emrah Gökdemir)
Music programme (curated by Ludmila Pogodina)
Literature and discourse programme (curated by Kholoud Bidak and Anna Karpenko)

Over the course of three days, audiences can expect a vibrant line-up of performances, film screenings, concerts, DJ sets, readings, discussions, and an interactive food workshop. Highlights include a musical performance by South African artist Pure, whose soundscapes explore the search for roots in unfamiliar lands. The performance Letters Home by aliveduo (Alena Starostina and Ivan Nikolaev) evokes a layered response to the loss of home and the tentative building of a new life, drawn from fragments of personal diaries. In her film Come Rain or Shine, filmmaker Zeynep Güzel traces her family’s history in Armenia—a portrait of memory and uprooting.

Other contributing artists include: Ali Abdollahi, Parham Alizadeh, Dante Buu, Elisabete Finger, Sujatro Ghosh, Emrah Gökdemir, Ludmila Pogodina, Radio Jaguar, Zeyo Mann, Sarvenaz Mostofey, Aya Sammani, Soheil Soheili, Ma Thida, Igor Vidor, and Vahid Zarezadeh.

Admission to all festival events is free.
The full programme and curatorial statements are available here.

Once We Were Trees, Now We Are Birds invites reflection on rupture, turning points, and new beginnings.

The accompanying exhibition of the same name remains on view at the ifa Gallery Berlin through June 8, 2025. It brings together around 50 positions across visual arts, performance, literature, and photography, addressing themes such as social violence, political repression, restrictions on freedom of expression, and human rights.

The festival is curated by Kholoud Bidak, Emrah Gökdemir, Anna Karpenko, and Ludmila Pogodina.
The exhibition was curated by Muhammad Salah Abdulaziz, Emrah Gökdemir, Anna Karpenko, and Thibaut de Ruyter.

About the project partners
The Martin Roth-Initiative, a joint project of the ifa – Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen and the Goethe-Institut, was founded in response to the global shrinking of civic spaces. Its aim is to protect artists and cultural actors whose work is restricted by state or non-state actors by offering temporary relocation stays and enabling them to continue their work. Since its foundation in 2017, 620 artists from 41 countries have received support in cooperation with 119 host organisations. 

The ifa Gallery Berlin is a space where contemporary art unfolds through dialogue, exchange, and critical rereading. It nurtures an environment where visitors encounter diverse perspectives, engaging with themes of global movement, migration and interconnection. Through transdisciplinary exhibitions and education programmes, the gallery cultivates long-term relationships with artists, curators, and partners, fostering collaborations that weave together new narratives.
Address: Linienstraße 139/140, 10115 Berlin
Opening Hours: Tuesday–Sunday 2–6pm; Thursday 2–8pm; free admission 

The Goethe-Institut in Exile offers a platform for displaced, exiled, and migrated artists a place of arrival and continuity for their work. Intended as a space for exchange, critical discourse, and a stage for at-risk cultural practitioners, it addresses the needs of artists from countries where the Goethe-Institut was forced to close its offices due to war and censorship. The programme allows for insights into histories of displacement, limit-experiences, just as well as new beginnings, while showcasing the plurality of artistic expression. It invites efforts to support and connect the vibrant cultural scene within the diaspora.