The panelists discuss how conceptions of “the East” are bound up with the historical, social, and cultural conflicts of our time. To what extent are projections onto “the East” part of a political tradition in Germany, and what role does art play within it?

In German, free admission

Participants

Marko Martin (b. 1970) left the GDR in May 1989 as a conscientious objector and, when not traveling, lives in Berlin as a writer. For his literary work, he has received, among other awards, the Ovid Prize and the Reiner Kunze Prize (both 2025). His most recent publications are Und es geschieht jetzt. Jüdisches Leben nach dem 7. Oktober (And it’s happening now. Jewish life after October 7, published in 2024) and Freiheitsaufgaben (2025; both published by Tropen / Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart).

Kateryna Mishchenko (b. 1984 in Poltava / Ukraine) is an essayist, translator, and publisher in Kyiv. She worked as an interpreter in the field of human rights and was a co-founder of the journal „Prostory“. Her book Ukrainische Nacht / Ukrainian Night / Ukrajinska nitsch (Leipzig: Spector Books) was published in 2015. She publishes essays in international journals and anthologies. In 2022/2023, she was a fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. In 2023, Aus dem Nebel des Krieges. Die Gegenwart der Ukraine (ed. with Katharina Raabe, Berlin: Suhrkamp) was published. She lives in Berlin.

Shahrzad Eden Osterer (b. 1984 in Tehran) decided to leave her native country at the age of twenty. Since 2010, she has worked as a journalist and author for various media outlets, primarily for ARD. As an expert, she regularly comments on topics such as the Middle East, anti-Semitism, and women’s rights. Thanks to her reporting and her connections to Iranian civil society, she is regarded in the German-speaking world as one of the most prominent voices on Iran.

Volker Weiß, Ph.D. (b. 1972), historian, worked for many years as a contributing writer for Die Zeit and Zeit Geschichte, Jungle World, Frankfurter Rundschau, FAZ, taz, and Spiegel-Online, and now writes exclusively for Süddeutsche Zeitung. He is one of the foremost experts on the New Right scene. His book The Authoritarian Revolt: The New Right and the Decline of the West (Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 2017) is considered a seminal work on the subject and was nominated for the 2017 Leipzig Book Fair Prize.

Projections Onto the East is a project by n.b.k. in cooperation with the Schinkel Pavillon, conceived by Fabian Bechtle and Leon Kahane.
Funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation).
Funded by the Beauftragter der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media).