Press Release I 13 March 2026

„Given or Chosen?“ – A Festival of Kinship at the Humboldt Forum

Key Visual Thementage "Schicksal oder Wahl?"

For some, family is something you choose; for many, it is a matter of fate. Family affects us all, and no one is entirely alone. Everyone is part of biological, blended, or other chosen families, as well as stories of ancestry, kinship, and other relational constellations.
The Humboldt Forum invites the public to the two-day festival “Given or Chosen?” on May 1 and 2, 2026, to discover new perspectives on kinship and belonging. Numerous artists and communities will open up spaces throughout the Forum with a variety of offerings, where relationships are reexamined and expanded. Throughout the weekend, encounters will take place that demonstrate: kinship is diverse—and always in flux.

Further information can be found in the press release (German) or here.

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„Schicksal oder Wahl?“ – Ein Festival rund um Verwandtschaft im Humboldt Forum mit Tanz, Konzerten, Lesungen, Film, gemeinsamem Essen, Ausstellungen, einem Kinderprogramm und freundlichen Chatbots

Press release I Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss

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Images

Dance performance “when two flowers meet / Wenn zwei Blüten einander begegnen” by Raymond Liew Jin Pin

My Migrant Mama / Projekt "much cooler than yours"

Performance of “The Mitochondrial Eve” (2025) by Lilibeth Cuenca at the Vigeland Museum in Oslo, Norway

Portrait of the non-binary artist Kim de l'Horizon

Kristy Nataraja performing in front of a cube-shaped house from Papua New Guinea

Mwangi Hutter, In A Pure Land, Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt / SCAD, Savannah College of Art & Design, GA, 2014

Cooking performance by the collective “groundtable,” consisting of artists Gift Lalicha Lalitsasivimol and Kitman Pik Chee Yeung, at the Goethe-Institut Hanoi

Workshop “The Spider's Gift” in the living room during the theme days “Hide or Tell? / Family Secrets” as part of “Beziehungsweise Familie / Family Matters”

Ernest and Theo Thiesmeier with their blended family. Still from the film “Familie sein.” by Ernest and Theo Thiesmeier

Suli Puschban and the Kapelle performing

„Given or Chosen?“ – A Festival of Kinship at the Humboldt Forum

PDF

„Schicksal oder Wahl?“ – Ein Festival rund um Verwandtschaft im Humboldt Forum mit Tanz, Konzerten, Lesungen, Film, gemeinsamem Essen, Ausstellungen, einem Kinderprogramm und freundlichen Chatbots

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