Bergen Assembly 2019, Actually, The Dead Are Not Dead, begins its public programme on 5 April and 6 April 2019 with two introduction days and the opening of Belgin [ˈbælgən], a new space in Bergen’s city centre. 

Not publicly accessible for many years, the glass ground-floor connecting wing of museum KODE 2 served for a long time as the institution’s storage and restoration workshop. From April to November it will become the central working, meeting and public space of Bergen Assembly 2019. 

This space will develop its infrastructures, programmes, and profiles successively and in dialogue with international guests and local communities: Belgin is conceived from the very beginning as a shared space, which does not only host Bergen Assembly itself, but is open to the activities of local groups and initiatives.

The space’s name refers to the Turkish singer Belgin Sarılmışer (1958–1989), who adopted the alias ‘Bergen’ after the Norwegian harbour city.

The introduction days of Bergen Assembly 2019, taking place both at Belgin and its neighbour Landmark, comprise talks, debates, performances, and screenings introducing first aspects, concerns, formats and aesthetics of Actually, The Dead Are Not Dead. It will discuss the notion of assembly, the emancipatory potentials of art, aspects of sharing knowledge and experiences, and what it could mean if the dead were actually not dead.  

With contributions by Daniel G. Andújar, Bergen, Stacy Brafield, Capital Drawing Group, Hans D. Christ, Ines Doujak/John Barker, Iris Dressler, Ruth Ewan, Magdalena Freudenschuss, Lottie Hoare, Julio Jara, Hiwa K, Alexander Kluge, Multitati (Tatiana Palanca), Nora Landkammer, Viktor Neumann, Andrea De Pascual (Pedagogías Invisibles), Daniela Ramos Arias, Karin Schneider, Simon Sheikh, Emma Wolukau-Wanambwa, and others.

Bergen Assembly 2019’s core group members Murat Deha Boduroğlu, Banu Cennetoğlu, Hans D. Christ, Iris Dressler, Katia Krupennikova, Viktor Neumann, Simon Sheikh, and Emma Wolukau-Wanambwa will be present during the introduction days.

To be announced soon.