A Mirror for the Stage. A Hammer for the Cage.

Before the end of their residency with us at SAVVY in the framework of the REFLEKT residency programme, artists Inu Bere and Otniel Tasman cordially invite you to come together for performances, talks and food. They will both present work developed during their time in Berlin, in a powerful exploration of identity, spirituality, and the complexities of freedom.

Each artist will deliver a presentation and a performance, followed by a moderated Q&A session to engage directly with the artists. To end the evening, we will eat dinner together with food cooked in the SAVVY kitchen.

Inu Bere will present "Freedom As An Exercise", in which he examines the ongoing struggle for freedom, depicting it as an ongoing, often painful exercise. Starting with a recorded outdoor performance, Inu drags a wooden cage through the city. During the live presentation, Inu interacts with the cage, using ropes and hammers to symbolize tension and struggle. The climax of the performance involves symbolic destruction, conveying a message about sacrifice, unity, and resistance. Through a mix of traditional music from East Timor and imagery, Inu’s performance draws attention to the universal human quest for freedom and the complexities it entails.

Otniel Tasman will share another chapter of his performance "HERMAPRODITO (Beyond the Idea of Queerness)" with us. In this piece, Otniel explores the fluidity of identity through the lens of mythology and spirituality. HERMAPRODITO references the figure of the hermaphrodite – a symbol of blended genders and fluid identities. Through his performance, Otniel combines Lengger dance, a traditional dance form from Java, with the harmonic vocal performance by singers from the Sacred Heart Berlin choir, rooted in Christian practice. By merging these two spiritual traditions, Otniel creates a dialogue that celebrates diversity and envisions a new "lengger theology" of inclusion and unity. The performance’s reflective tone will be enhanced by the individual mirrors of the audience, encouraging the audience to engage with the theme of identity fluidity on a personal level. PLEASE BRING A SMALL POCKET MIRROR! 

Inu Bere is the artist name of Sinorino Bere de Jesus, who comes from Aileu, a municipality in the interior of Timor-Leste. He is an emerging contemporary artist who graduated from the University of Vale do Paraíba, in São José dos Campos, São Paulo, Brazil, with a full degree in Visual Arts. Inu works in the field of engraving, painting, installation, sculpture and performance. He began his artistic career in 2012, participating in several national and international exhibitions, in Portugal, Macau, Japan, Brazil and Timor-Leste. Since 2012 he has been an active member of Projeto Montanha, a non-governmental organization, working in the area of art, education and tourism with the intention of training young Timorese people. Today Inu Bere, is the lead person responsible for Projeto Montanha. Inu always seeks to reflect in his works, his origins, culture, but also the new cultures he has acquired over time. His artistic works deal with political, philosophical, religious themes and also deal with culture and identity. He navigates between two worlds, of good and evil, of day and night, of old culture and new culture, of colonization and decolonization, of freedom and non-freedom. In his works, Inu offers intimate reflections of everyday life to the viewer.

Otniel Tasman  is a choreographer and a Lengger (a cross-gender traditional art practitioner belonging to the Banyumas tradition) from the Banyumas region of Central Java, Indonesia. He is committed to voicing gender justice and exploring the wisdom of the Lengger tradition, which has fluid gender values that align with the philosophy and spirituality of life in the Banyumas tradition. In addition to choreographing dance works both with traditional and contemporary approaches, Otniel initiated the Jagad Lengger Festival as a socio-cultural choreographic practice to excavate, nurture and advance the wisdom of the Banyumas Lengger tradition, as well as produce and promote local knowledge that lives and is lived by the Banyumas Lengger community. His book Lengger is my Religion (2021) is one of Otniel's efforts to share the experience of living life as a Lengger and to dialogue with the public about the body, gender, tradition and spirituality.