In 2020, the Berlinische Galerie hosted the self-organized collective Mpower. Every Friday afternoon, girls 12 years and older met to collaboratively design and produce films. Mpower is a project that fosters educational and job opportunities for girls and young women with a refugee and migration background and creates a participatory space where networks can develop. Inspired by the collections and exhibitions at the Berlinische Galerie and supported by artistis and art educators, they learned and tested different filming techniques. The meetings see themselves as a space for action in solidarity. Participants discuss different topics from the fields of art and media and explore the potential of museums as places of social cohesion and forums for questions of identity, images of women, and political education. The program is open for girls with or without basic knowledge of film.

Due to measures to curb the Covid pandemic, the Berlinische Galerie had to close after the first productive meetings of the open film meetings starting mid-March; the film meetings were able to continue in a smaller-group format only in late summer. Given these unanticipated restrictions, the collective’s stay at the Berlinische Galerie was extended into 2021.

Concept and direction: Beate Gorges (art educator), Barbara Weidner (certified remedial teacher)

Concept and direction: Mervete Bobaj (Mpower), Nossa Schäfer (Mpower), and Barbara Antal (Atelier Bunter Jakob)