The “Solidarity in the Migration Society” conference will kick off on October 9, 2023, at 6:30 p.m. with an opening speech on “Democracy beyond the Demos” by Professor Wendy Brown from Princeton University (US). The event will take place in lecture hall A151 of Technische Universität Berlin’s Institute of Architecture at Straße des 17. Juni 152, 10623 Berlin. It will be followed on October 10 and 11, 2023, by further panels with inputs, discussions, and roundtables at the German Architectural Center (DAZ) in Berlin-Mitte. The conference will be held in German and English.

Participants from academia, healthcare, and various areas of civil society will discuss the practical and infrastructural negotiations needed for solidarity, its potential to create lasting change, and the obstacles facing its realization. In what ways do collective practices of solidarity and forms of coexistence oriented toward the common good strengthen democracy from below? And what connections exist between practices of solidarity on the local level, the dynamics of society as a whole, and the global interconnections of logistics and human mobility?

These questions and many more will be addressed by the accompanying exhibition titled “Spaces of Solidarity,” which will open at the DAZ on October 5, 2023, and run until January 21, 2024. The “Spaces of Solidarity” exhibition will use videos, maps, and buildings throughout Berlin to explore the relationship between coexistence and solidarity in the context of growing social inequalities. It brings together Berlin-based projects and initiatives in housing, health, and work to show what kind of futures of solidarity are possible. The “Kiosk of Solidarity” will form the core of the exhibition. This structure was designed as a mobile and temporary urban intervention to showcase the aforementioned initiatives and projects in different neighborhoods around the city in the summer of 2023.