If the ‘norm’ has been inherently exclusive, is there a possibility that the ‘abnormal’ would be more accommodating? And what role can artists play in the imagination of the abnormal as a method?

A trespasser, marginalized and excluded, does not need to ask for forgiveness for being a ‘Gastarbeiter’, for seeking refuge, for not believing in someone else’s God or for believing in one’s own Gods, for being queer, for advocating for a better future, or, to sum up, for simply being abnormal. This abnormality must not be concerned with undoing, but rather with giving space to a multiplicity of ways of existing and co-existing side-by-side and even intertwined.

Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) invites over 50 artists, scholars, and activists from Berlin and beyond to deliberate on religious, social, class-based, national, sexual, disciplinary, and other forms of trespassing.

Featuring a vast spectrum of artworks, performances, and discussions, this research and exhibition project reflects on the nature of trespassing and questions normativity and the structures that uphold it.

Forgive Us Our Trespasses / Vergib uns unsere Schuld is about queering all that claims normativity. It is about making crooked, about going down the winding paths of life, it is about getting lost and finding oneself again, it is about trespassing as a means of resistance—without asking for forgiveness.