Every Artist Must Take Sides – Resonances of Eslanda and Paul Robeson
Finissage
1/25/2026, 11 AM – 7 PM

12 pm
Listening Session with Kirsten Reese in conversation with Marcus Gammel

On the sound collage with archival material by Kirsten Reese, There Has Been A World Where There Is No Difference On The Ground of Colour, That’s Right, 2025

You are invited to a collective listening session of the one-hour sound collage by Berlin-based composer and sound artist Kirsten Reese, a member of the Music Section of the Akademie der Künste, followed by a conversation addressing the questions raised by the work concerning the reception of Paul and Eslanda Robeson in the GDR, as well as the documentary–artistic form of the sound collage.

The sound collage examines the Robesons’ activities in the context of the GDR and their relationship with the Akademie der Künste (East), situated within the interplay of utopia and ideology. At its centre are the voices of Paul and Eslanda Robeson, alongside those of other contemporaries, drawn from speeches, moderations, taped letters and radio broadcasts. We hear Robeson across the years: at times warm and empathetic, at others combative, angry and tender, powerful or fractured. The sonic artefacts of the recording media themselves are also given an autonomous artistic presence. Through the aesthetic juxtaposition of archival material, Reese traces connections and contradictions within these sonic testimonies and explores how they can be opened up and reactivated for contemporary understanding.

2 pm
Curator‘s tour with Lina Brion and Anujah Fernando

4 pm
Listening Session with MALONDA in conversation with Vincent Bababoutilabo

Paul Robeson popularised Black American folk songs and spirituals such as ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ and ‘Water Boy’ in the 1920s, bringing them to mixed audiences on large stages for the first time. Until the 1960s, his repertoire also included workers' and folk songs from around the world, which he could sing in up to twenty languages. In East Germany, his music remained part of many record collections for a long time, while in West Germany he was quickly forgotten.

As musicians and activists, MALONDA and Vincent Bababoutilabo encounter Paul Robeson's musical practice, which he himself always understood as political practice. Listening together and in conversation, they explore Robeson's songs and their resonance – both in music history and in terms of the activist potential of music today – while also reflecting on Robeson's role in Black history in Germany.