Podiumsdiskussion – Den Weg weiter öffnen? Queere Erinnerungen zwischen Sichtbarkeit und Weitergabe

We like to celebrate those who "open the way". But every path that is opened is also the result of stories, struggles and realities of life that preceded it. Some of these stories have remained visible, others have been marginalized, forgotten or never recorded. Dealing with queer memory therefore means not only looking at losses and gaps, but also at what lives on: experiences, networks, cultural practices and forms of solidarity that are still being passed on today.

This panel discussion invites you to reflect on queer memory as a living process - between visibility and forgetting, between archiving and passing on, between preserving and reinventing. What does it mean today to "open the path further"? Who is included in queer narratives and which voices are still missing? What role do archives, museums, cultural venues and community spaces play in making stories accessible and creating connections between generations? And how can queer memories be passed on without codifying or institutionalizing them?

Instead of seeing memory only as a retrospective, we want to see it as a resource for the present and future: as an opportunity to learn from each other, to make continuities visible and to create new forms of exchange. Because perhaps the challenge today is not only to open up new paths, but also to maintain and continue the connections that have already been made.

Louise Morel, Anguezomo Mba Bikoro, Luan Pertl and Annabelle Georgen will discuss these questions at the interface of memory, culture and commitment.

With simultaneous translation French / German.

As part of the Nights of Ideas 2026 of the Institut français Berlin.

The Nights of Ideas is sponsored by L'Oréal, Dorint Hotels and Orangina.

The participants in the discussion

Louise Morel is a writer. Born in 1990, she has published three books with Hors d'atteinte, including an essay on lesbianism, Comment devenir lesbienne en 10 étapes (2022), which has been translated into several languages, including German under the title Lesbisch werden in 10 Schritten (Ullstein, 2025, transl. Lisa Wegener). She runs writing workshops, accompanies other female authors in their work and writes a newsletter, Le Grain, which is read by more than 7,000 people.

Anguezomo Mba Bikoro (Gabonese-Amazighe) is an interdisciplinary artist and researcher. She combines somatic decolonial practices, herbalism and ancestral healing methods to accompany queer and migrant communities. Her methodology uses sound and forensic art (para-ec(h)ologies) to document colonial crimes, land displacement and climate injustices. http://www. anguezomo-bikoro.com/

Luan P ertl runs the Gay Museum in Berlin together with Dr. Birga Meyer, Luan Pertl is also a Systemic Organizational Consultant* and International Intersex Human Rights Defender. Queer culture of remembrance, especially of trans* inter* and non-binary people, is an important concern for Luan, both professionally and privately. Questions such as how is it told, who tells and what of it may actually be made visible, especially when it comes to topics such as transition, deadnaming and medicalization in biographies.

Annabelle Georgen (moderator) is a journalist who has been based in Berlin for 15 years and specializes in culture, LGBTIQA+ and feminist issues. She regularly collaborates with the queer magazines Siegessäule (in German), 360.ch and Strobo (in French). She regularly moderates Q&As and panel discussions at festivals and cultural events, including the preview of La petite dernière at the Delphi Lux cinema with Nadia Melliti and Hafsia Herzi and the screening of Ich bin Anastasia by Queer Media Society at Klick Kino with Anastasia Biefang and Thomas Landenburger.