The continued attack on public space together with the forceful eviction of people from social housing in the name of private capital interests is emblematic for a time marked by the amalgamation of neoliberal market rationality and authoritarian rule.  Democratic struggle against these developments becomes a paradoxical undertaking, political action and the formation of alliances public space and an idea of social justice are a necessary requirement; however, it is exactly their destruction that democratic struggle intends to resist. It is for this reason that Judith Butler (2015) speaks of a “performative theory” of democratic contestation that takes the form of making a claim to a right – the right to a space, the right to a voice – that one does not actually have yet. The Gezi protests on Taksim square in 2013 are still symbolic for such popular struggle for the right to public space. Their brutal eviction by police forces ignited a wave of civil unrest across Turkey demonstrating that the struggle was not simply about the right to a space, but about social welfare and political sovereignty more generally.

About ten years later, a number of people in police uniforms take formation in front of the Gorki theatre in Berlin. They march forward, cutting through an assembled crowd of bystanders and audience, holding up a white sheet, with which they eventually cover the words “Deutsches Historisches Museum” on the building’s walls – as symbolic gesture that removes the public function of the building. A voice, amplified by a megaphone, pervades the space: “You are involved in an illegal demonstration. (…) If you do not follow police orders and continue breaking the law, necessary force will be used against you including the use of riot control means and arrests.” Eviction begins.

With this performance, part of the festival “Gezi – 10 years after”, artist Omer Krieger explores the moment state forces and people meet in the struggle about public space as well as the moment that the privacy of homes is invaded by the political order. In the performance itself, people – it is not quite clear whether they are performers or members of the audience – resist the eviction by using their bodies, pressing against or climbing up on the building. They are met by the uniformed members with forceful arrests, their bodies are being pulled down, pushed to the floor, carried away. The scene becomes chaotic with performance members running through the assembled crowd and actions unfolded at different places at once; the spectators become engaged in the violent experience of an eviction. Over the duration of the performance the uniformed performers change between roles: sometimes they are the ones imposing force – pinning bodies to the floor, pushing them around, arresting; at other times they are the ones being targeted. The nature of the actions also changes: from state-subject relations to moments of intimacy between the performers – even behind uniforms are political subjects. After all, the attack on the public addressed by Krieger’s work is not personal; it is an attack on democracy itself.   

So, how do we resist? Evictions re-enacts: The performance draws on maneuvers and movements from riot police forces that were studied and choreographed. It thereby highlights the training and embodied knowledge upon which an authoritarian regime and eviction, such as the one of Gezi Park, rely. At the same time however, the performance opens a symbolic training ground for collective action. Some of the people becoming involved in the actions might already have experience in protests and use their embodied knowledge: squatting down to delay arrest, running toward those that are targeted, protecting them with their own body weight. The performance thereby also constitutes a “pre-enactment” resistance drawing on such corporal strategies (Marchart 2019). At the end of the day, resistance, too, must be rehearsed.[1]

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“Eviction” by Omer Krieger was performed 26.-27.05.2023 in Berlin as part of the 6. Berliner Herbstsalon “GEZİ – TEN YEARS AFTER“, curated  by Shermin Langhoff, Maxim Gorki Theater. A trailor is available on the artist’s website: https://www.omerkrieger.org/09-22-Eviction-1.

[1] I am grateful to the conversations with Omer Krieger, which have inspired and informed this text, and to my colleagues Sara Gebh and Madlyn Sauer for their feedback. Funded by the European Union (ERC, PREDEF, 101055015). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.