News

03
Nov
2025

Elshan Ghasimi RECORDING SESSION – Morphine Raum in Berlin

Berlin, 3. November 2025

Dear readers, 

In our work, we are interested in the field of tension between tradition and the present, between archives and living artistic practice. Elshan Ghasimi opens this space not theoretically, but musically – in the very moment of creation. With this recording session, a public document of her work comes into being: concentrated, unedited, grounded in the present. 

Recording Session with Elshan Ghasimi
8 November 2025, Morphine Raum, Berlin
Doors 20:00 · Start 20:30 

One evening, one room, one voice, one instrument – and a virtuosa. 

Elshan Ghasimi is a tar and setar player, composer, and singer, and one of the very few master musicians of classical Persian music worldwide. For years, she has explored the boundaries between the ancient Persian musical heritage and the present: between Radif, jazz, electronic, and contemporary music. 

In this Recording Session, she opens with her current work, including songs from the cycle Tasneef, miniatures, new compositions, and free improvisation. Music emerges here in the moment: between archive and future, memory and presence. 

The Morphine Raum is the ideal setting: a studio, stage, and acoustic laboratory all in one. A place of concentrated encounter, equipped with hand-crafted sculptural loudspeakers – created for precise listening and direct exchange. 

A shared act of listening and recording – a sonic condensation of nine years of artistic work. 

 

Tickets
A limited number of tickets is still available here: https://www.eventbrite.de/e/elshan-ghasimi-recording-session-tickets-1527444671129

 

Further Concerts
More performances in Munich, Esslingen, Hamburg and Berlin can be found here:
https://elshanghasimi.com/konzerte/ 

 

About the Venue
The Morphine Raum has been described as a “scene institution of international musical entanglements.” Field Notes Berlin offers an insight into the history and practice of this space: 

Read the article:
https://field-notes.berlin/magazin/morphine-raum 

 

We look forward to seeing you there.
JMH Schindele 

Elshan Ghasimi with lowered gaze, the shadow of leaves on her face, photo Arnaud Ele

© Photo Arnauld Ele

Posted by Joseph in News
14
Oct
2025

“Where on earth is this Athens?”

Circular 9/25: two musicians in front of an ancient marble sculpture in a museum rotunda

“Where on earth is this Athens?”
“Far, far to the west. There, where Helios,
lord of us all, lets the sun sink.”

— Aeschylus, The Persians.

Berlin, 14 October 2025

Dear friends,

As you know, for nearly fifteen years, Bublitz has been dedicated to celebrating high cultures as the essence of the human spirit. In doing so, we do not discriminate, so long as it is high culture.

Since their very beginnings, Persian and European cultures have been closely intertwined, sharing many origins. With Herodotus’ Histories, historiography first separated itself from mythology and laid the foundation for historical analysis. They recount the rise of Persia to a hegemonic empire under the Achaemenid dynasty. Around forty years earlier, in 472 BC, the tragedian Aeschylus wrote The Persians—the oldest surviving play in human history.

One of the many forgotten yet so formative coincidences of European high culture is precisely this millennia-old connection between Europe – or rather Greece – and the Persian cultural sphere. At the end of last year, the opportunity arose – beyond even Zack Snyder’s 300 – to honour this relationship in the Antiquities Collection in Munich, while at the same time indulging the Romantic longing for the revival of the deities.

In an act of performative as well as conceptual remembrance, the târ virtuoso Elshan Ghasimi revives the ancient interweaving of two cultural worlds. Pallas Athena, goddess of wisdom, becomes the patroness of her reinterpretation of the Radif – the repertoire of classical Persian music. The Barbarini Faun and the archaic kouroi enter into a poetic dialogue with the Persian epic Shahnameh and the trumpet of Philipp Püschel – further departures in a history spanning at least 2,500 years.

How else could we summon the gods, if not through music, contemplation and concentration?

On this occasion, we would like to draw your attention to the anniversary concert on 8 November at Morphine Raum. In this setting, a live recording will be created together with the audience – a resonant distillate of nine years of artistic work.

We wish you great enjoyment – and let us not forget, after Romain Rolland:
Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.

Yours,
JMH Schindele

The Reinterpretation of the Radif at the Glyptothek Munich | Elshan Ghasimi

SHAHNAMEH at the Glyptothek Munich | Elshan Ghasimi & Philipp Püschel

Elshan Ghasimi in Conversation

© all media Georg Stirnweiß and Elshan Ghasimi

Supported by:

Logo “Concerto21”
Posted by Joseph in News
08
Sep
2025

Elshan Ghasimi – „Tasneef“ · Fr 12.9. · 18:00 · Tieranatomisches Theater

Elshan Ghasimi in a red robe playing the tar in a white circular gallery of the Tieranatomisches Theater

© rtr mediaproduction

Dear Enthusiasts, 

On Friday, 12 September 2025, Elshan Ghasimi will perform the fourth and, for now, final concert of her cycle “Tasneef” at the Tieranatomisches Theater (Campus Nord, Philippstraße 13, House 3, 10115 Berlin). 

Start: 6:00 pm

Arriving a bit earlier also allows a look at the small permanent exhibition and the exemplary neoclassical architecture of the venue. 

Admission is free.

All of Elshan Ghasimi's concerts

 

Supported by:

Logo of the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion
Posted by Joseph in News
30
Aug
2025

Screening & Finissage · Tasneef-Final · Morphine-Raum

Dear Festive Community,

Summer seemed to vanish before it even arrived – and now the rich array of autumn festivities is already upon us.

I am delighted to announce that Elshan Ghasimi’s long-awaited “final” Tasneef concert has at last secured one of Berlin’s most beautiful venues: the Tieranatomisches Theater (Charité Campus, Berlin-Mitte). Join us on 12 September 2025 at 6:00 pm – and feel free to come a bit earlier to admire the building’s extraordinary architecture and its small permanent exhibition.

Admission is free.

Poster “Tasneef – Elshan Ghasimi” 2025 with the musician and tar in front of a brick wall, red lettering

©Madeleine Brunnmeier_Image ©Morgan Morgan_Design

Morphine Raum · “Recording Session” with Elshan Ghasimi - 8 November

We’re excited to share an early highlight: at 8:00 pm on 8 November, Elshan Ghasimi will perform at Morphine Raum. Operated by Morphine Records, this unique venue is studio, stage, and sound laboratory in one – intimate, pared down to the essentials, and fitted with hand-crafted sculptural loudspeakers.

Founded at the very start of the pandemic, Morphine Raum has grown into a vital hub for international music – a retreat for collaboration, recording, and genre-defying experiments.

In this special setting, a live recording will be created together with the audience – a sonic distillation of nine years of artistic work.

Sergey Bratkov, Endless War, 2007, video still: two green steel helmets on concrete in front of a wall

Sergey Bratkov, Endless War, 2007, Video, 2,30min

Screening & Finissage · At the Threshold: Exile

On 3 September, we invite you to the Kommunale Galerie Berlin for a screening featuring works by Sergey Bratkov (Infinite War, Exile), Ula Golub (Arche Noah), Jalal Maghout (Have a Nice Dog!), Aline Kleytman (Place to See Before You Die), Oksana Kazmina (Yellow Dress), and Oksana Chepelyk (Chronicles of War).

The screening is part of the exhibition At the Threshold: Exile, curated by Eleonora Frolov. Six artistic voices from Ukraine and Syria do not merely document war and exile – they transform these realities into poetic, visual, and narrative forms. The result is a panorama of isolation, flight, fragmentation – and the deep longing to arrive.

The screening begins at 5:00 pm and will be followed by a Q&A with the artists.

On Sunday, 7 September, from 3:00 to 6:00 pm, the exhibition concludes with a finissage and a curator’s tour led by Eleonora Frolov.

We look forward to welcoming you at one or more of these events.

With warm regards,
Julian Malte H. Schindele

Supported by:

Logo of the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion
Posted by Joseph in News
10
Jun
2025

Exhibition Opening Tomorrow | Elshan Ghasimi live (June 14 & 20, Berlin)

Dear friends,

June brings a dense sequence of remarkable encounters – musical, artistic, and intellectual. Two concerts by Elshan Ghasimi invite us into very different spaces: a hidden summer garden in the heart of Neukölln, and the cool vastness of KulturKirche Nikodemus. And already tomorrow evening: a reminder of the exhibition opening At the Threshold : Exile at Kommunale Galerie Charlottenburg.

We’re looking forward to seeing you there.

I. Two Berlin Concerts by Elshan Ghasimi

June 14, 2025, 8:00 PM
Gärtnerhaus
Richardstraße 34, 12043 Berlin-Neukölln
With percussionist Joss Turnbull
Followed by a garden gathering
→ Reservations via Carlo: +49 173 84 17 451 (donation-based)

Poster “Tasneef – Elshan Ghasimi” 2025 with the musician and tar in front of a brick wall, red lettering

©Madeleine Brunnmeier_Bild ©Morgan_Gestaltung

June 20, 2025, 7:00 PM
KulturKirche Nikodemus
Nansenstraße 12, 12047 Berlin

The fourth and final evening of the series
TASNEEF – Old Songs, New Life

The Persian musical tradition is steeped in history and intimately intertwined with poetry, philosophy, and collective memory. Tasneef (lit. “song”) refers to a genre within classical Persian art music – neither popular (Taraneh) nor political (Soroud), but a contemplative dialogue between verse and sound.
Elshan Ghasimi brings this form into the present: blending traditional modes with elements of pop and folk music, she gives them a contemporary voice.

→ All upcoming concerts: elshanghasimi.com

 

II. Reminder: TOMORROW EVENING – Exhibition Opening

At the Threshold : Exile

Exhibition: June 12 – September 7, 2025
Opening: Wednesday, June 11, 2025, 6:00 PM
Kommunale Galerie Berlin
Hohenzollerndamm 176, 10713 Berlin

Curated by Eleonora Frolov
With works by Sergey Bratkov, Ben Greber, and Atalya Laufer
→ Exhibition Info

 

Warm regards,
Julian Malte Hatem Schindele

Workshop wird gefördert von:

Logo of the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion
Posted by Joseph in News
28
May
2025

“An der Schwelle: Exil” Invitation to the exhibition opening

Sergey Bratkov, LOST, 2022: a dark, blurred black-and-white image

© Sergey Bratkov, LOST, 2022

Dear Readers and Friends of the Arts,

We warmly invite you to the opening of the exhibition At the Threshold: Exile on Wednesday, 11 June 2025, at 6 PM at Kommunale Galerie Berlin.

Curated by Eleonora Frolov, the exhibition explores the existential condition of exile as a radical rupture and a forced new beginning. It sheds light on the state of being in-between – between loss and renewal, past and an uncertain future.

The exhibition features works by Sergey Bratkov, Ben Greber, and Atalya Laufer, who engage with themes of flight and foreignness, inner fragmentation, loss of identity, transgenerational trauma, and artistic practice in this transitional state. In each work, the threshold emerges as a central motif – a site of remembrance, reflection, and transmission to the next generation.

Sergey Bratkov and Ben Greber – whose works were previously presented in the Bublitz exhibition NEW MEMORIES – El Arbi Bouqdib Archive – explore historical and personal traces and causes of exile in their contributions to this show.

At the opening on 11 June at 6 PM, you will be welcomed by Heike Schmitt-Schmelz, District Councillor for Education, Culture and Social Affairs, and Norbert Wiesneth of Kommunale Galerie Berlin. Curator Eleonora Frolov will provide an introduction to the exhibition. Read more: click here

Invitation: download
Press release: download

Atalya Laufer, EXODUS (detail), 2024: handwritten text on pale fabric

© Atalya Laufer, EXODUS (Detail) 2024

As part of the accompanying programme, we invite you to a guided exhibition tour with the curator and participating artists on 2 July at 5:30 PM.

On 3 September at 5:00 PM, we will present the films Infinite War and EXILE, which offer further perspectives on states of transition and threshold experiences.

A special highlight is the two-week summer workshop Create Your City of the Future!, taking place from 28 July to 8 August 2025, for children and young people aged 10 to 14. In cooperation with Bublitz and under the artistic direction of Grigori Dor and Eleonora Frolov, participants will develop their own visions of a liveable, community-oriented, and environmentally friendly future city.

The project begins with visits to Futurium and the exhibition At the Threshold: Exile, where participants will engage with questions of arrival and adaptation in new environments. They will then translate their ideas into artistic works – using colour, form, and imagination. The results will be presented on 8 August 2025, in a final exhibition at the Atelier of Kommunale Galerie Berlin.

Register via: junges-engagement@tjfbg.de
More information: https://www.kommunalegalerie-berlin.de/atelier/sommerferienworkshop
Workshop partners: Kommunale Galerie Berlin, Junges Engagement, Bublitz, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung / Programm Kultur macht stark – Bündnisse für Bildung des BBK Bundesverbands Wir können Kunst

We look forward to welcoming you, to your participation – and to a shared exchange at the threshold.

Warm regards,
Eleonora Frolov & Julian Malte Hatem Schindele

Future City, AI-generated by Arne Ahlert: a colourful collage with high-rises, airships and a large sun

© Stadt der Zukunft KI generiert bei Arne Ahlert/ Future City AI generated by Arne Ahlert

Workshop supported by:

Logo of the Kommunale Galerie Berlin
Bublitz logo with emblem and lettering
Logos of the funders: BBK “Wir können Kunst”, “Kultur macht stark” and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Logo “Junges Engagement – Freiwilligenagentur Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf”
Posted by Joseph in News