Reproduktion

28.11.2025 | 2 PM
Studio Asrul Sani, Taman Ismail Marzuki

Reproduktion (2025, 111 minutes)
Documentary
Director: Katharina Pethke

Synopsis
How does art deal with femininity? Grandmother, mother and daughter all went to the same art school in a building which triggers a process of reflection about artistic ambitions and society’s impositions.

Trivia/Awards/Nominations:
World premiere | Berlinale Forum in 2025

Following the screening of Katharina Pethke's film Reproduktion, we invite you to join an in-depth conversation with Ikhaputri Widiantini and Ishvara Devati about how art deals with femininity. Intergenerational story of grandmother, mother, and daughter (Pethke herself), all of whom attended the same art school in Hamburg, serves as a starting point to reflect on artistic ambitions and societal pressures.

The layered meanings of the word "reproduction", from artistic practice, to motherhood and medical discourse, became the documentary's playground. Pethke's documentary highlighted the challenges and contradictions experienced by women in the art world. At the same time, it also situates these personal narratives within Hamburg's cultural history, particularly the building where all three women studies. Once known as Geburtsklinik or Frauenklinik Finkenau (the maternity clinic Finkenau) originally designed between 1911-1914 by one of the most prominent (male) architects of 20 century, Fritz Schumacher, the site has since transformed into part of the Kunst- und Mediencampus Hamburg where thousands of upcoming artists and thinkers of the world are welcomed each year at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Hamburg (HFBK, University of The Arts Hamburg).