2024 – 2025, 72h Performance at Rathaus Reinickendof Berlin.
Filmdocumentation by Jakob Margit Wirth, Vincent Jondeau and Arnaud Lemonnier.
CONTEXT: The performance Eintrag: Margit took place shortly after the implementation of the new Self-Determination Act (SBGG), which enables Trans* and non-binary individuals to change their gender entry more easily, but was also criticized for its focus on abuse prevention.
TEXT: Eintrag: Margit is a performative engagement with identity, bureaucracy, and the appropriation of institutional spaces. The starting point is Jakob Wirth’s decision to adopt the name Margit, his godmother’s name, as a second first name – a step that also involves changing his gender entry to “diverse.” This seemingly formal bureaucratic act reveals itself as a profound process of self-determination, highlighting the interactions between personal identity and societal order.
The town hall becomes the setting for this negotiation of identity. For Wirth, it is a space of social convergence, where belonging and power structures intersect. During the four-day residency, the building is increasingly appropriated, with the initial distance giving way to a growing familiarity with the spaces, people, and routines. Just as the name gradually becomes part of one’s identity, the town hall becomes a temporary home and space for negotiation.
The resulting film not only documents the bureaucratic process of this change but also its emotional and political dimensions.
The project was realized with support of the Bezirksamt Berlin-Reinickendorf and the Bauhaus Fellowship/Klassik Stiftung Weimar.
Images ©Johannes Rau
Camera Julian Kraemer and Vincent Jondeau.
