2024 – 2025, 72h Performance at Rathaus Reinickendof Berlin.
Filmdocumentation by Vincent Jondeau and Arnaud Lemonnier – 1st screening on the 13th of March.
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.
Images ©Johannes Rau
