May 22 (Friday), 8pm | Cabaret Evening with La Bouche and The Velvet Creepers
Two cabarets, La Bouche (Paris) and The Velvet Creepers (Berlin), are taking part in a joint artistic residency at the Institut français Berlin.
Over ten days, the artists develop new forms of contemporary cabaret that blend music, drag, burlesque, performance art, and elements of new circus. This meeting brings together two complementary aesthetics: Berlin’s spectacular, politically engaged scene and Paris’s powerful, music-driven cabaret with a distinct queer voice. The exchange promises fresh creative energy and an experimental Franco-German signature.
Cabaret has always been a space of freedom, a place for satire, dissent, and questioning social norms. By celebrating queer visibility, artistic risk-taking, and the right to speak freely, this project naturally echoes the core values of Academic Freedom Week. Here, artistic freedom and academic freedom meet in a shared space of critical thought and creative expression.
The residency will conclude with a public cabaret performance on May 22nd, 2026, closing Academic Freedom Week with a unique Franco-German co-creation that reimagines cabaret for today and highlights its political and artistic relevance.
Event title: Cabaret Evening
Organizer: Insitut Francais Berlin
Date and time: May 22nd at 8 p.m.
Location: Boris Vian Hall – Institut Francais Berlin, Kurfürstendamm 211, 10719 Berlin
Format: In person
Details: Registration required with 20€ (15€ reduced) entry fee. Spots can be reserved online.