EINE SKULPTUR FÜR HELENE WEIGEL

The Friends of the Berliner Ensemble would like to honor Helene Weigel (1900-1971) with a newly created work of art to mark the 125th birthday of the actress and founding director of the Berliner Ensemble. The sculpture will be installed in the courtyard of the Berliner Ensemble this fall as part of the Helene Weigel Year 2025. Your donation will support the realization and production of the sculpture and thus contribute to making Helene Weigel permanently visible.

The sculpture honoring Helene Weigel is being created in cooperation with the class of renowned visual artist and professor of sculpture Monica Bonvicini at the Berlin University of the Arts. During their studies in the winter semester of 2024/25, the class intensively explored Helene Weigel's legacy as a trailblazer and pioneer of German theater. The goal is to symbolize Weigel's strength and artistic vision through the interplay of form, light, and materials in an abstract work of art. The main component of the sculpture will be a director's chair designed by Helene Weigel herself. In their work, the students focus on creating a work that inspires public interaction and reflection. We invite you to become part of this tribute with your donation.

For many years, the Friends of the Berliner Ensemble have been committed to honoring Helene Weigel's outstanding achievements as artistic director of the Berliner Ensemble, which she founded together with Bertolt Brecht, and also to highlighting her importance as an actress. Since the 2021/22 season, the association has been awarding the "Helene Weigel Theater Prize," endowed with 5,000 euros, which recognizes exceptional artistic achievements at the Berliner Ensemble. After naming the Berliner Ensemble's inner courtyard the Helene Weigel Courtyard at the beginning of the year, the Friends of the Berliner Ensemble are once again committed to permanently enhancing Helene Weigel's presence on Schiffbauerdamm with this sculpture. The newly created work of art is intended to reinforce Weigel's importance to the Berliner Ensemble and her presence at the theater, which she successfully led for so long.

Helene Weigel was artistic director of the Berliner Ensemble from 1954 to 1971. She founded the ensemble with Bertolt Brecht in 1949 and moved into the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in 1954. She was one of the most remarkable and influential actresses of her generation, playing, among other roles, the title role in Brecht's "Mother Courage and Her Children" over 500 times.

The Friends of the Berliner Ensemble e.V. have supported the theater's artistic work since the beginning of the 2017/18 season. Further information can be found at berliner-ensemble.de/freunde