International Poetry Festival Berlin at TAK

TAK – Theater Aufbau Kreuzberg

TAK – Theater Aufbau Kreuzberg is one of Berlin's most unusual theatre institutions. It is housed in the Aufbau Haus on Moritzplatz – a former industrial building that now accommodates publishers, workshops, galleries, and the theatre. TAK sees itself as a 'tak Village', a spatial and curatorial ensemble that consistently interweaves stage work, visual arts, and literary formats. The venue is located in the Oranienhof, a sheltered courtyard that is as suitable for intimate performances as it is for open festival days.

International Poetry Festival – A Distinct Voice

While the major Berlin Poetry Festival (organized by Haus für Poesie) uses twelve Berlin venues in May/June and shapes the city's profile as a 'Poetry Capital', the International Poetry Festival at TAK in the first week of July strikes its own note: compact, international, performative. 30 artists from 12 countries will travel to Berlin for the two festival days – with spoken word contributions, hybrid stage formats, sound poetry, and visual works.

Program 2026 – Spoken Word, Visual Art, Performance

The program interweaves three strands: Spoken Word as audible and stage-based poetry, visual art (installation, projection, book art), and live performance, merging both fields into hybrid forms. The curatorial focus is on experimentation, collaborative practice, and the changes that poetry is undergoing in the 21st century due to digital culture, migration movements, and transnational networks. The specific artist list, schedule, and language selection will be published in advance on tak-berlin.org.

30 Artists, 12 Countries

The numerical concentration – 30 acts in two days – is programmatic. The festival avoids the mega-format model and instead focuses on intensive encounters: those who attend both days will have experienced a dense cross-section of contemporary international poetics. The artists' origins span multiple continents and language areas; the festival works with translations, subtitles, and multilingual formats.

Kreuzberg and the State of Berlin

In the German-speaking world, Berlin is considered a city with the densest poetry and spoken word scene – from the BB SLAM championship in March to the Haus für Poesie's Poetry Festival in May/June, and smaller year-round series like 'Lyrik am Mittwoch'. The International Poetry Festival at TAK fits into this network as the internationally oriented, performatively focused format. Its location in Kreuzberg's Aufbau Haus, in the heart of one of the most vibrant districts of the state of Berlin, underscores this positioning.