The gentrification of Berlin is ploughing through with a seemingly unstoppable force, with tenants being evicted on a weekly basis, to make space for opportunistic renovations of flats as well as commercial spaces, being offered to speculative ”market prices” augmented by their very own self-reinforcing mechanisms.

Wem gehört Lauratibor is an ongoing one-of-a-kind protest using high strung musical drama and art in public space to publicly engage against the selling out of our common spaces and our cities. Threatened projects and inhabitants in Berlin’s Reichenbergerkiez joined forces late 2019 to create an emotional outlet based on the drama of real life evictions looming over their heads since several years. The opera premiered in its final form as a three hour long demonstration along Reichenbergerstraße in Berlin-Kreuzberg in June 2021 followed by a performance in front of the legendary Künstlerhaus Bethanien. Due to the global and persistant nature of gentrifying processes it was also invited to perform twice during the prestigeous Copenhagen Opera Festival in August the same year, and set up again in Berlin during 2022.

Wem gehört Lauratibor is not only motivated by a wish to collect the neighbourhood against a strictly profit driven agenda, but also an urgent need to create an emotional outlet channel for everyone stricken, on any level. More than 100 professionals and amateurs form the core ensemble covering all positions: two choirs, a 17-piece orchestra, scenography, costume, text and musical composition and dramaturgy, and about twenty soloists. The music was composed especially for the street, ranging from an agitprop driven tradition to a more traditional Italian opera tone - eclectic by nature, as a result from intense and direct work with each of the stricken groups and initiatives, who all tell their particular story at the actual locations subjected to eviction.

The project is grass roots driven by professionals and amateurs side by side. It is not tied to any opera or theatre house, but had background support of city and state driven funding institutions. It has iinspired rows of similar initiatives across the globe and continues to be invited for festivals and events.