Technoescapists – Flucht und Selbstfindung in virtuellen Räumen

In the organizer's words:

What does it mean to be online? When do digital spaces connect us, and when do they make us lonely?

In the reading "Technoescapists - Escape and self-discovery in virtual spaces", artists Alice Muitoevoli Rugai, Anna Frehiwot Maconi, Elena Agebo, Nancy Ehrlich, Hannes Zawodnik and Jaymie Wei explore virtual worlds. They read texts about digital identities, self-presentation, escape and projection, images of violence, intimacy and isolation.
Virtual spaces can be places of protection. But they can also create pressure and distort our perception of reality. The reading shows these contrasts and asks: How do screens influence our thoughts, feelings and actions?

The event invites the audience to listen, reflect and enter into conversation. It is about personal experiences, political questions and creative perspectives on our digital present.

Nancy Ehrlich studied Fine Arts at the Berlin University of the Arts and graduated as a master student in the class of Burkhard Held. Her artistic work encompasses the media of sculpture, painting and text. Among other things, she publishes in literary magazines and is co-organizer of queergelesen.berlin and the feedback stage Text & Brot. She is currently working on her debut novel, which is set in a children's home and deals with structural classism in the field of care work.

Hannes Zawodnik studied German and Scandinavian literature in Bonn and Bergen and has been studying literary writing in Hildesheim since 2025. He was awarded the WORTMELDUNGEN Prize 2025 for his prose text "ama ama das wort fällt um" and is part of Open Poems 2026 at the Haus für Poesie under the direction of Daniela Seel.

Elena Agebo, born in Cologne in 1997, studied Applied Literature and Cultural Studies in Dortmund. She writes poetry and prose and explores identity, alienation and language in her work. In 2023, she was awarded the Dortmund LesArt Prize for Young Literature. Her texts have appeared in the magazine BRACHE, among others.

Born and raised in Tuscany. Alice Muitoevoli Rugai has a degree in foreign languages and literature from the University of Pisa, a master's degree in theater studies from the FU and a degree in scenic writing from the UdK in Berlin. Alice writes in Italian, German and English. Theater texts are represented by S.Fischer Theater Verlag.

Anna Frehiwot Maconi is a Berlin-based researcher and writer. Her work deals with concepts of diasporic identities, the influence of nation states and the role of mobility in memory, historical narratives and urban governance.

Jaymie Wei is a student teacher from the USA. She has lived in Berlin for three years and completed a semester abroad in Taiwan this year.
She is interested in prose poetry and essay writing. Her work is inspired by her everyday life and her ever-changing environment.