“Lasst sie nach Berlin kommen,” said JFK in June 1963, during his famous speech. Let them also come to Berlin on 29th May 2019, to the Roter Salon of the Volksbühne, Berlin, between 8 and 10pm, where they can take part in:

Join us to probe and pierce surfaces of sea, skin and scholarship, as our contestants make the case for the best monstrous double. In the corner of history-making events, we have The Vampire. Lurking unseen, but no less potent for the obfuscation, there’s The Shark. Each comes with a particular history, imagery and cultural field. And each offers its own distorted, disappearing reflection of how we might be human. It’s a show-down between the cartilaginous and the canine-toothed. Who will win?

In the blood-red corner we have: psychotherapist and literary scholar Professor Laurence A. Rickels, devoted delver into the crypts of history, film and culture. His books include: The Case of California (1991), The Vampire Lectures (1999), Germany. A Science Fiction (2015), and other works on figures including Philip K. Dick and Bond, James Bond. More about him at his website.

Cruising shark-like through the oceans of language and imagery that surround us, there is interdisciplinary artist Nina Katchadourian. She’s exhibited worldwide, with ‘Twitchers and Cheaters’ currently showing at the Aspen Art Museum. ‘Accent Elimnation’ was included in the Armenian pavilion of the 2015 Venice Biennale, and ‘Curiouser’, a survey exhibition, opened in 2017 at the Blanton Musuem, Austin, TX, with an accompanying monograph. See Nina’s website, and her gallery’s.

Tom McCarthy is a novelist whose books include Satin Island (2015), C (2010), and the essay collection Typewriters, Bombs, Jellyfish (2017). Director Omer Fast made a film adaptation of his Remainder in 2016, and in 2013 he was a recipient of the inaugural Windham Campbell prize for fiction.

Melissa McCarthy’s new book, Sharks, Death, Surfers: An Illustrated Companion (2019), is published by Sternberg Press.

Keeping order in the ring we have philosopher and theorist Armen Avanessian, bringing his toolkit of speculative poetics and special prizes.

See here for info and tickets.