"You Should Be Girlfriends"
Reading and Music in the Garden

With Christiane Rösinger (author, musician, and theatre director), moderated by Sonja Eismann (editor, Missy Magazine)

Ever since her indie hit ‘Liebe wird oft überbewertet’ (Love Is Often Overrated), it has been clear that the underground icon Christiane Rösinger, who hails from the Black Forest and has lived in Kreuzberg for decades, is both the sharpest and wittiest critic of the ‘romantic two-person relationship’. Rösinger has not only dedicated a non-fiction book to ‘couple critique’, i.e., questioning the glorification of the ‘romantic relationship’, which has coagulated into an ideology and is supposed to make everyone happy come hell or high water, but also a large part of her legendary, witty, and melodic songwriting with titles such as ‘Die Pärchenlüge’ (The Couple Lie) or ‘Mein zukünftiger Ex-Freund’ (My Future Ex-Boyfriend). The best antidote according to the co-founder of the band Lassie Singers? A feminist self-confidence that does not dwell on conforming to oppressive norms of femininity, but instead seeks the fun in the collective and in being alone (and perhaps in being with the big black dog that she so fervently wishes for in ‘Iowa’, her latest work together with Stefanie Sargnagel). Like Hanna Bekker vom Rath, Rösinger knew early on that a woman’s salvation cannot lie in subordinating her life to a classic couple relationship. Early songs such as ‘Freundinnen müsste man sein’ (You Should Be Girlfriends) show what Rösinger has made increasingly clear in recent years with her work as a theatre director: Feminist and class-struggle alliances are what keep us alive – and above all bring us joy into old age. Because: ‘Once the boyfriend is on the sofa, no car or moped will help’.

Christiane Rösinger (she/her) is a Berlin-based musician, songwriter, author, and theatre director. With her band Lassie Singers, she anticipated the boom in German-language indie music in the late 1980s, and with her musical follow-up projects Britta and her solo career, she has continued to take a humorous and melancholy-critical look at everyday phenomena, sexism, and class society. In recent years, she has also enjoyed success as a writer and theatre director with plays such as Planet Egalia and Die große Klassenrevue.

This event is part of the series FEMINIST PERSPECTIVES, an intersectional, discursive accompanying programme curated by Sonja Eismann (editor of Missy Magazine) and Josephine Papke (author and journalist).

This event takes place as part of the programme of the Museum Sunday. Pre-registration is not required. Participation is free of charge.