Deathfestival Specials
“Specials” are offers at the Death Festival that take place alongside the workshops. Special experiences, consultations, ceremonies. Just see what suits you best!
Ball of Souls // Happy Skulls // Preparing your Death // Molding Feelings // Final Gesture // NADA Ear Acupuncture // Grief Conversations // Audio Journey // Video Interviews // Talking about Sexuality // Talks about Pregnancy Loss // Pop-Up-Praxis
Ball of Souls -
Dance and Temple Ritual in the Space Between
Saturday, January 17th, 10pm
Where the body falls away, grief, loneliness and relief set in. The soul, that incorporeal part of us, is given space. We accompany it on its journey into the realm of dancing renewal. In doing so, we harbour a little mockery for the past, a little humility for the future and a little vitality for the present.
Foto: Mart Production
In three large scenes and musical spaces, you will be admitted to and guided through the ball of souls. Get ready for an inner and outer journey without envy or ego, without ifs and buts, without death and the devil. Enjoy the space in between that is offered to you.
Be at the threshold of death by 10 p.m. at the latest to be led across into the ballroom of pure being. Any kind of clothing is both right and wrong at the same time. Wear it with composure.
The evening is atmospheric and sensual, but not sexual or kinky. If your soul still clings to remnants of sinful behaviour, this is tolerable. Purgatory will take care of that.
Bring a transparent cloth with you. Size and material do not matter. At the threshold of death, you will need it, or you will receive one from us.
The evening builds on your ability to not want and to be whole. There is a strict ban on talking and a limited obligation to touch. You will learn everything else on site.
Exhibition Happy Skulls
The 'HAPPY SKULLS' series always features a skull or skull and crossbones. Starting with the outline of the eye sockets, nose and teeth, motifs are sought in which this pattern can be transferred.
The skull is a popular motif in art and pop culture, appearing as a pirate symbol or a general symbol for danger, poison and death.
In 'HAPPY SKULLS', however, the skull deliberately appears cheerful in an attempt to reduce its frightening connotations.
The wide variety of motifs and variations also symbolise the diversity of life.
Even if death is inevitable, the time before it should be filled with as much joy as possible.
The 'HAPPY SKULLS' appear in natural forms, such as trees, butterflies and apples, or technological forms, including cameras, tape recorders and typewriters.
They also appear in the form of famous buildings, referencing art history through the styles of renowned artists.
Preparing your Death with ‘Instant-Die’: an Experiential Space for Letting Go
with Julia Funk, delta RA’i and Claudia Löwen
Birth preparation is familiar to us. We try to grasp how a newly formed life enters our world. What this birth process means for our bodies as well.
Each of us will die and thus leave our own body behind. But what does it feel like? How are we prepared to say goodbye to our own outer shell?
The ‘Instant-Die’ team offers a protected, tranquil space to sense this “birth-backward journey.” An individual experience, without words, with devotion.
Molding feelings
with Catherine Marten and Maurice Hauser
Life also means goodbye. A loved one dies, a shared path ends. And suddenly there is emptiness, pain, anger, or speechlessness. In such moments, our hands may take over what words cannot express.
Foto: Marie Dzingel
While kneading, you give your feelings a shape – completely free of rules and guidelines. Perhaps a solid lump emerges, a fragile figure, a chaotic form. Everything is allowed. Just knead away!
Kneading changes, just like our feelings. In modeling, a space is created for memory, change, farewell, and everything that cannot be put into words. What you shape can give you support and remind you of something – for now, for later, for the journey ahead.
Final Gesture
with Vanessa Langer
In many cultures, the care given to the body after death is both an intimate and collective gesture, steeped in memory and transmission. Funeral rites are not only about physical preparation: they are a passage ritual.
In the West, these gestures have gradually been reduced to technical and hygienic procedures, reflecting a medicalized relationship to death, stripped of much of their symbolic resonance and emotional depth.
My installation opens a performative space dedicated to washing the body, inviting a sensorial experience: to observe, to take part, to question.
This peformative ritual becomes an invitation to slow down, to come closer, to sense its universal and collective dimension and to weave death back into the continuity of life.
You may experience the ritual with a partner or within an existing group, or choose to receive it or offer it to someone willing to share.
Collective Resting & Reading with NADA
with SAKO
A quiet island within the festival’s flow: this 60-minute special creates a shared space where NADA ear acupuncture, gentle resting, and silent reading weave into one another.
The NADA protocol – up to five small needles in each ear – is a community-rooted practice that has been used since the 1970s, especially in queer contexts, as a tool for regulation, grief processes, and collective care. It opens a calm interval, free from external demands, where body, breath, and nervous system can settle into a shared rhythm.
For the Death Festival, the practice is paired with a small library of texts on death, grief, and mortality. While the needles do their quiet work, a soft field of resonance emerges: each person alone, and still held by community. A space for gentle comfort, reflection, and a moment of rest from the world.
Facilitation:
Sako guides the session, places the needles, and offers a brief introduction to the practice. Afterwards, Sako is available for questions, aftercare, and tool-sharing. Sako works is a licensed acupuncturist and body therapist, and works as well as care artist and facilitator.
One on One Conversations on Topics of Grief
with Jessica Zeckert
A festival on the subject of death and dying can trigger old, current and perhaps impending grief in people.
Jessica Zeckert, a trained grief counsellor, will be on site during the festival and offers support in the form of conversations or body-oriented methods.
Whatever is on the agenda.
Your Time has Come...
with Nana Bardawilia
Take an auditory journey through your body in its final moments.
What exactly happens as the body slowly lets go? Listen to your inner self.
This experience is available throughout the festival and is designed for individuals. The total duration is approximately 10 minutes.
Nana and Nico will accompany you on your journey and will be available afterwards.
What I Still Want to Say - Video Interviews
with Tobias Zwior
Tobias is presenting his project “What I Still Want to Say” at the Deathfest.
Imagine you knew you wouldn’t live to see tomorrow. What would you still want to say? What would you like to share with the guests at your own funeral? What do you wish to leave behind for the world and those around you?
In short but deep interviews, you can answer questions like these in a safe space, and the outcome is a cinematic mini-portrait. You’ll receive the final video to keep and share as you wish.
Talking about Sexuality – a Space for People Experiencing Grief
with Patricia Liebeskind
Information and conversation sessions with Patricia. On site, there will be the opportunity to talk one-on-one about sexuality in times of illness and grief, and to ask questions in a confidential setting.
Bild: Rüdiger Bahr-Liebeskind
Counselling and support offer on the topics of pregnancy loss and stillbirths
with Dr. Andrea Gipperich
Pregnancy loss or termination in any form and the associated grieving processes are highly taboo and intimate topics that are (or have to be) dealt with by those affected, usually in secret and often with little support. This is in stark contrast to the high number of people who go through these experiences.
During the festival, there is the opportunity to talk about what has been experienced and suffered, to clarify open questions and physical or medical details.
Pop-Up Praxis: Memento Mori Ritual
by SAKO & Indira Maria
Please note: The pop-up practice is not directly part of the Death Festival. It takes place in parallel in a room at IKSK and can be booked separately.
Foto: Lars Gödeke
A temporary space for remembrance, release, and manifestation. This intense ritual invites you on a journey into the memory of those who have passed or left, through bodywork and mindful conversation. Using cupping and/or gua sha, we make visible and tangible the inner blockages formed over time by recurring movement patterns. Your body becomes a temporary map revealing your story, tensions, and emotions.
Through dialogue, we access a special quality of this relationship — a feeling, a gesture, or an inner fragment that wishes to live on. From this emerges a symbol carrying and transforming your memory. Indira Maria tattoos this symbol as a small, custom design — with or without ink — onto your skin. The tattoo marks a moment of manifestation, a lasting trace of your intentions, tenderness, and letting go.
The session lasts 180 minutes, costs €365, and includes aftercare as well as a personal recorded meditation to support your process. The pop-up takes place at our praxis space at Holzmarkt, IKSK, alongside the Death Festival — a liminal space of ritual, memory, and artistic care.
If the price is a barrier, please don’t hesitate to contact us — we’re happy to find a solution
Book your ritual
Pop-Up-Praxis: in memoriam by SAKO & Indira
Connect with the artists:
SAKO bodytherapist \ facilitator \ care artist
IG: https://www.instagram.com/sako.sense/
INDIRA tattoo artist \ on the shamanic path \ creatress
IG: https://www.instagram.com/inner_awakenings_