Off University’s annual gathering returns with the second Off Fest
Every year, members of Off University come together to reflect on the past year, discuss future plans, and hold the General Assembly for the election of a new board. It’s also an opportunity to connect with our allies and colleagues, share our work and learn from each other.
This year, we are excited to invite you to our second Off Festival, which will feature workshops and a panel discussion, artistic performances, a film screening, music&dancing and communal feasting on the weekend of September 20-21, 2025.
We open on the morning of September 20th with an artistic programme curated by renowned artist-academic-curator Seçkin Aydın. In a series of workshops and presentations, we’ll then delve into topics such as community publishing as an alternative to the publish-or-perish model, scholarship for peace, and gender-sensitive, art-inspired methodologies in learning, teaching, and research. The evening programme includes a communal dinner and a panel discussion on Common Struggles, Unequal Terms: Towards Fair Working Conditions for All Scholars followed by a bar and disco with performances by our in-house DJs.
On September 21st, we’ll continue the discussion we started with the panel in a Future Workshop. The weekend will end with the General Assembly to elect Off University’s new board for 2025-2026.
The festival is open to everyone both online and in person. For those joining us in person, we will provide food and drinks. We also aim to provide partly subsidised childcare. If you require childcare, please provide the numbers and ages of your children.
Please fill in the registration form to help us with the planning. In the coming weeks, we will get in touch to confirm your participation and share further logistics of the events with you.
Festival Programme
DAY 1
September 20 – Saturday
11:00 – 11:30
Off Festival Opening – Artistic Programme
Refreshment will be served
12:00 – 13:00
The role of Civil Society in Peacebuilding:
The Critical Peace Network Experience
with Ferda Fahrioğlu
The Critical Peace Network was established in January 2025 by 16 civil society organisations in Turkey that were brought together in 2024 by Off University. It aims to ensure that civil society plays an active role as in the ongoing Kurdish peace process in Turkey. In this workshop, we will discuss this experience and explore the significance of bottom-up peacebuilding processes and the role of civil society in them.
Off Script
A Performance by Menekşe Aydın
In her interactive work Off Script, Menekşe Aydın subverts commonly used proverbs and idiomatic expressions that carry normalized, patriarchal undertones in everyday language. By reversing these phrases, the work challenges gendered language structures and invites the audience to step outside scripted norms and engage with a reimagined form of expression.
13:00 – 14:45
– Lunch –
14:45 – 15:45
Academic Narratives on the Syrian Conflict:
How Can Syrian Studies Contribute to Rebuilding Social Sciences in Syria?
with Mohamad Moustafa Alabsi
The war in Syria has been documented by hundreds of academic books and articles, many of them in languages other than Arabic. This workshop aims to map the diverse clusters within Syrian Conflict Studies, including research centers, publications, websites, initiatives and specialized journals. This mapping will facilitate our discussion on effective strategies for disseminating academic knowledge about the Syrian conflict in Arabic. We will also explore how academic narratives can contribute to the revitalization of critical and interdisciplinary social sciences in Syria.
9/8FIGHT41:
“A 9/8 Fight for All of Us”
with Sema Semih
Our fellow Sema Semih introduces this 2022 award-winning short film by Berlin-based Turkish choreographer Gizem Aksu on which they collaborated. It explores the relationship between Aksu and German Sinti-Roma boxing legend Johann Rukeli Trollmann (1907-1944) which transcends generations and geographies.
Rukeli Trollmann was exposed to many forms of discrimination by the Nazi regime because of “boxing by dancing like Gypsy” and murdered in the Wittenberge Concentration Camp. Inspired by the fight of Rukeli Trollmann, the film traces Aksu’s experience of immigration to Berlin and the fight for justice in Istanbul.
In Istanbul, three other dancers join Rukeli’s dance/fight by sharing the power of dance in their fight for justice: Gizem Nalbant, who experienced urban transformation in the Romani neighborhood Sulukule where she was born and grew up; Banu Açıkdeniz who has been researching feminist body politics; and Sema Semih, who has been part of the Turkish LGBTQI+ movement for many years. As it carries Rukeli’s story to Istanbul’s Romani Neighborhoods of Sulukule and Fikirtepe, the film takes a 9/8 rhythmic look into Istanbul’s recent urban memory through the bodies of dancers.
15:45 – 16:30
– Coffee Break –
16:30 – 18:00
Commoning Knowledge:
Towards Cooperative Review and Peer Production
with Fırat Erdoğmuş
This workshop explores how we can collectively produce and evaluate knowledge through participatory, decentralized and commons-based practices. Through real-world examples — including Off University’s own contributions – we’ll discuss cooperative review, peer production and the infrastructures needed to sustain shared knowledge-making.
Drag As A liberating teaching methodology
with Olivia
This workshop explores drag as a liberating and transformative teaching methodology; how performance and play can create inclusive, critical, and joyful learning environments.
18:00 – 19:00
– Open Dinner –
19:00 – 20:30
Panel Discussion
Common Struggles, Unequal Terms: Towards Fair Working Conditions for All Scholars
International at-risk academics working in German academia, representatives for mid-level academic staff and organisations campaigning for better working conditions will critically discuss the latest developments for US academia and what they mean for existing challenges such as precariousness, abuse of power and the state of academic freedom.
21:00 –
Bar and Disco
with DJ Sema and Babykilla
DAY 2
September 21 – Sunday
10:30 – 14:00
How to build more solidarity among all knowledge workers
with Anna Paßlick
To follow up on our panel discussion “Common Struggles, Unequal Terms: Towards Fair Working Conditions for All Scholars”, we are inviting organisations, anti-harassment initiatives, and exiled academics from various countries for a three-hour brainstorming session on Sunday morning.
Participation limited to 30.
Refreshment will be served
15:00 – 16:30
Off University Organisation für den Frieden e.V. General Assembly 2025
The Critical Peace Network was established in January 2025 by 16 civil society organisations in Turkey that were brought together in 2024 by Off University. It aims to ensure that civil society plays an active role as in the ongoing Kurdish peace process in Turkey. In this workshop, we will discuss this experience and explore the significance of bottom-up peacebuilding processes and the role of civil society in them.
16:30 – 17:00
– Refreshments –
