The second Night Shifts event invites us to Hamburg's City Nord, a district conceived in the 1970s as one of Europe's most ambitious post-war projects. Despite its central location, this 'model city of modernity' remained isolated, disconnected from the city's infrastructure. After working hours, its streets turn deserted, gloomy, and unwelcoming. City Nord embodies the tension between a failed utopia, a strange nostalgia, and ongoing transformation. While many listed buildings still stand empty, recent developments, such as the relocation of the police academy and the construction of a new subway line, suggest the neighborhood is turning toward a new future.
On March 27, 2026, at 8 p.m., participants will gather at the Überseering bus stop after nightfall. There, the Nachtwächterinnen (night watchwomen) will welcome the audience and guide them to the evening’s first location.
The evening begins in front of the Hamburg Police Recruitment Office, where author Lisa-Viktoria Niederberger leads a reading and walk through the shadowy streets of City Nord. In her essayistic book Dunkelheit. Ein Plädoyer. (Haymon, 2025), Niederberger explores what it might mean to reclaim darkness in our lives. Her writing intertwines themes of power, concealed class differences, and patriarchal systems with issues such as nature conservation, workplace safety, the starry sky as cultural heritage, and feminist and political perspectives. Guided by Niederberger’s words, we journey together through the enigmatic urban canyons of City Nord.
Themes of power, control, and their loss are also central to Liina Magnea’s performance Ssassin's Creed (Lady says Stop). This work delves into the shadows of human behavior that emerge when stable authority structures begin to falter. Magnea’s dance shifts between displays of power, violence, and victimhood, evoking fear, empathy, and vicarious discomfort. Driven by the concept of an immaterial Gesamtkunstwerk, she weaves together music, movement, cinematic dramaturgy, and internet scrolling, creating a metamorphic portrayal of the human abyss.
Meeting point: 8 pm at Überseering bus stop
Reading/Walk: 8:30 pm at Einstellungsstelle der Polizei Hamburg, 60 min.
Performance: 9:30 pm at Tanzschule “die 2”; 30 min.
