On Saturday, August 29, 2026, the Kunstverein in Schwerin will present the performance “Fish Stories” at the Petermännchen ferry pier.
DE
On Saturday, August 29, 2026, the Art Association of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Schwerin invites you to the performance *Fish Stories* by Nadja Abt at the Petermännchen Ferry on Pfaffenteich. “Seemannsgarn” (known in English as “Fish Stories”) is a metaphor for tales of real and fictional experiences at sea. Abt takes this narrative form as her starting point and spins it further as “Seefrauen-Garn” (women sailors’ yarn). From a queer-feminist perspective, she engages with the cultural history of seafaring and examines in particular the history of women at sea—and thus also a history in which women in seafaring narratives often remain on land: as those who wait on the shore, while the sea appears as a male domain of action. *Fish Stories* traces this history to the Pfaffenteich and the Petermännchen ferry to Schwerin, charted and rewritten using a flag alphabet composed of the artist’s paintings. The ferry, which is over a hundred years old, was built in 1924 and brought from the Spreewald to Schwerin at the beginning of the GDR era. From the 1960s through the 1980s, two female ferry operators—Irmtraut Fritz and Waltraud Meyer—were at the helm. With so much history—and so many stories—on its steel hull, the ferry itself becomes a storyteller. In the form of an interview, Abt asks the ferry about its biography and its passengers. From handed-down stories, inscribed memories, and speculative fiction, a “seafaring woman’s yarn” is woven, linking the ferry’s history with the stories of its passengers.
The performance will be presented in German. Admission is free.
EN
On Saturday, August 29, 2026, the Kunstverein für Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Schwerin will present the performance *Fish Stories* by Nadja Abt on the *Petermännchen* ferry on the Pfaffenteich. “Fish Stories,” also known as a “sailor’s yarn” (German: Seemannsgarn), is a metaphor for stories of real and fictional experiences at sea. Abt takes this form of storytelling as her starting point and weaves it further into a “women’s sea yarn” (German: Seefrauengarn). From a queer-feminist perspective, she engages with the cultural history of seafaring and explores, in particular, the history of women at sea—and thus also a history in which women have often been left behind on land in seafaring narratives: as those waiting on the shore while the sea is portrayed as a male sphere of activity. *Fish Stories* brings this history to the Pfaffenteich and the *Petermännchen* ferry in Schwerin, signaled and rewritten through an alphabet composed of the artist’s paintings. The ferry, which is more than a century old, was built in 1924 and brought to Schwerin from the Spreewald at the beginning of the GDR era. From the 1960s to the 1980s, two female ferry operators, Irmtraut Fritz and Waltraud Meyer, were at the helm. Carrying so many layers of history and stories on its steel frame, the ferry itself becomes a storyteller. In the form of an interview, Abt asks the ferry about its history and its passengers. Traditional stories, embedded memories, and speculative fictions are woven together into a women’s sea yarn that connects the history of the ferry with the stories of its passengers.
The performance will be in German. Admission is free.
