Led by writer-in-residence Jennifer Kabat, In the Weeds is a two-part event series launching at Callie’s this fall. Through a workshop and reading, the program investigates the agency of weeds: their ability to create and obscure place, and the lessons they offer on how to survive and build community.

While in residence, Kabat has been researching the migratory patterns of plants, with a focus on Japanese Knotweed (itadori), a pervasive plant that was first brought to Europe in the 1820s. Entering the continent on colonial trade routes, Japanese Knotweed thrived on new territory until it was scrutinized, controlled, and eventually criminalized.

In the Weeds stems from Kabat’s writing practice, which uses formal experiments to envision other worlds beyond the hierarchies of capitalism and colonialism. In Berlin, a city of rich migration history, countless plants from around the world have settled and coexist, often overlooked within the urban setting.

The series turns to plants to rethink how we live and relate to our surroundings, inviting audiences to tune into the interspecific conversations that unfold in the sidewalk cracks and pavement edges of Berlin. With curiosity and close listening, these encounters may offer unexpected perspectives on resilience and collaboration.

Admission to all events in the series is free.

Jennifer Kabat is the author of the twinned memoirs The Eighth Moon and Nightshining published by Milkweed Editions in 2024 and 2025. She received an Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant for her criticism and has been published in BOMB and The Best American Essays. Her writing has also appeared in Granta, Frieze, 4 Columns, Harper’s, McSweeney’s, The Believer, Virginia Quarterly Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, The New York Review, and The White Review. A finalist for the essay prize at Notting Hill Editions, she often collaborates with artists. She’s part of the core faculty in the Design Research MA at the School of Visual Arts. An apprentice herbalist, she lives in rural New York and serves on her volunteer fire department.