Reclaiming Agency!
Public annual conference of the International Theatre Institute (ITI)
German and English | Admission free | An ITI event in cooperation with euro-scene Leipzig and the Centre of Competence for Theatre (CCT) at Leipzig University.
Far-reaching transformation processes are currently tearing open contrasts - at geographical, social, cultural and identity borders. Tolerance is being displaced by mental and cultural warfare; a rise in propaganda and boycott narratives is weaponising national, cultural and religious identities.
What possibilities for action do performing artists and networks in transcultural places and milieus have to perceive current social conflicts and different positions and to communicate them in a playful way?
‘Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed.’ The constitutional principle of UNESCO from 1945 is essential for the International Theatre Institute, which was founded on the initiative of UNESCO. Together with our guests, we would like to explore ways of continuing to anchor this task in the present and future.
Program
11 am Welcome Reclaiming Agency!
11.15 am Input (English with simultaneous translation)
Sanam Naraghi Anderlini / International Civil Society Action Network
Wolfgang Kaleck / European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights
11.45 am Panel (English with simultaneous translation)
with Sanam Naraghi Anderlini, Wolfgang Kaleck, Zoe Lafferty / The Freedom Theatre (Jenin) and Robert Schuster / KULA Compagnie
2 pm – 3.30 pm Group discussions (English)
with members of KULA Compagnie and The Freedom Theatre (Jenin)
Presentation of the Prize of the German Centre of ITI 2024 to KULA Compagnie followed by a film screening (German and English)
The KULA Compagnie is exemplary of a transnational, multilingual theatre that brings together artistic practice of the most diverse aesthetics and humanitarian commitment. In changing collaborations with artists from different countries, playful and politically controversial laboratory formats are created, often as rewrites of canonical texts from a contemporary perspective.’
(from the jury statement)
4 pm Reclaiming Agency! Summary and outlook
Prof. Patrick Primavesi und Dr. Micha Braun / Centre of Competence for Theatre
4.15 pm Laudatio Barbara Mundel / Artistic Director Münchner Kammerspiele
Presentation of the Prize Yvonne Büdenhölzer / ITI President
Statement Robert Schuster / Artistic Director KULA Compagnie
4.45 pm Film screening
KULA Compagnie: DAS FÜNFTE RAD (2022), ein Film aus dem afghanischen Untergrund, gefilmt mit Telefonen aus dem Verborgenen
Farsi und Deutsch, mit deutschen Untertiteln
Since the withdrawal of the allied troops, the artists of the all-female Simorgh Theatre in Herat have been rushing from hideout to hideout. On their flight, they deal with texts "From the Reading Book for City Dwellers" by Bertolt Brecht and bring into the picture what this perspective makes possible. Robert Schuster and the KULA Compagnie see themselves as transmitters between these women and a European public.
A production of the KULA Compagnie for the Brecht Festival Augsburg in co-production with the Ruhrfestspiele
Main Supporters
euro-scene leipzig is institutionally supported by the City of Leipzig and the Saxon State Ministry for Higher Education, Culture and Tourism. Co-financed by tax revenue on the basis of the budget approved by the Saxon State Parliament.