Annemie Vanackere is head of HAU Hebbel am Ufer. Photo: Dorothea Tuch
#FUTURIUMFORUM: DIGITAL TALK SERIES: 6 May, 20:15
DEAR ANNEMIE VANACKERE, WHERE IS THE APPLAUSE?
#FuturiumForum: One state of emergency and back? This is the title of a new series of talks by Futurium. Guest this time is the curator and theatre director Annemie Vanackere. On Wednesday, 6 May, from 20:15, the discussion will be available here.
Annemie Vanackere is head of HAU Hebbel am Ufer. Photo: Dorothea Tuch
ABOUT THE TALK SERIES
How does the view of the future change in a state of emergency? The corona pandemic and the way we deal with it shake up many things that otherwise seemed self-evident to us. The digitizability of life, recognition for everyday heroes and the social significance of culture, sport and nightlife - all this and much more is being put to the test. Where do social imbalances reveal themselves? Which foundations of everyday life are indispensable? What is really important to us when it really matters? And what consequences will people draw in the future? We want to discuss these questions in 30-minute digital talks with people from science, politics, business, civil society and the creative scene.
Guest of the evening
Annemie Vanackere has been Artistic Director of HAU Hebbel am Ufer in Berlin since 2012. Actually, she wanted to open the Festival Spy on Me #2 - Artistic Manoeuvres for the Digital Present in her house on March 19. Then the Corona crisis began. "When we started to work out the programme of Spy on Me #2 last year, we could not yet guess what new relevance the announcement text would have for our festival: 'We have arrived in the reality of digital change. Living with screens, apps and algorithms shapes our behaviour, our attention and our desires. Meanwhile, a re-organisation of public space and democracy is taking place by digital means', Vanackere writes on the HAU website.
In order to contain the pandemic, large parts of the regular (i.e. analogue) cultural programme have been discontinued in many countries. Almost all cultural institutions went into 'lockdown'. Artists and many other freelancers lost their material livelihoods from one day to the next. A large proportion of cultural institutions and cultural workers are now trying to stay in touch with the public through digital offerings or even to reach new target groups. Whether this will succeed is, of course, still open.
The essential function of art and culture - according to Heiner Müller - is to make reality impossible. Now reality seems to make culture impossible. This could mean that we could lose the valve that helps us to critically reflect on the present and think in alternative scenarios. We want to know: Doesn't our new society of distance urgently need cultural "close-up experiences" again? Or is it the other way round, where culture is facing an unexpected digital blossoming? What will remain of cultural life as we knew it? And what might the post-Covid cultural business look like?
The recording of the conversation will be available here on Wednesday, 6 May from 20:15.