ACADEMY #2 / FORUM: DIE KUNST, VIELE ZU BLEIBEN (The Art of Staying Many)
National Forum for Art, Freedom and Democracy
7.+8.6.2024, FFT Düsseldorf
With art, action and debate the ACADEMY #2 / FORUM in co-operation with the national fora of the Fonds Darstellende Künste addresses what is probably the most important task right now: to retain plurality and thus strengthen democracy. How threatening right wing agitation has become was shown by the hate campaign against the collective CHICKS* and its performance LECKEN after it was invited to the Wildwechsel Festival in Zwickau. The ACADEMY presents LECKEN and invites West and East German theatre festivals to a solidary exchange of knowledge focussing on constitutional issues: how can the constitution and the rule of law protect the freedom of art and artists from despotism and discrimination? Contributions by Gin Müller on performative forms of resistance and by Arne Vogelgesang on new right narratives about youth and the family connect the discourse with artistic and activist practice.
ACADEMY #2 – THE ART OF STAYING MANY is held as one of the "National Fora for Art, Freedom and Democracy", a series of events produced by the Fonds Darstellende Künste in co-operation with the Goethe-Institut, Chamäleon, Berlin, fabrik Potsdam, FFT Düsseldorf, Hans Otto Theater, Potsdam, HELLERAU – European Centre of the Arts, Dresden, HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin, Impulse Theater Festival, Kunstfest Weimar 2024, LOFFT – DAS THEATER, Leipzig, OSTEN Festival, Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Plattenstufen-Festspiele presented by the Phoenix Theater Festival Erfurt, Residenz (Schauspiel Leipzig), Societaetstheater, Dresden, Sophiensӕle, Berlin, and Zentralwerk e. V., Dresden, Zirkustheater-Festival, Dresden. Funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media as part of NEUSTART KULTUR.
Location: FFT Düsseldorf, Konrad-Adenauer-Platz 1, 40210 Düsseldorf
For registration details, see Impulse ticketshop.
Full details of the programme in English will soon be available here at the Impulse website and at fonds-daku.de.
Friday, 7.6.
The first day of the ACADEMY #2 / FORUM will use keynote lectures, practical workshops and panel discussions to shed light on the statutory scope for action and various legal provisions within the constitution that permit artistic freedom, and examines the powers of resistance and potential for resilience that art has in the face of hate and agitation between the net and the street (with Şeyda Kurt, Oliver Zahn, Gin Müller and others). The group La Fleur will also present its film 'Les Chercheurs' about young dancers from various African countries daring to make a new start in Europe and "wanting to achieve happiness against all the odds."
Saturday, 8.6.
The second day, in response to the performance LECKEN by CHICKS*, will focus on trans* rights and queer versus right-wing narratives about gender, youth and the family (with Arne Vogelgesang, Gin Müller and Living Smile Vidya). There will also be a discussion with Maren Barnikow and Tommy Neuwirth (AGENTUR FÜR), as well as Anna Lux and others, of local and international perspectives between East and West.