Dimitris Papadopoulos has been invited to give a public lecture at HAU Hebbel am Ufer in Berlin as part of its Burning Futures: On Ecologies of Existence lecture series organised by the Research Group Knowledge in the Arts.
Burning Futures: On Ecologies of Existence, #2little2late: The catastrophes that are mounting up before us with climate change, species extinction, the pollution and exploitation of soil, air, and water are just as real as they are unfathomable. Many scientists argue that the destruction is no longer stoppable. How do we deal with the fact that it’s too late to fully reverse the disastrous developments? What might it mean to think from the end, in order to deal responsibly with the coming catastrophe? The fact is that ways of life and production in the Global North are also no longer ecologically sustainable, and that the problems of racism, colonialism, patriarchy and capitalism will only get worse as a result. In his 1989 essay “The Three Ecologies,” Félix Guattari wrote that the problems of subjectivity, social relations, and the environment can only be addressed or resolved together. The new lecture and discussion series at HAU thematises these connections between concrete environmental struggles and speculative theoretical propositions.
HAU Hebbel am Ufer – with its three venues HAU1, HAU2, and HAU3 around Hallesches Ufer in Berlin-Kreuzberg – is a paragon of current artistic positions at the interface of theatre, dance, and performance. The HAU has produced performances and lectures of artists and theorists like Judith Butler, Walid Raad, Evelin Marcelo, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Bruno Latour, Paul B. Preciado, Nature Theatre of Oklahoma, Rabih Mroué, Didier Eribon, Meg Stuart and others.
In addition, music, visual art, and theoretical debates are a constant component of the wide-ranging programme. Since 2012 under the direction of Annemie Vanackere and her team, HAU is one of the most highly regarded and well-connected of international production houses. It stands for innovative formats that attract attention far beyond Berlin, and provides impulse and inspiration for other art and culture producers. In addition, HAU Hebbel am Ufer puts on one of Europe’s most renowned dance festival every year, “Tanz im August”.
The Research Group Knowledge in the Arts, supported by the German Research Fund (DFG), brings together scholars from different academic fields and disciplines such as art theory and cultural science, theatre and media studies, philosophy, architecture and education. Recent events include the lecture series Decolonizing Arts: Aesthetic Practices of Learning and Unlearning, Violence in the Arts, and Tuning into Worlds: More-then-human Aesthetics in the Arts, as well as the conferences Speculative Aesthetics and How to relate: Appropriation, Mediation, Figuration.
Posted on Monday 21st September 2020