Lecture Series for the 2026–2027 Winter Semester

Environment, Cultural Environment, Theater

For humans, the environment is also a cultural environment, for while animals essentially adapt to nature, humans, to a large extent, create the conditions of their own existence. Occasionally, however, theater addresses nature differently than painting, which throughout its history has repeatedly engaged with nature and its beauty; theater has mostly been more interested in the world created by humans. This world has always been rife with conflict, and theater is a kind of seismograph that registers the tremors at its core. “Why is the world so violent and painful? How can the world be so beautiful at the same time?” asks the Thalia Theater in its announcement of its upcoming season. The Deutsches Schauspielhaus, for its part, speaks of theater as a “shared space of imagination”—a space, in other words, where we can collectively “envision a sustainable, resilient world.” On stage, conflicts are embedded in narratives. Using examples of current productions on Hamburg’s stages, the lectures will explore the strategies through which theater attempts to sharpen our vision for the future using these narratives. Suffice it to say: theater is not a fast-paced medium, and in our accelerated world, that may well be a strength. The event includes three theater visits followed by discussions.

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Lecture held on 17.05.2018, title: "Art in the stranglehold of power".

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