Lecture series in the winter semester 2024-25

Technologies and the theater

Art is created where thoughts and the real world meet in play and it is the technological context that determines what is created. In the case of theater, considerations about theater construction have always played a central role, but theater machines were already conceived in antiquity. Baroque theater spectacles were often celebrated for their overwhelming effects and wonderful technologies. The electrification of theater in the late 19th century, its growing mediatization in the 20th century and its digitalization in the last twenty years have made the intertwining of theater and technology even closer. There were times when a return to a "poor theater" was desired, but today, on the contrary, technology exerts an enormous fascination. It is therefore also the subject of some performances, which are to be understood as self-reflection but also as reflection on the world we create. The theater creates a space for "seeing, hearing, feeling and thinking", writes Joachim Lux, the director of the Thalia Theater. In this space, writes Karin Beier, the director of the Schauspielhaus, theater can "allow the improbable to appear beyond the narrowing horizons" of our political reality, and nothing is more improbable than the way in which technology is changing our world. This and more will be examined in the lectures using the example of current productions on Hamburg's stages. The event also includes two theater visits.

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

To the lecture: click here