“CLAIMING COMMON SPACES” is an event initiated by the Alliance of International Production Venues, which takes place annually in a different one of the seven theaters. After festivals at HAU Hebbel am Ufer and FFT Düsseldorf, Kampnagel Hamburg invites you to the third edition in 2021.
In 2021, CLAIMING COMMON SPACES had to be cancelled due to the pandemic, but in 2021 the team at Kampnagel have devised an immersive, open-air iteration of the event that can definitely take place yet is not a purely digital occasion. CLAIMING COMMON SPACES III will piggyback on the Live Art Festival from 3 to 13 June on the grounds of the Kampnagel in Hamburg, but it will also take place to a certain extent simultaneously in other cities where BIPH alliance members are active. “WELCOME TO THE PLEASUREZONE” is an experimental set-up designed specifically for an era in which we’re all going to have to learn how to engage in social interaction – either again or for the first time.
A temporary art park is being created on the grounds of the Kampnagel complex. This outdoor “Pleasurezone” will invite visitors to take a slow approach to collective and cultural revitalisation in a post-pandemic era. Think of it as a leisurely stroll with some playful installations and unique sensory experiences along the way. Various art objects from Hamburg as well as from BIPH member theatres will transform the public space into a feel-good zone. FromHAU Hebbel am Ufer: “Weiche Wohnwelten” by Ulrike Bernard & Vincent Grundwald.
A joint project organised within the framework of CLAIMING COMMON SPACES III involves BIPH members providing Kampnagel’s [k] to go app with an 12-station walking tour consisting of performance stops. The screens of visitors’ mobile phones will become stages for a tour created especially for this medium. BIPH members commissioned artists to produce videos exploring the theme “Feeling myself in public space”. This resulted in video sculptures lasting no longer than three minutes, each offering a unique artistic approach, perspective and advice on how to prepare ourselves for the coming post-pandemic era and how to rediscover our own physicality. Visitors will be able to see each of these artistic contributions as part of the tour through the Kampnagel grounds; but audiences will also be able to experience the performance walking tours simultaneously in Essen, Düsseldorf, Dresden and Frankfurt. This provides the unique opportunity to participate in the festival without having to actually travel to Hamburg. Visitors will be invited to use the app on a walk through the participating BIPH production houses. The eleven stops for each individual station will be marked on the ground; at these points, visitors’ smartphone cameras will transform into a performance stage. The project will feature national and international artistic contributions from Baby of Control, NewFrontEars, go plastic company, Via Negativa, and many more.
Theatres are gradually opening up again, but the pandemic has long since prompted a complete transformation in the way theatregoers attend performances. Each member of the audience must be registered in advance and linked to a specific seat to allow for precise contact tracing and to make it possible to break potential chains of infection. For the past several months, an app known as the “Luca” app has been in use in many federal states in Germany, and it has also been the subject of much debate. To mark the launch of the CLAIMING COMMON SPACES III festival, the Alliance of International Production Houses (BIPH) is organising a panel discussion set to take place at 7 pm on 3 June under the heading “Was kann die LUCA APP?” (tr. What can the LUCA app do?). The discussion will feature experts drawn from the fields of culture, politics and data protection and focus on the various ways of effectively addressing the pandemic (thereby making it possible to hold events again) as well as data-protection responsibilities in relation to visitors.
Members of the kainkollektiv will discuss the changed framework of independent production on 5 June at 4 pm as part of the online panel discussion “Transformationen” (tr. Transformations) initiated by the Fonds Darstellende Künste (tr. Performing arts fund). They will be joined by Stefan Kaegi (Rimini Protokoll), Sahar Rahimi (Monster Truck) and Sibylle Peters (geheimagentur).
CORONA ICONICS
As part of another joint project organised by the Alliance of International Production Houses (BIPH) and titled “Corona Iconics”, we are issuing an open call for private photos documenting the many forms of repurposing, appropriation and displacement in the public space that took place during the pandemic. The result will be a publication created within the framework of CLAIMING COMMON SPACES III and set to be published in autumn.
The full programme can be found on the websites of Kampnagel and the Alliance of International Production Venues.