Since 19 May 2020, the fifth and first digital Performing Arts Festival Berlin has been opening its virtual doors. Viewers from all over the world are invited until May 24, 2020 to discover the diversity of the city’s performing arts in the PAF documentary series, in the “Digital Showroom” and at “PAF Show & Tell” @home. In-depth discussions and trend-setting (political) talks round off the program.
Image above: A performative walk by p.u.r.e.: performative urban research ensemble from 2019: Three bridges and a tunnel – Photo Susanne Soldan
While the cultural and especially theatrical landscape has largely come to a standstill under the current restrictions, the Performing Arts Festival Berlin@home opens up digital meeting spaces and accesses to the city’s free performing arts to audiences, artists and professionals and focuses on the resulting possibilities of new formats and forms of the performing arts.
The opening event on May 19 was a digital get-together with a welcome by Florian Bücking for the board of directors of LAFT – Landesverband freie darstellende Künste Berlin as the festival’s sponsor and the festival directors Sarah Israel and Tessa Hartig.
Starting on May 20, the second day of the festival, the “Digital Showroom” invites you around the clock to discover the works of artists, groups and a variety of theatres and venues that make up the Performing Arts Festival Berlin this year as well. They provide an insight into their originally planned works, present new adaptations for the @home edition or offer a glimpse behind the scenes.
On the evening of 20 May – following the Tabori Award Ceremony of the Fonds Darstellende Künste – the first part of the multi-part German-English “PAF Documentary Series” will celebrate its premiere. At the end and as a further highlight of the second festival day, Hans Unstern will perform songs from his new album “DIVEN” live.
On three consecutive days of the festival, the individual episodes of the PAF documentary series will gather artistic voices on the current situation and make them jointly audible and tangible. Elementary questions such as the use of performative arts in times of crisis, the interrelation between the performing arts and the net will be discussed and the arc to the future of the performing arts after the current restrictions will be spanned. Following the respective episodes, discussions will take place with selected artists and guests who will deepen and continue the film’s questions. With the completion of the documentary series, the “Library of Voices” will open on 23 May, offering festival visitors an insight into the unedited film contributions in full length: raw & uncut.
In 2020, the festival will also be devoting special attention to young artists with its “Introducing…” platform. The selected artists invite the audience to become active themselves in a “Guide for those at home” and provide the audience with audio and/or video tutorials in which the newcomers impart practical knowledge about their performances in order to make the digital theatre experience analogue and multi-sensory.
At the showcase and network format “PAF Show & Tell” on 23 May, ten selected artists will present new ideas, concepts and productions in short digital presentations and engage in speed networking with the audience. A digital trip and insights behind the scenes of Berlin venues is promised on two days “From Venue to Venue”.
This year again, (inter)national trade visitors and interested spectators will have access to a wide range of discourse and networking formats in the form of talks and lectures. Among other things, the Performing Arts Programme Berlin is starting a new series on the subject of sustainability in the liberal performing arts. On the last day of the festival, Janina Benduski (LAFT Berlin) will discuss “The Free Performing Arts and the Cultural Landscape after Corona” with the Berlin State Secretary for Culture Dr. Torsten Wöhlert, Franziska Werner (Berlin Council for the Arts) and Stephan Behrmann (Alliance of the Liberal Arts).
Program of Performing Arts Festival Berlin@home 2020
May 19th2020
7:00 p.m.
Kick-off and digital get-together with Florian Bücking (LAFT Berlin) as well as Sarah Israel and Tessa Hartig (Performing Arts Festival Berlin)
May 20th, 2020
10:00 a.m.
Opening of the “Digital Showroom”: Here artists, groups as well as a variety of theatres and venues present themselves, which make up the Performing Arts Festival Berlin every year 16:00 Performing Arts Programme Berlin: Network meeting “Bridging the Scenes” of the four partner festivals Malá inventura (Prague), Selected Works (Copenhagen), ACT Festival (Sofia) and Performing Arts Festival (Berlin). 17:00 “Meet & Greet” for professional visitors from Germany and abroad
7:00 p.m.
Award of the Tabori Prize of the Fonds Darstellende Künste e. V.
7:30 p.m.
Premiere: First episode of the PAF documentary series on the question “Why do we need the performative arts in times of crisis? Followed by a greeting from Sarah Israel and a more in-depth discussion of the question with the artists Olympia Bukakkis and Siegmar Zacharias, followed by a live music interlude by Hans Unstern. Moderation: Yael Sherill
May 21st 2020
all day: “Digital Showroom”
10:00 a.m.
Presentation: “Introducing…” – Young female artists of the Performing Arts Festival Berlin present “Instructions for those left at home”. 11:00 am “No talking about trees! Sustainability, Cultural Policy and Free Art Production” – discourse format of the Performing Arts Programme Berlin on sustainability in the liberal performing arts with guests from the arts and politics, including Daniel Wesener (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen parliamentary group). 17:00 hrs “From Venue to Venue”: Representatives of the Berlin venues Theater o.N., Theater im Delphi, TATWERK | PERFORMATIVE FORSCHUNG, Berliner Ringtheater and Ballhaus Ost present their houses.
7:00 p.m.
Premiere: Second episode of the PAF documentary series on the question “What can the Internet and the performing arts learn from each other? This will be followed by a panel discussion with Anke Schiemann and Marcel Karnapke on the subject of “Virtual Madness”: A conversation about narratives in augmented realities (in VR!)”. Curation/Moderation: Fernanda Parente
May 22nd 2020
all day: “Digital Showroom” & “Instructions for Those Left Home” by the artists of the newcomer platform “Introducing…”
11:00 a.m.
“Sustainable production! The role of associations, initiatives and funding institutions.” – Discourse format of the Performing Arts Programm Berlin on sustainability in the liberal performing arts, with Prof. Susanne Keuchel (German Cultural Council), representatives of the Federal Association of Liberal Performing Arts and the Dachverband Tanz, among others. Moderation: Andreas Kohn (environmental expert & theatre maker). 17:00 “From Venue to Venue”: Representatives of the Berlin venues Theater Expedition Metropolis, Centre Français de Berlin, SOX Berlin, Polymedialer Ponyhof and Sophiensæle present their venues.
19:00 hrs
Premiere: Third episode of the PAF documentary series on the question “How can we use the performing arts to imagine a hopeful future? Followed by Tessa Hartig in conversation with Noa Winter (Coordinator of Making a Difference), Dr. Azadeh Sharifi (Theatre scholar) and LaraSophie Milagro (Artistic Director Label Noir & Actress) on the topic “(Re)-Imagined – intersectional future perspectives from the liberal performing arts”.
May 23rd, 2020
all day: “Digital Showroom” & “Instructions for Those Left Home” by the artists of the newcomer platform “Introducing…”
10:00 a.m.
Opening: “Bibliothek der Stimmen” – Artistic contributions to the PAF documentary series: uncut & raw
5:00 p.m.
“PAF Show & Tell”: Berlin artists* present their work in a video chat.
May 24th, 2020
all day: “Digital Showroom”, “How-to’s at Home” by the artists of the newcomer platform “Introducing…” & “Library of Voices” – artistic contributions to the PAF documentary series: uncut & raw
12:00 noon
Impulses for scope for action in times of extreme openness. Final discussion with guests. Sarah Israel in conversation with Raul Zelik (political scientist, journalist & translator), Melanie-Jame Wolf (artist & performer) and Tina Pfurr (artistic director Ballhaus Ost).
2:00 p.m.
“Corona Update # 1001 – The Free Performing Arts and the Cultural Landscape after Corona”: Janina Benduski (LAFT Berlin) in conversation with State Secretary Dr. Torsten Wöhlert, Franziska Werner (Berlin Council for the Arts) and Stephan Behrmann (Alliance of the Free Arts)
