Open Call: Completed
5 September 2014
This year’s open call was completed November, 15 2014. Please do not send any further applications
What is the essence of theater? Surely it’s not just that it can mirror, criticize, and challenge society in its contents. Rather, and above all no matter what form it does this in, it is always already an expression of its time. But what forms can theater find today to test out the social and political processes in which society in all its–actual or imagined–varieties can be performed, expanded, verified, or even invented in the first place? How does theater become a political or social labor of the present? How can theater and performance unfold their essential agonistic, provocative potential–a potential that cannot immediately be integrated or that merely conceals social ills and breaks? How can the relationship between artists and spectators come into focus without falling into false promises of participation?
In 2015, Impulse will show outstanding works from the German-speaking independent theater scene–and in doing so look into the possibilities of theater becoming socially effective. We invite theatermakers and other artists based in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland to submit productions and projects on this thematic focus (guest performances or adaptations, which premiered no earlier than march 2013–program deadline Impulse 2013–and prior to December 2014. Those could then be shown as part of the festival from June 11 to 21, 2015, in Düsseldorf, Cologne, and Mülheim an der Ruhr: a theatrical evening, a choreography, a performative installation, a collective performance, a musical sculpture, a public intervention…
The Open Call will complement our ongoing research and viewings and provides a direct overview of what takes place in the field of independent theater also beyond the beaten track. All proposals submitted will be assessed and discussed with the support of the interdisciplinary Impulse board, consisting of Inke Arns, Beatrice von Bismarck, Boris Buden, André Eiermann, Oliver Marchart, Vassilis Tsianos, and Stefanie Wenner.
We look forward to surprising, provocative, consequential proposals.
Deadline: November, 15 2014
To the Open Call Impulse Theater Festival 2015
