New Communities
March 22–28, 2021
Online programme on HAU4 (digital stage)
HAU1, Stresemannstr. 29, 10963 Berlin
HAU2, Hallesches Ufer 32, 10963 Berlin
HAU3, Tempelhofes Ufer 10, 10963 Berlin
T +49 30 25900427
tickets [at] hebbel-am-ufer.de
With The Agency, Timon Beyes, Derin Cankaya & Saverio Cantoni, Creamcake, dgtl fmnsm, doublelucky productions, Anna Fries & Malu Peeters, KairUs, Sylbee Kim, Krip-Hop Nation, machina eX, The Mycological Twist, Kat Merten & Lotte Meret, Legacy Russell, Nada Schroer, NewfrontEars & Oozing Gloop, onlinetheater.live, Daniel Seitz (Jugend hackt), Roman Senkl & Nils Corte (minus.eins), Houseclub presents: Anna Fries & Göksu Kunak a.o.
New communities—and new definitions of community—form the focus of the festival Spy on Me #3. Over the past year, we have essentially met via digital interfaces. But how can we attain proximity without bodies? How does coming together work when its framework is always pre-programmed? We have internalized the pandemic rhetoric of “social distancing,” although the virus itself merely calls for “physical distancing.” The social part is still in our control. So how can we maintain community in solidarity, even in the online world?
By no means has the past year provided only encouraging answers. Social media do not just bring people together; they also thrust them into media echo chambers. The effects of digital amplification favour hate speech and conspiracy theories. Computers are not objective calculating machines, instead reproducing the prejudices they were programmed with—that is, primarily those of white, young, rich men in Silicon Valley. The festival reflects on these things while also introducing progressive new communities in the digital realm: They hack distances, borders, bodies and binaries; they analyze, visualize and deconstruct structures of domination; and they ensure that our bodies and avatars release happiness hormones, even when connection is only virtual. More than anything, though, the festival presents artistic manoeuvres and glitches that underscore our own agency in the online world.
A festival by HAU Hebbel am Ufer. Supported within the framework of the Alliance of International Production Houses by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. Concept and programme: Sarah Reimann and Annemie Vanackere in collaboration with Christiane Kühl. Cooperation programme team: Lisa Ahrens, Margarita Tsomou, Tobias Schurig.
