Elisabeth Wellerhaus: The motto of this year’s Bundestreffen is “Don’t Stop Me Now.” This call can be interpreted in many ways right now. What are you referring to specifically when it comes to the independent performing arts? And what exactly should not be stopped in the fall of 2026?

Anneke Wiesner: The 2025 Bundestreffen was already heavily influenced by experiences of crisis and uncertainties in cultural policy. The central question last year was: How can the independent performing arts continue to function when the social and political conditions are becoming increasingly dire? This fall, there are once again plenty of reasons to address crises, budget cuts and political upheavals. These are important debates. At the same time, we often lose sight of what this is all really about: art itself. That’s why this year’s focus isn’t primarily on how and under what conditions we’ll continue. Rather, it’s on what motivates us, what keeps us moving forward and what we should absolutely not give up. “Don’t Stop Me Now” takes its cue from the song by Queen and explores the forces that drive artistic practice today.

Theresa Schütz: One characteristic of artistic production in the independent performing arts, for example, is the freedom to choose your own themes, colleagues, working methods and artistic form. In this way, artists in this scene have not only produced important aesthetic innovations but have also provided a decisive impetus for processes of institutional change. In doing so, they have influenced the entire theater landscape, for example, when we consider the structures and aesthetics of Access, the expansion of the canon and cross-disciplinary collaborations. So, when you ask what should not be stopped in the fall of 2026, these developments clearly have to be included. After all, they’re linked to important new artistic styles and aesthetics that deserve the space to flourish.

And yet, austerity policies and a shift to the right are shaping a social climate in which artistic content is also coming under pressure. In times of exclusion, polarization and radicalization, is it also important to defend the safe spaces created by the independent arts scene at all levels?

Anneke Wiesner: The independent performing arts are characterized by a broad level of diversity that extends far beyond supposed big-city discourses. For example, the Upsala Circus in Zeitz, Saxony-Anhalt, whose performers fled St. Petersburg to escape Putin at the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, creates cultural spaces for people from different generations and backgrounds to come together in a small town. Examples like these illustrate what sets the independent performing arts apart: They bring together a wide range of voices because they speak to diversity and the freedom to explore new perspectives. The safe spaces within this scene cannot be taken for granted, and defending them is about far more than mere funding. It’s also about the places and networks where artists can work independently, as well as the freedom to give visibility to diverse perspectives. In polarizing times, the independent performing arts show that we don’t always have to agree with each other. Despite all the adversities, artistic spaces remain places where consensus doesn’t have to be reached. It’s exactly these spaces that have to be protected.

Looking at your program, what do you mean by the statement that it will focus on resistance on the one hand and the self-evident nature of artistic freedom on the other?

Theresa Schütz: We’re placing artistic aesthetics and practices at the center of this year’s Bundestreffen and framing them with two thematic pillars: on the one hand, the topic of AI, and on the other, the interweaving of art and science. We’re interested in illustrating, through examples, what the use of AI models means in artistic practice. In other words, how aesthetic decisions and modes of production are transformed by digital technologies. At the same time, many artistic positions are characterized by their ability to consolidate knowledge about the political, economic and military complexities of so-called artificial intelligence. In doing so, not only are they stimulating important discourses – for example, on bias logics, extractivism and technocratic ideologies – but numerous artists are also developing necessary alternative models themselves, or subverting dominant processes in creative, enlightening and entertaining ways. We’re looking forward to reflecting on these developments at the Bundestreffen in a direct dialogue between art and theory, by bringing together current philosophical positions – for example, by Eva von Redecker, Rainer Mühlhoff and Dorothea Winter – with artistic positions, such as those of Nina Tecklenburg (Interrobang), Theresa Reiwer and Rosa Wernecke (Swoosh Lieu).

The works of other guests reflect the tension between political and personal narratives. Eva von Redecker’s planned keynote address also fits into this context. How does your program align with this approach?

Theresa Schütz: Research-based practice is another prominent feature of productions in the independent performing arts. This documents the artistic drive to collectively discover something about the world, society, or even one’s own family history. All the artists we’ve invited to the Bundestreffen work in a research-based manner, producing a wide variety of documentary, narrative, installation-based, or participatory forms of theater. Artists like Regina Dura and Hans-Werner Kroesinger, Benjamin Truong, Esther Pilkington and Yeliz Pazar/Manuka will demonstrate exactly how this process of translating and staging material into form works during practical sessions at HAU3. At the same time, many of the invited artists are exploring aspects of our overarching theme in their work, allowing for cross-connections to be made: Colleen Ndemeh Fitzgerald’s latest solo work, “I want revenge, grandma,” which draws on her choreographic exploration of her grandmother’s biography through photographs of the Bong Mines – an iron ore mine operated in the 1960s by the German-Liberian Mining Company – highlights, for example, the violent continuity of colonial structures of exploitation. The duo Miller de Nobili explores the impact of meme culture on physical perception processes. And Mona el Gammal, who has been conducting artistic transformation research for years, will present her “Speicher” at the Bundestreffen. She established the project in Strausberg and it brings together fictional utopian knowledge as well as experiential knowledge of realized alternatives for economic activity and communal living. Eva von Redecker’s positions also align well with the associated idea of defending art as a laboratory for utopian ways of life and practices.

Anneke Wiesner: It was precisely the diverse artistic approaches to the overarching theme that served as a starting point for us in designing the program. It was important to us to create not only spaces for discourse but also spaces where visitors can directly experience the working methods and perspectives of independently producing artists. That’s why visitors are invited to learn about the tools and methods of artistic practice at HAU 3. At the same time, we wanted to place these practical experiences within a broader context, which is why HAU 1 will primarily serve as a space for discourse this weekend, where major topics from AI to the intersection of art and science, will be explored.

The topic of resilience will also be discussed. One of your formats addresses the question of where sustainable energy can still be sourced in these times. What’s your understanding of the term “energy” within this context?

Theresa Schütz: When reflecting on the title “Don’t Stop Me Now” in combination with the AI theme, we quickly arrived at the concept of energy: metaphorically, in the sense of sustaining living art, and materially, in the sense of infrastructure. To connect these two levels, we incorporated the artistic research project “Energy. Burnout Artist in a World on Fire” by Ada Mukhina/SWITCHCRAFT WERK. Then the OSTEN Festival released its program for this year on the theme “Kraftwerk Zukunft,” which, as an independent “festival for art and mutual interest” in Bitterfeld and Wolfen, not only raises similar questions but is itself a good example of resilience in action during the current shift to the right. We’re excited to be bringing these two perspectives together in a fishbowl discussion. However, the spectrum of associations linked to the concept of “energy” – affective, political and climatic “overheating” – was more important to us than specifically applying the concept of resilience to those involved in the independent performing arts. This is reflected thematically above all in our opening event; it’s also particularly visually striking in the preview of “Eternity,” Susanne Regina Meures’ film about a spectacular art performance by Florentina Holzinger and her performers in the Swiss glaciers.

Looking at this year’s program, it seems as though a new approach to dealing with our overheated present might also be found in the dialogue with younger generations. Was the invitation to students, who will be appearing alongside well-known figures from politics and the cultural scene, an expression of a cautiously hopeful view of the future?

Anneke Wiesner: Yes, and for me, that’s exactly what the Bundestreffen is all about: not just talking about the future of the independent performing arts, but involving those who are already shaping that future. That’s why, for the first time, the Fonds is also inviting students to an event in Berlin. Forty students, primarily from master’s programs at five universities and art colleges, will be there. And so, the motto “Don’t Stop Me Now” perhaps resonates particularly strongly. After all, this generation is just at the beginning of its creative journey. It was important to us to help them network with one another, to integrate their goals and visions, and to make their voices heard. We’re deliberately bringing together artists, students and stakeholders from politics, academia, cultural administration, funding organizations and theaters. After all, the question of what role theater and art play in our society today can only be discussed together.