Witzigkeit kennt seine Grenzen – Klassismuserfahrung und Humor in den performativen Künsten

Who has a good laugh and who knows no pardon when class shows?

Zum Video mit Audiodeskription

How can class be shown on stage? And who can it be shown by? In this artist lab, born class clowns and other joke figures from the performing arts come together. In various formats of pointing and trying out, of artistic thinking, sharing and evaluating, the participating artists address the relationship between experiences of classism and aesthetic practices. They will share artistic strategies and reflect upon their own visual experiences of classist and stereotyping representations of the working class in productions of the independent as well as the institutional theater scene.

The focus of the discussion will lie on the reflection on humoristic tonalities, dramaturgies and the demeanor of the performers regarding class. Special attention will also be paid to the perspective of the audience: Who manages to make it through the theater lobby to be part of it all? Hence, the artist lab looks at central moments, places and spaces of theatergoing – such as lobbies, the dress code in the audience or program texts.

These elements are both object and method of the lab, and will be put under the (anti-classist) microscope as part of an experiential practical session. The outcomes will serve the artist lab to conceive of a more class sensitive and equitable theater of the future: Who can have a good laugh and who knows no pardon, when class shows?

Hendrik Quast & Alex Hennig (Lab Management in Cooperation with Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm), Helena Wölfl (Moderation), Patrick Kohn (Artistic Production Management), Participating artists: Angela Alves, Sophie Domenz, Marietheres Jesse, Sahar Rahimi, Marion Schneider-Bast and Susanne Zaun & Michel Wagenschütz, Michel Wagenschütz (Video) & Phuong Tran Minh (Foto)