The Public Space – an opportunity for post-/pandemic theatre?!
The public space is regarded as an essential element of democratic societies. The corona pandemic has made it clear that the way it is used and laid out are in danger not only from rampant monetisation but also from all kinds of regulation. In 2020, for instance, nearly all event formats in the public space have been cancelled. And yet artists and event organisers have in the short term developed alternative formats, accepting the corona crisis as a challenge and a chance for Theatre in the Public Space. Has it been a curse or a blessing?
Jana Korb and Clair Howells take their different perspectives as artists, event organisers and producers as a starting point for a dialogue, so as then in a follow-up think tank to sketch out visions for a (post-) pandemic Theatre in the Public Space.
Jana Korb is an artist (University of the Arts (UdK) Berlin), artiste and cultural scientist (FU/HU Berlin), and produces artistic theatre and narrative circus. In artistic terms she is on a search for the circus as an artistic medium, the circus of the future.
As well as her own productions, she has worked in productions by the likes of Christoph Schlingensief, John Bock, Taylor Mac, Jill Greenhalgh and Fura dels Baus. She is the Artistic Director of the aerial arts festival Luftartistik Festspiele Berlin and a member of the executive committee of the Federal Association of Theatre in the Open Space (Bundesverband Theater im Öffentlichen Raum). She lives in Berlin Lichtenberg, where she also produces shows as part of the korb+stiefel collective.
Clair Howells is an actor and Co-Director of Theater Titanick. Born in Melbourne, she has lived in Europe for more than 30 years. She trained as an actor at the Scuola Internazionale di Teatro in Rome and with Philippe Gaulier in Paris. Since 1990 she has been touring worldwide with the productions of Theater Titanick. As part of Titanick productions, Clair Howells leads workshops for amateurs. She is curator of the FLURSTUCKE theatre festival in Münster. She was one of the co-founders of the Federal Association of Theatre in the Open Space and has been on its executive committee since 2012.