The Berlin Performing Arts Program has worked with re:publica and additional cooperation partners since 2016 to bring members of the independent performing arts community together with experts in digitalism: international artists, game developers, experts from the field of technology and research meet regularly to develop ideas, try out practical approaches in collaborative formats as well as to exchange. The different strengths of the participants helps to provide inspiration, transfer knowledge and to test out new approaches and methods. Performersion thus functions as an interface from which the participants are able to continuously develop interdisciplinary impulses and bring these back to their respective working fields.

We seek to open up a space for creative processes in which art and digital culture can be jointly reflected. We seek to communicate specific and applicable knowledge about digital practices. We seek to moderate the exchanges, document it and to promote the networking and collaboration between the fields of art and digital culture on the same level with fruitful networks. We hope that the cooperations established over the course of Performersion can be continued long beyond the event itself, much like Performersion has expanded its circle of cooperation partners with new members: the department for performance & objects of the Ernst Busch Academy for Dramatic Art in Berlin and Schaubude Berlin.

Schedule of Program of the previous edition:

Performersion International – Arts, Digitality, Practice

A Conference Examining the Performative Applications of Digital Technologies
January 30 – 31, 2020
Location: Schaubude Berlin, Greifswalder Str. 81-84, 10405 Berlin

During Performersion International, future digital opportunities for artists and creators working in the performing arts will be jointly reflected upon and further developed together with regional and international experts. The primary focus is placed upon the appropriation of digital production methods and the learning of new aesthetics as well as the communication of specialist knowledge and digital tools in order to strengthen the participants as self-empowered digital creators. This conference, produced in collaboration with Schaubude Berlin, the department for performance & objects of the Ernst Busch Academy for Dramatic Art in Berlin and re:publica, also offers table conversations which present the entire spectrum of digital applications in the performing arts as well as presentations and a panel discussion examining current questions regarding artistic practice in a digital world.

In the workshops on Thursday, January 30, culture makers will be empowered to understand the design process of computer games and develop means of adapting this to the performing arts. Practitioners with a focus on text production and the development of material can become acquainted over the course of a workshop with programmer languages as a logical continuation of dramatic and poetic language. Those interested in site-specific work can learn how to use GPS-supported applications for smartphone-based art during a workshop. In the evening, we will welcome the fellows of the Academy for Theater and Digitalization and the members of the department for performance & objects of the Ernst Busch Academy for Dramatic Art in Berlin for an informal exchange.

On Friday, January 31, numerous artists and independent groups will present their projects and discuss strategies, tools and coming challenges over the course of small table conversations. The conference section of Performersion will begin in the afternoon. A series of presentations (primarily in English) will examine the performative future of computer games and the significance and representation of electronic images in the arts of the future. In addition, they will deal with a theoretical framework that attempts to understand the reciprocal effects between digital intimacy and societal change. To close out the event, a panel discussion will take up the various topics and combine them into a well-considered overview as well as initiate an intensive exchange with all present.

Schedule of Events

Thursday, January 30, 2020

11:00 am     Workshops

Site-Specific Storytelling with Augmented Reality
A compact workshop for simply learning the necessary skills in order to develop site-specific AR applications. AR-capable mobile phones and a computer will be provided thanks to our cooperation partner, the department for performance & objects of the Ernst Busch Academy for Dramatic Art in Berlin
With Sarah Buser
Sarah Buser is a dramaturg, artist and coder. Her works set new standards at the interface of theater and new media. Using creative coding and enacted situations, she raises questions that deal with the nature of our reality.

Soft Skill Tree – an enabling workspace (in englischer Sprache)
... is a safe workspace for people, who want to work with technology, but dread the prospect at the same time. It's a lo-fi approach towards the general fields of interactive media and game development based on a chaotic toolbox of cheat sheets, dirty tricks and short cuts. Bring your ideas, so we can take them apart!
With Georg Hobmeier (game designer, Vienna)
Following a career as an interdisciplinary performer, Georg Hobmeier has changed sides and now works as a game designer concept developer at the interface between analog and digital culture.

UNFORTUNATELY CANCELLED DUE TO SICKNESS!
How can one learn programming languages as a continuation of dramatic and poetic language?
Languages are languages. They use characters and communicate information.
Over the course of this empowerment workshop, people who work professionally with languages will be introduced to programming languages.
With Martin Ganteföhr
Martin Ganteföhr designs interactive projects of all kinds. He has worked with machinaEx and a number of other independent groups and helps culture makers to use digital technologies as cultural techniques.

1:00 pm    Lunch

3:00 pm    Continuation of the Workshops

6:30 pm    A Round of Feedback and Exchange
With the fellows of the Academy for Theater and Digitalization and the department for performance & objects of the Ernst Busch Academy for Dramatic Art in Berlin.

Friday, January 31, 2020

11:00 am    Table Conversations with Digital/Artistic Practitioners
People who frequently attend conferences often say that they have the best conversations in a mixed environment with people they have known for a long time and those that they have just met. We will attempt to work with this insight and invite you to take part in table conversations where a number of artists, both those successful in Berlin as well as those successful internationally, will provide insight into aspects of their practical work and enter into exchange with the table guests.
With: Dr. Frederika Tsai, Anna Kpok (Almut Pape, Emese Bodolay), CyberRäuber (Björn Lengers), Stefanie Fischer, Eva-Maria Kraft, Maria Pyatkova, Sebastian Schlemminger, Christian Römer, Max Schumacher

1:30 pm    Lunch

2:30 pm     Introduction and words of welcome from representatives of the Performing Arts Program, LAFT Berlin, the department for performance & objects of the Ernst Busch Academy for Dramatic Art in Berlin and Schaubude Berlin

2:45 pm    Presentations

The Next 12 Years of re:publica: Thematic Premonitions
Andreas Gebhard (re:publica)

Digital Intimacy and Societal Change (in English)
Agnes Karolina Bakk (Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest)

Speculative Thoughts on Immersion, Performance and Real Virtuality (in English)
Fernanda Parente (curator, Berlin)

Leaving Theatre, Going Indie
In this presentation, Georg Hobmeier will reconsider his irritating decision to give up the venerable profession of acting and to develop computer games instead. He will also show respects to other related spirits who have gone down similar paths without looking back. The presentation will include equal portions of pondering, bragging and raving.
Georg Hobmeier (game designer, Vienna)

4:30 pm    Coffee Break

5:00 pm    Closing Panel
Digitalization as Cultural Technology Within an Interdisciplinary Theater Landscape
With: Clara Ehrenwerth (machina eX, Friedrich Kirschner (department for performance & objects of the Ernst Busch Academy for Dramatic Art in Berlin).
Moderated by Felizitas Stilleke

6:30 pm     End of the Event and Snack


Accessibility
The lobby and auditorium of Schaubude Berlin are barrier-free for people with limited mobility. Access to the auditorium is possible via a separate entrance. Please contact the café in the foyer. Barrier-free bathrooms are freely accessible from the auditorium. There are up to eight places for wheelchair users available. The smaller stage of Schaubude Berlin has limited accessibility for people with limited mobility as there are some stairs. The “KON” room of Schaubude Berlin is only accessible via a flight of stairs and thus is not barrier-free for people with limited mobility.

The S-Bahn station Greifswalder Straße is barrier-free. The station has an elevator with speech output (between the platform and station concourse) as well as a guide system for people with visual impairments. The tram stop Griefswalder Straße has a guide system for people with visual impairments and the traffic signal is equipped with an audio signal for people with visual impairments. Parking spaces are available in the vicinity of Storkower Straße.

The workshops are intense work formats which require concentration and for which the environment at times needs to be very quiet so that the participants are able to work to their best ability. Silence is not required during the table conversations as a large number of people will be speaking and one is able to move around freely. Silence is not strictly required during the presentations, but the topics are complicated and a large number of people must be able to concentrate in order to be able to understand the content.
Water and snacks are available free of charge throughout the entire event. There is also the opportunity to take a break in a quiet space.

Performersion International is a Berlim Performing Arts Program cooperation with Schaubude Berlin and the Department for Performance & Objects of the Ernst Busch Academy for Dramatic Art in Berlin.