Modes of Operation is a living online archive of contemporary theater. An archive that has as its object not the performance, but the mode of operation. Because the fact that a current generation of artists is turning away from the gesture of patriarchal-authoritarian “artistic geniuses” and seeking new forms of collaboration deserves to be made visible and disseminated. In this sense, Modes of Operation understands the working methods in theatre not only as an aesthetic practice, but also as a social and political practice that can have an effect beyond the field of the arts. In this context, Modes of Operation could represent its own form of theater: a theater that sees itself as a laboratory for the development of forms of social living and working together. A theater that offers a stage for the discussion of its ways of working. A theater that constantly questions itself and the world in which it seeks its form.
As part of the Frequenzen festival organized by the Goethe-Institut, the opening of Modes of Operation took place at Sophiensæle. In an interaction with the directors Samara Hersch and Anta Helena Recke, the project team presented its “Modes of Operation Theatre”. A video installation with portraits of the working methods by Leonie Böhm, Samara Hersch, Florentina Holzinger, Satoko Ichihara, Henrike Iglesias, Christiane Jatahy, Susanne Kennedy, Ligia Lewis, Anta Helena Recke, and Mariana Villegas, who participated in the first season of the project, was accessible throughout the festival. With an open outcome.
A project by Felix Flemmer, Tarun Kade, Katrina Mäntele
and STUDIO CNP (Lara Fritz, Christoph Schaller)
Installation: c/o now
UX Design & Code: Julian Schmidt
A production of the Goethe-Institut