Theater performance as part of the GfÖ conference
Date: Wednesday the 11 September 2024
Time: 20:00
Venue: ZHG, TUM Freising
The Circus of the Trees - about the future role of trees in the city
Director: Frank M. Raddatz
Text by Frank M. Raddatz and Somidh Saha
A performance of the Theater of the Anthropocene
Urban trees play a crucial role in the future development of cities. Only a sufficient number of healthy trees can regulate the rising temperatures in cities, with differences of up to four degrees. However, only trees that have reached a certain age and are supplied with sufficient water can protect the health and quality of life of human and non-human city dwellers. City trees play a key role in urban future planning as they provide cooling, moisture and shade, provide numerous ecosystem services and are also hotspots of biodiversity. They form an indispensable habitat for countless creatures, microorganisms, insects and birds.
With drama, puppeteers, singing and music, scientific contributions and video clips, The Circus of Trees presents a multifaceted program about the actors who hold the key to the future of cities in their hands or branches. The Theater of the Anthropocene (www.theaterdesanthropozaen.de) was founded in 2019 at the interface of art and science in the context of the Humboldt University of Berlin. Since then, this stage has played a variety of ecological topics with international actors, especially on stages in German-speaking countries.
The Circus of Trees is the first piece in the Karlsruhe trilogy that the Theater of the Anthropocene is currently developing together with the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), a world-leading technology assessment (TA) facility within the research university Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) (https://www.itas.kit.edu/english/index.php). The piece marks the start of a three-part series of ecological and techno-reflexive science theater at the interfaces of TA research, art and society. KIT-ITAS research arises from dialogues at eye level with society. At the same time, KIT-ITAS advises and conducts research on behalf of the German Bundestag and other political institutions. KIT-ITAS' research is problem-oriented and takes into account the perceptions, wishes and concerns of numerous social actors, for example with regard to environmental problems or the effects of digitalization on society. The orientation towards the goal of sustainable development is crucial for all of the institute's activities.
With their cooperation, the Theater of the Anthropocene and KIT-ITAS want to use ecological and techno-reflective science theater as a means to better harmonize technological developments with social needs and to enable individual and collective learning processes about the relationships between people, other living beings and our increasingly technological environment.
