Affirmative Nachhaltigkeit II

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Subject according curriculum

Politics & Aesthetics

Teachers

Katharina Alsen , Dr. Benjamin Sprick

Room

Keine Angabe

Duration

1.5 Semesterwochenstunden

Description

The block seminar follows on from the artistic-scientific symposium "Affirmative Sustainability" on 17.04.2026 at the Theaterakademie. It takes up central questions from the event and explores them in greater depth through joint reading and discussion.

In political and media debates, the sustainable use of resources is usually portrayed negatively and associated with loss and restriction. The arts and their history show an alternative perspective: practices such as moderation, reduction or conscious omission can be productive and positive. This understanding is referred to as "affirmative sustainability". The seminar examines how artistic approaches affirmatively shape renunciation and the moderate use of resources and thus open up a productive 'epistemology of scarcity'. The focus here is on the ecological and social dimensions of sustainability. Sustainability is understood above all as relational work - between people, materials, resources, institutions and aesthetic forms. This perspective ties in with cultural-theoretical, sociological and philosophical positions of the 21st century.

In the face of climate change, biodiversity loss and social inequality, technical or political solutions often dominate the discourse. Less attention is paid to the power of cultural imagination in the concert of opinions and positions: what images of the future can we create and how do our actions influence the register of artistic utopias? Sustainability can be thought of as a productive practice that has its own aesthetic and social qualities. The performative arts in particular offer a suitable field of research for this. They are processual and ephemeral, work with living bodies and are based on the relationship between performers and audience. This allows relationships to be redesigned, materials to be reused and resources to be used more consciously.

In the practice of performative arts, renunciation - for example of large stage sets or energy-intensive processes - can become a source of aesthetic innovation. Minimalism, repurposing and openness do not appear as deficiencies, but rather as creative challenges that give rise to new forms of experiencing space, body, material and audience, which will be discussed together in the seminar following the symposium.

Literature

Ingolfur Blühdorn (2024): Unsustainability. On the way to a different modernity, Berlin; ders. et al. (eds.) (2019): Sustainable Unsustainability, Bielefeld; Camilla Brudin Borg et al. (eds.) (2024): Contemporary Ecocritical Methods, Lanham; Robert Fleck (2023): Art and Ecology, Vienna/Hamburg; Ulrich Grober (2010): Die Entdeckung der Nachhaltigkeit. Kulturgeschichte eines Begriffs, Munich; Daniela Hahn et al. (eds.) (2015): Ecology and the Arts, Paderborn; Kai Mitschele et al. (eds.) (2013): Werkbegriff Nachhaltigkeit. Resonances of a guiding principle, Bielefeld; Maren Möhring (2023): "Von Mangel und Überfluss. Economic concepts of scarcity from the 16th century to the Anthropocene", Geschichte und Gesellschaft; Andreas Reckwitz (2024): Verlust. Ein Grundproblem der Moderne, Berlin; Hartmut von Sass (ed.) (2026): Future Emotions, Berlin; Iphigenia Taxopoulou (2023): Sustainable Theater. Theory, Context, Practice, London; Lisa Woynarski (2020): Ecodramaturgies. Theatre, Performance and Climate Change, Cham; Theatre Green Book. A Guide to Sustainable Theatre Practice, London.

Credits

2 Creditpoints

Comments

Interest in the combination of theory and artistic practice, a short presentation in the seminar and a written reflection are required to obtain credit points. Optional participation without the awarding of credit points is also possible and takes place after consultation with the lecturers.

Registration: Please send to katharina.alsen@hfmt-hamburg.de and benjamin.sprick@hfmt-hamburg.de by 17.04.2026

Modules

Modul Theorie Master Dramaturgie, Wahlmodul Master Dramaturgie, Theorie 1, Theorie 2, Theorie 1, Theorie 2, Modul Theorie 1 Schauspiel, Regie Schauspiel, Regie Musiktheater, Modul Theorie 2 Schauspiel, Regie Schauspiel, Regie Musiktheater, Modul Theorie 3 Schauspiel, Regie Schauspiel, Regie Musiktheater, Wahlmodul 2 Regie Musiktheater, Regie Schauspiel, Wahlmodul freie Wahl (alle Studiengänge), Wahlmodul Lehramt, Studium generale Wahlmodul Master, Wahlmodul 1 Regie, Wahlmodul 2 Regie