An initiative of the
Theme Nights
As part of the project “68/89 – Art.Contemporary.History”, six theme nights were developed by German, Czech and Slovak historians, theatre-makers and artists, which were then held in Berlin, Prague, Hamburg, Brno and Žilina. In conjunction with each theme night, a journal bearing the same title was published. For the final evening the collected journals were presented in book form under the title Transit 68/89, published by the Metropol Verlag in Berlin.
CROSSING 68/89
30.05.2008, Academy of the Arts, Berlin
Held at the Academy of the Arts located on Berlin’s Pariser Platz, the theme night “CROSSING 68/89 – Protest, Reform and New Cultural Directions between Prague and Berlin” raised the curtain on the project “68/89 – Art.Contemporary.History”. Different events, experiences and life-shaping influences are associated with the label of “1968” in East and West. Forty years later, contemporary witnesses, historians and artists from East and West revisited the Prague Spring and the European student protests in a long theme night made up of discussion rounds, performances, concerts, films and readings. The focal points of attention were the encounters between those involved in East and West and how they perceived one another, as well as the transference of their ideas in a pop and protest culture that transgressed national boundaries.
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MISUNDERSTANDING 68/89
15.06.-16.06.2008, Archa Theatre, Prague
In the format of a “scholarly theatre”, the numerous misunderstandings, mis- and overinterpretations as well as the mystifications associated with the year 1968 were articulated. In Prague’s Archa Theatre historians, contemporary witnesses and artists came together and represented their positions through music, performances, fashion showings and discussions.
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PERFORMING 68/89
01.11.-02.11.2008, Kampnagel, Hamburg
The theme nights held under the title “PERFORMING 68/89” at Hamburg’s Kampnagel were conceived as a “congress on the history of music in times of upheaval”, focusing on the triumph pop culture celebrated in the sixties in Europe. In both East and West pop songs were a political issue. What was the message of this music and which songs were especially important for the 1968ers on both sides of the Iron Curtain? And finally: can music still act as a mouthpiece for social change today?
TRANSFORMING 68/89
08.11.-17.11.2008, Theater Husa na provázku / The Goose on the Line (DHNP), Brno
The fourth thematic event in the project “68/89 – Art.Contemporary.History” took place in Brno in the Czech Republic as part of the ten-day “Velvet Festival or: an Autumn Dream of Spring”. Art happenings, discussions and concerts, dramatic readings and much more presented the force fields of 68 and 89 from a German and a Czech standpoint. An editorial team calling itself the “Velvet Press” set up a desk in the theatre’s foyer and used journalistic, literary and artistic means to explore the lines of perspective emerging between 1968, 1989 and the present.
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MEMORY KONTROL 19X8
17.11.-21.11.2008, Stanica Žilina-Zárečie
From 17th to 21st November 2008, the Slovak town of Žilina hosted the “19X8” festival, which reflects on the year 1968 and its repercussions in both public as well as private life in a series of film screenings, discussions, exhibitions and theatre performances.
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TRANSIT 89. Horizons and Limits
08.12.2008, Theaterdiscounter, Berlin
Under the motto “TRANSIT 89 – Horizons and Limits” this theme night was devoted to the upheaval of 1989/90, locating it as an intersection point for cultural developments from the 68 revolt through to the present: how important for us today are the experiences of revolt and radical change as reference points for intellectual reflections and artistic positions situated beyond the confining frenzy of official commemoration?
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