Prof. Sabine Wilke was awarded a residency as Research Fellow at the Freie Universität Berlin

Submitted by Michael Neininger on
Sabine Wilke

Professor Sabine Wilke was awarded a 10-month residency as a Research Fellow at the International Research Center „Interweaving Performance Cultures“ at the Freie Universität Berlin for a project on „Anthropocene Performances: Theorizing Interweaving Beyond Postcolonialism.“

The Center for Interweaving Performance Cultures at the Freie Universität is a think tank for research on the history of theater and performance. The aim of the Center is to introduce a new perspective to the discipline of theater and performance research that is global in scope and collaborative by design. The idea behind the concept of interweaving is that productions from different parts of the world come together and create a unique aesthetic experience like in international theater festivals, an experience that is culturally diverse and ultimately political. Theater is recognized as a cultural model for successfully integrating global perspectives while, at the same time, posing questions about how cultural identities emerge.

Each year a cohort of fellows is invited to spend a semester or an entire academic year at the Center and work on a project related to the history of performance cultures. Fellows regularly attend the Tuesday colloquium and attend lectures, workshops, and tea time with visiting lecturers. Sabine Wilke was awarded a 10-month residency as "Research Fellow" to work on a project about "Anthropocene Performances: Theorizing Interweaving beyond Postcolonialism."

Prof. Wilke plans to research and describe the role of performance in the Anthropocene, i.e., a concept that acknowledges the impact of human activity in shaping the Earth's future and addresses the many entanglements of humans and nonhuman nature. Many recent performance artworks have integrated environmental perspectives or acknowledged human/nature entanglements by rethinking what constitutes agency and togetherness. Human actors often play along with non-human actors to create an experience that models processes of interweaving that go beyond traditional concepts of what is human and how we inhabit this Earth together with other humans and nonhumans.  

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