Spielarten des Populären / Variations of the Popular (working title)

With “Spielarten des Populären” (Variations of the Popular) (working title), HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts in Dresden will explore the relationship between contemporary performance art and popular culture in everyday life, the media, politics and society. Taking place in spring and summer 2026, the festival is being organised in cooperation with SFB 1472 at the University of Siegen and in collaboration with renowned performance artists including Gob Squad, Dan Daw, Sebastian Weber, Joana Tischkau, Salia Sanou and the Groupe Acrobatique de Tanger. The stage programme will be complemented by a scholarly discourse and supporting programme, residencies, workshops and concerts.

“Popular is what attracts the attention of many people” is the thesis of the DFG Collaborative Research Centre on the “Transformation of the Popular” at the University of Siegen, whose research forms the basis of this project. If the popular is not linked to high or pop culture or even to quality or morality, but rather to what attracts the attention of many people, various questions arise. For example, how and why have anti-democratic forces recently gained popularity despite or because of the way they present themselves in public? Meanwhile, artistic forms such as theatre and performance art are under constant pressure to justify themselves.
“Theatre without an audience is nonsense”, Bertolt Brecht argued. The festival brings together theatre and performance artists who use popular formats such as acrobatics, clowning, sports, street dance and pop songs to engage, move and entertain the audience, and to create a safe space – as well as a brave space – in which not everything has to please, yet still attracts attention.

Artistic direction: André Schallenberg
Artists: Groupe Acrobatique de Tanger, Salia Sanou, Gob Squad, Joana Tischkau, Sebastian Weber

Performances and symposium: HELLERAU - European Centre for the Arts, Dresden: May–June 2026 (specific dates tbc)