Theater der Dinge 2024

Puppet, figure and object theater has always been excited about spiritual creatures. That isn’t particularly surprising: after all, the spirit, or the soul, is already found in the term “animation” and thus is able to bring objects to life.

In its 2024 edition, Theater der Dinge turns its gaze toward a variety of social fields and problems with the figure of the spirits: to what extent do hauntings have to do with the global economy, exploitation or power relationships? With what repressed trauma and fears do ghosts confront us? And can we use animist ideas to develop our contemporary living reality between ecological disaster and digital transformation?

At the center of the 2024 edition of Theater der Dinge is the performative exhibition Geisterhaus, or Haunted House, which Schaubude Berlin has developed together with Berlin-based artists and which is located at the interface between the performing arts and the visual arts. This parcours through all rooms of the Schaubude Berlin shows new works between performance and installation by Neïtah Janzing, the KMZ Kollektiv, Macromatter, Naoko Tanaka, Theater Textura and Guests and theaterworks.

The festival presents the German-language premiere of the large-format installation Dimonis by the Catalan duo cabosanroque, the premiere of the new mask-beatbox piece Typen by Theater Strahl, the festival co-production Mitzis Mensch by Ariel Doron, guest performances by artists from Bulgaria, Catalonia, Norway, Ukraine, Hungary and Germany as well as an audience development program.

Main funder: Hauptstadtkulturfonds (HKF)

Tickets at schaubude.berlin.