Intro: We Are In This Together But We Are Not the Same

In the spirit of performative urbanism, Festival Theaterformen is not only bringing performances into the city but also turning the city itself into a performance. The Raschplatzhochstraße is the location for an architectonic and artistic intervention that has never been there before, providing a space for artists and citizens of Hanover to bring together ideas, visions of the future and utopias on the theme of climate justice – a gigantic urban open space given over to the people of the city for eleven days.

At the core of the Hochstraße project is a large-scale participatory process involving over 30 Hanover-based initiatives under the motto “We are in this together, but we are not the same” and foregrounding marginalised perspectives on the climate crisis. In addition, indigenous artists with disabilities will share their practices, experiences and knowledge at this particular site, which was created for a car-friendly city at the end of the sixties. In dialogue and cooperation with the people of Hanover, everyone will be discussing perspectives on nature, energy and consumption and asking what a (climate-)just city might look like.  

Here, under the title “Urban Laboratory”, we are bringing together all the Hanover-based initiatives and international artists who are offering contributions, workshops and much more on the Raschplatzhochstraße, and who are continuing to work on projects and ideas in the weeks leading up to the festival.

Anna Mülter, as the artistic director, is responsible for the urban laboratory; she describes the project as follows: “The intention behind our temporary intervention is not to demand that the Raschplatzhochstraße be closed permanently, as there are more intelligent, longer-term solutions for this, but we want to hand this site over to the people of the city for the duration of the festival and work together with them to develop new visions and designs for the future. A place where there will be gastronomy, rest areas, and space for artistic performances, installations and DJ evenings, as well as for collective dialogue and workshop formats.”  

We will announce information on how to register on the website around a week before the start of the festival.

Funded by Kulturstiftung des Bundes