Mariagiulia Serantoni, Andrea Parolin, Darko Radosavljev, Lea Moro, Alex Piasente-Szymański: “THE SHOW MUST GO ON!" Maybe…

…Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe not” — claims In Recess, the opening show of Tanzfabrik‘s programme fold ‘Resonant Threads’. Kicking off with an enchanting set-up that makes the most of the wonders of stagecraft: the epic music, mesmerising lighting and a stylish set design — the show then suddenly suspends to reflect on why we got together in the first place. The quote in the title comes from a speech by Alex Piasente-Szymański, the author and sole performer of In Recess, who takes to the stage to question the very necessity of his own show. His speech performatively interrupts parts of the “real show”, packed with spectacular moments like a rendition of song My Funny Valentine, reading poetry engulfed in romantic fog, and a beautiful dance with crutches. This intervention functions as a kind of strike, with perpetual cultural production being paused in support of political dissent. In the speech Piasente-Szymański articulates a sense of disquietude and disillusionment with the political agency of art. He refers to an essay by film director Pary El-Qalqili and law researcher Nahed Samour, highlighting how art and cultural institutions in Berlin have failed to maintain their role as spaces for reflection, grief and exchange in the recent months.^[1]. Funded by federal or city budgets, the institutions seem to find themselves in an extremely vulnerable position due to the heightened political tensions. In such cases, the expression of dissent has often taken place in the streets, where practices of dissent, contradiction, accusation, collective mourning and solidarity continue to unfold. Under these circumstances, the role of art is called into question.

The twelfth edition of the ‘Resonant Threads’ fold actively reflects, challenges and celebrates art as a form of labour, that reproduces spaces for ideas, relations and the community. The four performances of the programme — In Recess byAlex Piasente-Szymański, Sechs Schwesternby Lea Moro, AGiTA by Mariagiulia Serantoni and Andrea Parolin, and Salaš by Darko Radosavljev — raise questions on the role of art, and how should the community be lived in the future. The aesthetically diverse shows were accompanied by a politically elaborate framework in the form of the Manifesto for the Beautiful Life, which had been printed and displayed on the walls,.Written collectively by the General Assembly NRW Deutschland, the Manifesto emerged as a powerful call to preserve a pluralistic, solidary society in the face of rising treats of discrimitative politics and public sphere disintegration. Drafted by artists and cultural workers ahead of the federal election, the manifesto urges the cultural community to unite against the ongoing disturbing trends. It rejects the notion of culture and art as a luxury for elites or an unprofitable business, affirming instead that they are essential pillars of society. The manifesto calls for collective resistance to hatred and exclusion, emphasising that safeguarding democracy requires defending spaces for artistic and social expression.

The manifesto brings forward a beautiful metaphor of a cultural space as a transmission tower (or electricity pylon) — constantly “sending warmth, light, and resistance, connecting people far and wide.” ^[2] Cultural spaces generate energy and transmit the power needed to sustain a society based on solidarity and openness. As if to embody the metaphor, Mariagiulia Serantoni and Andrea Parolin in their work AGiTA created a language of communication through electrical discharges, presenting the body as a dynamic resonant tool. In the piece, they put machine-generated sounds into a dialogue with sounds made by the performer’s body. This charged show conjured up images of Ada Lovelace or Nikola Tesla — both of whose inventions contributed to the development of electronic communication — and provided a context for thinking dance as a medium that creates a resonant field for connection.

The fascinating story of Ada Lovelace, English mathematician and daughter of Lord Byron, is told by Sadie Plant in her book Zeros + Ones: Digital Women + the New Technoculture, where she traces the common history of weaving and programming, both rooted in social reproductive labour.^[3] She highlights the similarity between the analytical machine, the modern computer precursor, and the Jacquard loom in its use of punched cards, and refers to the practice of weaving as the labour of reproducing culture, developing the analogy with the communicative function of computing machines. In this sense, choreographer Lea Moro’s reflection on sisterhood in Sechs Schwestern, another show on the fold, addresses weaving and cooking practices as a kind of social reproductive labour, recalling the same metaphor of art as a medium for connecting people far and wide. This interest to labour and practices that mediate experience put Sechs Schwestern in dialogue with Salaš – a working tale by Darko Radosavljev, another performance part of ‘Resonant Threads’. Radosavljev mediates narratives of Serbian family and farm labourer community memory through movement and bodily physicality. Sechs Schwestern focuses, however, on the work of reproducing a space designed according to certain values focusing on inclusion — audio description is used in the piece both as a means of accessibility for visually impaired people and as a means of artistic expression. In addition, the German-language text is accompanied by English subtitles to make it accessible to English-speaking audiences.

Another recurring theme within this programme focus is deep considerations of the future. Despite the artists’ divergent positions and aesthetic approaches, as well as visions of the role of art, they all share a melancholic mood oscillating between hope and disillusionment. “The future is scary” —  laments In Recess. Frustrated by the diminishing impact of artistic labour — now increasingly under attack by disruptive forces — and disillusioned with art’s limited agency in today’s reality, a growing number of artists around me are turning toward more direct political engagement. Some are studying law, founding human rights organisations, defending political prisoners, or leading trade unions. AGiTA’s metaphor of a transmission tower which sees the role of art as a form of labour that sustains spaces for ideas, relationships, and community, is another way to deal with an imagination of the future. To the question implicitly posed by Piasente-Szymański in In Recess — should the show go on?— Sechs Schwestern responds with resilience and determination:“We will keep working, no matter what the future brings”.

To me, it refers to the distinction between productive labour and reproductive labour, as explored in social reproduction theory — art could be understood not as a politically productive act, but as a reproductive work of maintaining communities and specific forms of being together. ^[4] For my last birthday, friends who once ran a cultural centre in Russia — until it was forced to shut down for political reasons — gave me a notebook. Inside, they had written: “Art is perhaps the friends you make along the way.” After all, our friendship is what keeps us going.