On Magic in the Digital Age
March 2–12, 2023
HAU Hebbel am Ufer
HAU1, Stresemannstr. 29, 10963 Berlin
HAU2, Hallesches Ufer 34, 10963 Berlin
HAU3 Tempelhofer Ufer 10, 10963 Berlin
HAU4, digital stage
With: Ulduz Ahmadzadeh / ATASH contemporary dance company, Nadezhda Bey, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Ariel Efraim Ashbel and friends, Karin Ferrari, Wellington Gadelha, Núria Guiu, Adham Hafez, Houseclub präsentiert: Caliimusik & Serkan Ünsal, Eisa Jocson, Paul Maheke, Mazaher, Nkisi, Pemanagpo, Philippe Quesne, Valerie Renay, She She Pop, Die Wilde Jagd, Lu Yang
Where has the magical gone in the age of digital and societal transformation? How does the hybrid present affect collective sensory experiences and rituals? Is it the apps and everyday devices in which the magic of the present lies dormant? Or has the obliteration of humanity through artificial intelligence become a more realistic scenario than the end of capitalism? And what spaces can a postcolonial and anti-capitalist reference to the magical (re)open? In the face of a dysfunctional social system, characterized by ecological and economic exploitation and the massive persistence of colonial structures into the present, the HAU festival Spirits, Jinns & Avatars sets off in search of strategies of (re)enchantment, spanning an arc between material and immaterial, between analog and digital worlds, between dance, performance, theatre, music, film, game, visual art and net art. Magic and technology are not considered as opposing, mutually repulsive poles, but rather as coexisting factors of a present that needs to be changed by all available means for the sake of the future.
A festival by HAU Hebbel am Ufer. Supported within the framework of the Alliance of International Production Houses by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.
