OPEN CALL From November 7th-10th, 2019, the Diskursfestival with the name never again. art/talks/theory will take place in Gießen.

Organised by students of the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies, the interdisciplinary festival has a 34-year-old tradition of international academic and artistic exchange between students, artists and scholars/academics.

This year we are looking for positions situated in artistic and academic research that reflect in their work the implications of our title never again – a demand, a rallying cry, an oxymoron, an imperative, and a social agreement. never again alcohol and cigarettes, never again plastic, never again being late, never again forgetting birthdays, never again falling in love or never say never? n

ever again oxymoronically combines two conflicting temporalities: the ending, negation, and prohibition that are brought down by the first half and the repetition and unresolvedness opened by the second. never again, as a demand for something new, finds itself reflected in the market-driven imperative for creative innovation. Which conditions are currently being placed upon artistic, cultural, and scientific practices and modes of production? How can we fulfill, decline, transform, or subvert these conditions? As a rallying cry, never again aims to distance itself from past events in order to potentiate a supposedly better future. In doing so, it also contributes to a culture of remembrance that wrestles with forms and methods of collective remembering and forgetting. In the presence of increasing historical revisionism and anti-democratic tendencies, it becomes crucial to ask how the past can be accessed apart from a naïve faith in progress. How might never again look as an artistic and scientific methodology? Which responsibilities do we bear? What kinds of attitudes, positions, and motivations could thereby result toward a personal praxis in arts and theory? We consider never again to be the starting point for a critical-utopian questioning of the present, as a playful appropriation of complex realities, as a polemic stubbornness in the face of a maddening day-to-day.

If you want to apply, please send us the filled in application form by June 14th, 2019. Applications can entail already existing works as well as concepts and ideas. Available spaces include stages, seminar and exhibition rooms, and the urban spaces of Gießen. We consider critique talks and discussion formats an important component of our engagement with the invited participants. We can provide travel costs, accommodation, and catering, and look forward to spending time with you at our festival centre. Our payment is based on the minimum fee recommended by the Bundesverband freier darstellender künste. We aim to organize as accessible a festival space as possible. We especially encourage applications from artists and scholars/researchers who deal with difficulties accessing festivals. Please don´t hesitate to ask any questions you might have via email. We are looking forward to your application! Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein!