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Mobilise/Demobilise began as an artistic response to a world of increasing conflict, crisis and emergency, before Covid19 lockdowns and travel restrictions forced us to live more and more of our lives online. Now, issues of human mobility and the impact of mobile technologies have become even more urgent. The unsustainability and inequality of the old “normal” can no longer be ignored, and we must imagine a new way forward. Mobilise/Demobilise brings a critical and artistic perspective to the current crises.
Over the past year, artists in Germany, Austria, Sweden and Aotearoa New Zealand have researched the theme and learned to use the online platform UpStage for presenting live online events. Different thematic threads have emerged in each locations. In Austria, the artists’ platform Schaumbad Freies Atelierhaus Graz have asked the public what kind of a city they want, and how might the city look without cars. In Malmo, Sweden, Teater InterAkt is working with young skaters to understand their perspective on issues of mobility and the environment. And in Whakatū (Nelson, NZ) the historic shifting of the tideway is used as a metaphor for the relationship between human expansion and the natural environment.
Connecting and underscoring the performances are the universal concepts of loss and grief associated with climate change and societal upheaval that the world is experiencing. Audiences in Europe and globally will be invited to reflect on and discuss the theme and concepts at the weekend’s opening and closing events.
The performances launch the newly “mobilised” version of UpStage, which now functions on mobile devices as well as desktop and laptop computers and incorporates many new features. Audiences click on a link and UpStage opens in a web browser; they can interact in real time via text chat and reaction emojis.
Mobilise/Demobilise is a Creative Europe funded collaboration between Teater Interakt (Sweden), Schaumbad – Freies Atelierhaus Graz (Austria) and UpStage@CCT (the Centre for the Cultivation of Technology, Germany). Schaumbad’s participation is supported by the Bundesministerium für Kunst, Kultur, öffentliche Dienst und Sport (Austria).
Participating Artists:
Katharina Aschauer, Manel Ruiz Blas, cym, Parnian Faizi, Alexandra Gschiel, Eva-Maria Gugg, Doris Jauk-Hinz, Anita Hofer, Rebecca Hofer, Helen Varley Jamieson, Sara Larsdotter Hallquist, Jesper Miikman, Cecilia Nkolina, Keyvan Paydar, John-Paul Pochin, Lyn Russell, Sally Shaw, Vicki Smith, Eva Ursprung, Faye Wulff and Karl Wulff.
Partners:
UpStage is an online platform for cyberformance (networked performance) and an international community of artists. The platform was first developed in Aotearoa New Zealand in 2003 and since then has hosted many online festivals, performances and events. www.upstage.org.nz
Teater Interakt is a community theatre company based in Malmö, Sweden, that works intensively together with people with experience of migration, mainly in the asylum-process, creating performances communicating alternative narratives of migration and Swedish identity. www.teaterinterakt.se
Schaumbad – Freies Atelierhaus Graz is a multi-disciplinary artists’ platform in Graz, Austria that provides studios for about 30 artists, and organises exhibitions, events and intercultural exchanges. www.schaumbad.mur.at
The Center for the Cultivation of Technology acts as a host organisation for international free software projects, providing organisational infrastructure. www.techcultivation.org
