FAVORITEN Festival 2022 – (Un)Learning for possible futures

At the invitation of the International Visitors Programme, six international theatre makers, academics, dramaturges and cultural managers from India, Kenya, Nigeria, Poland, South Africa and the United Kingdom had the opportunity to visit the FAVORITEN Festival 2022 in Dortmund from 15 to 19 September, which was held under the motto "(Un)Learning for possible futures".

In addition to visiting numerous performances in Dortmund, the guests met with the artistic director trio of FAVORITEN 2022, Anne Mahlow, Sina-Marie Schneller and Margo Zālīte, as well as Ulrike Seybold, Managing Director of the Landesbüro Freie Darstellende Künste NRW (State Office for the Independent Performing Arts NRW). Another focus was the presentation of the international digital residencies "(Un)Learning Distances", in particular the digital residency on the social VR platform "togather" as part of the networking activities of the International Visitors Programme: The guests also had the opportunity to exchange ideas on site with the project participants Elena Tilli (Alumna Academy for Theatre and Digitality and artist, Dortmund), Roman Senkl (Department of Digital Arts / Theatre Dortmund), Arnab Banerjee, Al-jaž Koprivnikar and Bouke Mekel (Alumni International Visitors Programme), who had travelled to the venue. This also included a visit to "togather"'s cooperation partner, the Academy for Theatre and Digitality at Dortmund Theatre, as well as an exchange with director Marcus Lobbes.

The programme was supplemented by a visit to the FFT in Düsseldorf and a meeting there with Kathrin Tiedemann, Artistic Director and Managing Director, as well as a visit and meeting at PACT Zollverein in Essen. The guests also had the opportunity to visit the exhibition "Fiona Banner aka The Vanity Press: Pranayama Typhoon Soft Parts Wing Flap Fin" at Hartware Medien-KunstVerein (HMKV) in Dortmund and to meet Julia Wissert, artistic director of Schauspiel at Dortmund Theatre, for a discussion.