Theater der Welt 2023 Frankfurt – Offenbach
»Theater der Welt« is considered one of the most important events in the international theatre scene. Initiated by the International Theatre Institute at the end of the 1970s, it allows audiences to experience ground-breaking achievements and aesthetic developments in theatre from all over the world every three years in different cities and regions of Germany.
»Theater der Welt« is the state-of-the-art in performance. Switching venues, curators and organisers for each edition creates valuable synergies: between the local institutions involved, the various theatres in the respective festival cities, the international programme, as well as both local and national audiences. »Theater der Welt« is unique, time and time again.
The 16th edition of the festival will take place from 29 June to 16 July 2023 in Frankfurt and Offenbach – initiated, organised and implemented by the three Frankfurt cultural institutions Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Museum Angewandte Kunst and Schauspiel Frankfurt, as well as the Amt für Kulturmanagement der Stadt Offenbach (Offenbach Council Office for Cultural Management) as associated partner. For the first time in the history of the festival, the choice of programme directors for this edition was primarily motivated by the idea of the greatest possible change of perspective.
A New Ethics of Art.
The programme directors Chiaki Soma and Kyoko Iwaki from the collective »Arts Commons Tokyo« are the first curators for »Theater der Welt« who are not from Europe. Their bold programming concept challenges the existing norms of the Western art and cultural industry in multiple ways. In the wake of the pandemic, they see the need to develop a »new ethic« that establishes the concepts of care, nurturing and healing as further cornerstones of democracy, alongside social justice, voting rights and freedom of expression, minority rights, inclusivity.
»We live in a world in which everyone not only possesses the rights for care, but also, and more importantly, has the ethical obligation to participate in caring actions.«
Chiaki Soma, Kyoko Iwaki
What this means for post-pandemic art will be the subject of the work of some of the world’s most important representatives of the international performance and theatre scene in the summer of 2023 – making »Theater der Welt« an innovative and sensational cultural event, especially for a young and intergenerational audience and far beyond the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region. Digital communication will also make it possible to experience the festival on all continents.
Outstanding international works of theatre will engage in dialogue with the diverse local urban societies, as well as with the glocal communities, connected both locally and internationally. Consistent green marketing is an important part of the festival: »Theater der Welt 2023« will resolutely pursue sustainability, diversity and inclusivity and thus set an example, both in the programming of events and in social discourse. This means, among other things: Conserving resources, minimising CO2 consumption, optimising transport routes, removing barriers and obstacles wherever possible.
Be transparent. Open the doors to the world.
“Theater der Welt Frankfurt-Offenbach 2023”, a festival of the International Theatre Institute (ITI), is organised by Künstlerhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt am Main, Schauspiel Frankfurt and Museum Angewandte Kunst Frankfurt, in cooperation with the Office for Cultural and Sports Management of the City of Offenbach am Main. Funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Hessian Ministry of Science and the Arts, the City of Frankfurt am Main – Cultural Department and the Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain.
