New forms of citizenship are developing in the cities of the 21st century: self-organized and independent from the state, they often not only creatively negotiate bur also practically shape the way we live together. From 2015 to 2017, the postgraduate programme Performing Citizenship explored articulations of this new urban citizenship and put into practice the desire and right for participation with performative means. Is it possible to conceive of a ‘performative democracy’ beyond our system of representative democracy?
What comes into focus is a gap between traditional institutions such as political parties, public authorities or unions and a self-confident and self-organized (nonviolent) new citizenry, which increasingly contributes to resolving urban crisis situations with artistic means.
Since artistic practices play an important role in this context, the postgraduate programme was conceived methodologically as an artistic-academic cooperation. The programme qualified doctoral candidates both artistically and academically, and contributed to establishing and advancing Hamburg’s pioneering role in the development (and refinement) of artistic research. The programme included a colloquium, workshops, public events, practical experiments and interventions in public space to investigate performing citizenship from a multi- and transdisciplinary perspective, blending urban studies, cultural education, choreography, philosophy, urban design and cultural studies.
Performing Citizenship was a cooperation of:
funded by:
