SKART & Masters
of the Universe:
War Games
Performance (12 +)
In the roughly 300,000-year-old history of modern humankind, there has never been a moment when there wasn’t a war being waged somewhere in the world. Although most people on Earth seem to be against it, there are few endeavors that Homo sapiens carries out as reliably as mass murder. Like a bad habit, war regularly changes its form and is continually condemned—yet it never truly goes out of style. In their latest production, »War Games,« the intergenerational collective SKART & Masters of the Universe, together with performers from the inclusive ensemble Meine Damen und Herren , explores the phenomenon of war as performative cultural history. Together with students from the Altona district school, they examine armed conflicts as societal vicious cycles. In the form of artistic endless loops, they pose the question: Why isn’t »Never again!« happening right now?
»When such diverse people manage to create such a beautiful evening together about something as terrible as war, then surely all is not lost yet. Or is it?«
(Robert Matthies, TAZ)
About the Artists
SKART / Masters of the Universe is a multi-generational performance collective from Hamburg, with members ranging in age from 8 to 40, that was founded at Kampnagel in 2013 with the goal of developing performance theater for all age groups and collaborating on an equal and professional footing despite age-related structural power imbalances. Since then, they have produced eight performances, a conference, and a publication in cooperation with Kampnagel, as well as developing a distinctive artistic style with high recognition value and a dedicated fan community. For »War Games,« the group has once again invited several members of the ensemble Meine Damen und Herren.
skartskart.com ↗
Instagram @skart.skart_motu ↗
The inclusive Hamburg-based ensemble Meine Damen und Herren has been regularly presenting works at Kampnagel since 1995. In recent years, the artists have gradually moved away from their previous working methods as an ensemble with rotating guest directors and have embarked on a journey to become a collective that develops its own projects on an equal footing and also implements structural participation in a sustainable manner. For their artistic innovation and pioneering development, they were awarded the prestigious Tabori Prize in 2022. Meine Damen und Herren previously collaborated with SKART & Masters of the Universe on the works »Welt ohne uns,« »Spielen #1,« and »Funny Games.«
meinedamenundherren.net ↗
Instagram @meinedamenundherren_theater
Credits
By and featuring:
SKART & Masters of the Universe, Björn Auftrag, Charlotte Heidenreich, Friederike Jaglitz, Deniz Khan, Lone Lausen, Isabella Lüthe, Maja Maciak, Stephan Mahn, Tintin Patrone, Janne Plutat, Lars Rubarth, Minu Schilling, Mark Schröppel, Sina Schröppel, Michael Schumacher, Dasniya Sommer, Anna Teuwen, Henrik Weber.
Special thanks to:
The Altona District School, Ulrich Schöttker, Lisa Hachenberg, Anneke Naumann, Dörte Beutler, Kristofer Storey, the Neue Schule Hamburg, the Eidelstedt District School, Julie Kuhn, the University of Hildesheim Foundation, Maike Gunsilius, Charlotte Heidemann, Maribel Heinzelmann, Alina Hellmann, Zuzanna Kostorz, Tilmann Lindner, Clemens Wießner, Marc André Klotz, Susanne Klotz, Dasniya and Yuri Sommer, Torsten Wolfsdorff, Medico International, Tobias Lotter, the team at MD&H, and the entire Kampnagel team.
WAR GAMES is a production by SKART & Masters of the Universe and Kampnagel, supported by the Jupiter program—Performing Arts for Young Audiences of the German Federal Cultural Foundation. Funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, as well as the Hamburg Cultural Foundation. The performances take place as part of the Democracy Festival and are a collaboration with the ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS.