AFTER DEMOCRACY
Performative tour through the Frankfurt Römer
A production by andpartnersincrime and Mañana Bold as part of the program “Formations of Power – Performing Democracy”
July 28-30, 2023 // Free admission
Fast-forward to the year 2038, and theaters and parliaments have long been empty. Representative democracy is listed in history textbooks in the chapter "Forms of Government in the 19th and 20th Centuries."
What led to its collapse remains unclear: Was it the pandemic of the 2020s, which is now widely considered a blueprint for a post-democratic social order? Was it the so-called "free" market, which took over large parts of political decision-making from 1990 onwards? Was it the subsequent rise of authoritarian parties that undermined democracy from within? Or did we simply stop believing at some point in the ability to shape our present?
In pursuit of these questions, history professor Shahrzad Osterer and her research assistant Marc Behrens lead us through the ruins of Frankfurt's town hall.
Following their acclaimed online performance "The Parliament," andpartnersincrime are now opening the doors of the "real" Frankfurt City Hall to the public for the first time. On a roughly 90-minute walk through the Römer, they will show us the forgotten ruins of democracy, which until now were only accessible to a small group of insiders.
The tour is free and starts at the main entrance of the Frankfurt Historical Museum.
Please register at anmeldung@mananabold.de
Language: German
Duration: approx. 90 minutes
Cast & Credits
Text and artistic direction: Eleonora Herder
Dramaturgy and research: Tim Schuster
Performer and speaker: Shahrzad Osterer
Composition, sound design, performance: Marc Behrens
Live music: Sze Fong Yeong
Design and stage design: Anna Sukhova
Costume: Tanya Tverdokhlebova
Live video technology and camera: Michelle Koprow Video documentation: Lukas Birkhofer
Assistant: Joanna Plastrotmann
Creative Producer: Elena Polzer (honest work)
Public Relations: Tim Schuster & Joanna Plastrotmann
With speeches by: Inga Bendukat, Stephan Siegler and Matthias Pees
A production by andpartnersincrime and Mañana Bold. The program Formations of "Power – Performing Democracy" is supported by the Kunstfonds Foundation and the Cultural Office of the City of Frankfurt am Main as part of the 175th anniversary of the National Assembly in the Paulskirche. The program's cooperation partners are the Paulskirche Network and the Lindley Lindenbergs Hotel. "After Democracy" is based on the production "DAS PARLAMENT," which was funded by the Cultural Office of the City of Frankfurt, the Hessian Ministry of Science and the Arts, and the Performing Arts Fund. It is an independent development within the curated program of the Mañana Bold e.V. art association during the Paulskirche Network's Days of Democracy. This new production is made possible and supported by the Kunstfonds Foundation and the Cultural Office of the City of Frankfurt.
In cooperation with Künstlerhaus Mousonturm and Historisches Museum Frankfurt
Supported by the Cultural Office of the City of Frankfurt, the Hessian Ministry of Science and Art and the Performing Arts Fund
Friday 28.07.2023, 15:30h !FULLY BOOKED!
Saturday 29.07.2023, 12:00h and 15:30h !FULLY BOOKED!
Sunday 30.07.2023, 12:00h and 15:30h !FULLY BOOKED!
Admission is free. Registration is possible until 2 hours before the start of the walk at: anmeldung@mananabold.de
Start at the Frankfurt Historical Museum. Saalhof 1 (formerly Fahrtor 2), 60311 Frankfurt.
The walk is barrier-free.
Video documentation of the performance:
"After Democracy seems, more than anything else, a plea for the theater. Not only as a civic institution and temple of culture, but above all as a social space where, night after night, season after season, the question of coexistence is renegotiated." Frankfurter Rundschau
„In der Performance „After Democracy“ wagen sich andpartnersincrime an ein ziemlich düsteres Gedankenexperiment, denn hier ist die Demokratie bereits gescheitert. Zeitzeug*innen kommen zu Wort und Herr- schaftssymbole der Römer-Architektur werden genauer in den Blick genommen. Was war repräsenta- tive Demokratie, wie hat sie funktioniert?“ Schirn Magazine
"The humor in the deliberately chaotic Walk certainly works. But the background is serious. [...] The play is a welcome and, above all, successful reminder that democracy can never be taken for granted." Frankfurter Rundschau