Academic literature on the topic 'Theater, Tanz, Film'

Dieser Beitrag stellt eine kommentierte Zusammenfassung der Podiumsdiskussion zu „Die Künste im Fremdsprachenunterricht“ vor, die im Rahmen des 28. Kongresses der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Fremdsprachenforschung (DGFF) 2019 in Würzburg stattfand. Fünf Experten*innen, die sich mit dem Einsatz der Künste (Theater, Literatur, Film, Musik, Bildende Kunst und Tanz) in der Fremdsprachenlehre aus Sicht von Forschung und Unterrichtspraxis beschäftigen, diskutierten dort gemeinsam zentrale Fragen des Feldes (z.B. Welche Lernziele können über die Künste im Fremdsprachenunterricht verfolgt werden? Wie können die Künste in die Lehrer*innenbildung einbezogen werden? Wie können die Künste in die Praxis in Schule und Unterricht integriert werden? usw.). Die Antworten der Experten*innen während der Diskussion werden – aus Gründen der besseren Lesbarkeit – gebündelt wiedergeben und im Anschluss weiterführend kommentiert.

IntroductionCirque du Soleil, the largest live entertainment company in the world, has eight standing shows in Las Vegas alone, KÀ, Love, Mystère, Zumanity, Believe, Michael Jackson ONE, Zarkana and O. Close to 150 million spectators have seen Cirque du Soleil shows since the company’s beginnings in 1984 and it is estimated that over 15 million spectators will see a Cirque du Soleil show in 2014 (Cirque du Soleil). The Cirque du Soleil concept of circus as a form of theatre, with simple, often archetypal, narrative arcs conveyed without words, virtuoso physicality with the circus artists presented as characters in a fictional world, cutting-edge lighting and visuals, extraordinary innovative staging, and the uptake of new technology for special effects can all be linked back to an early form of circus which is sometimes termed illegitimate circus. In the late 18th century and early 19th century, in the age of Romanticism, only two theatres in London, Covent Garden and Drury Lane, plus the summer theatre in the Haymarket, had royal patents allowing them to produce plays or text-based productions, and these were considered legitimate theatres. (These theatres retained this monopoly until the Theatre Regulation Act of 1843; Saxon 301.) Other circuses and theatres such as Astley’s Amphitheatre, which were precluded from performing text-based works by the terms of their licenses, have been termed illegitimate (Moody 1). Perversely, the effect of licensing venues in this way, instead of having the desired effect of enshrining some particular forms of expression and “casting all others beyond the cultural pale,” served instead to help to cultivate a different kind of theatrical landscape, “a theatrical terrain with a new, rich and varied dramatic ecology” (Reed 255). A fundamental change to the theatrical culture of London took place, and pivotal to “that transformation was the emergence of an illegitimate theatrical culture” (Moody 1) with circus at its heart. An innovative and different form of performance, a theatre of the body, featuring spectacle and athleticism emerged, with “a sensuous, spectacular aesthetic largely wordless except for the lyrics of songs” (Bratton 117).This writing sets out to explore some of the strong parallels between the aesthetic that emerged in this early illegitimate circus and the aesthetic of the Montreal-based, multi-billion dollar entertainment empire of Cirque du Soleil. Although it is not fighting against legal restrictions and can in no way be considered illegitimate, the circus of Cirque du Soleil can be seen to be the descendant of the early circus entrepreneurs and their illegitimate aesthetic which arose out of the desire to find ways to continue to attract audiences to their shows in spite of the restrictions of the licenses granted to them. BackgroundCircus has served as an inspiration for many innovatory theatre productions including Peter Brook’s Midsummer Night’s Dream (1970) and Tom Stoppard’s Jumpers (1972) as well as the earlier experiments of Meyerhold, Eisenstein, Mayakovsky and other Soviet directors of the 1920’s (Saxon 299). A. H. Saxon points out, however, that the relationship between circus and theatre is a long-standing one that begins in the late 18th century and the early 19th century, when circus itself was theatre (Saxon 299).Modern circus was founded in London in 1768 by an ex-cavalryman and his wife, Philip and Patty Astley, and consisted of spectacular stunt horse riding taking place in a ring, with acts from traditional fairs such as juggling, acrobatics, clowning and wire-walking inserted to cover the changeovers between riding acts. From the very first shows entry was by paid ticket only and the early history of circus was driven by innovative, risk-taking entrepreneurs such as Philip Astley, who indeed built so many new amphitheatres for his productions that he became known as Amphi-Philip (Jando). After years of legal tussles with the authorities concerning the legal status of this new entertainment, a limited license was finally granted in 1783 for Astley’s Amphitheatre. This license precluded the performing of plays, anything text-based, or anything which had a script that resembled a play. Instead the annual license granted allowed only for “public dancing and music” and “other public entertainments of like kind” (St. Leon 9).Corporeal Dramaturgy and TextIn the face of the ban on scripted text, illegitimate circus turned to the human body and privileged it as a means of dramatic expression. A resultant dramaturgy focusing on the expressive capabilities of the performers’ bodies emerged. “The primacy of rhetoric and the spoken word in legitimate drama gave way […] to a corporeal dramaturgy which privileged the galvanic, affective capacity of the human body as a vehicle of dramatic expression” (Moody 83). Moody proposes that the “iconography of illegitimacy participated in a broader cultural and scientific transformation in which the human body began to be understood as an eloquent compendium of visible signs” (83). Even though the company has the use of text and dramatic dialogue freely available to it, Cirque du Soleil, shares this investment in the bodies of the performers and their “galvanic, affective capacity” (83) to communicate with the audience directly without the use of a scripted text, and this remains a constant between the two forms of circus. Robert Lepage, the director of two Cirque du Soleil shows, KÀ (2004) and more recently Totem (2010), speaking about KÀ in 2004, said, “We wanted it to be an epic story told not with the use of words, but with the universal language of body movement” (Lepage cited in Fink).In accordance with David Graver’s system of classifying performers’ bodies, Cirque du Soleil’s productions most usually present performers’ ‘character bodies’ in which the performers are understood by spectators to be playing fictional roles or characters (Hurley n/p) and this was also the case with illegitimate circus which right from its very beginnings presented its performers within narratives in which the performers are understood to be playing characters. In Cirque du Soleil’s shows, as with illegitimate circus, this presentation of the performers’ character bodies is interspersed with acts “that emphasize the extraordinary training and physical skill of the performers, that is which draw attention to the ‘performer body’ but always within the context of an overall narrative” (Fricker n.p.).Insertion of Vital TextAfter audience feedback, text was eventually added into KÀ (2004) in the form of a pre-recorded prologue inserted to enable people to follow the narrative arc, and in the show Wintuk (2007) there are tales that are sung by Jim Comcoran (Leroux 126). Interestingly early illegitimate circus creators, in their efforts to circumvent the ban on using dramatic dialogue, often inserted text into their performances in similar ways to the methods Cirque du Soleil chose for KÀ and Wintuk. Illegitimate circus included dramatic recitatives accompanied by music to facilitate the following of the storyline (Moody 28) in the same way that Cirque du Soleil inserted a pre-recorded prologue to KÀ to enable audience members to understand the narrative. Performers in illegitimate circus often conveyed essential information to the audience as lyrics of songs (Bratton 117) in the same way that Jim Comcoran does in Wintuk. Dramaturgical StructuresAstley from his very first circus show in 1768 began to set his equestrian stunts within a narrative. Billy Button’s Ride to Brentford (1768), showed a tailor, a novice rider, mounting backwards, losing his belongings and being thrown off the horse when it bucks. The act ends with the tailor being chased around the ring by his horse (Schlicke 161). Early circus innovators, searching for dramaturgy for their shows drew on contemporary warfare, creating vivid physical enactments of contemporary battles. They also created a new dramatic form known as Hippodramas (literally ‘horse dramas’ from hippos the Attic Greek for Horse), a hybridization of melodrama and circus featuring the trick riding skills of the early circus pioneers. The narrative arcs chosen were often archetypal or sourced from well-known contemporary books or poems. As Moody writes, at the heart of many of these shows “lay an archetypal narrative of the villainous usurper finally defeated” (Moody 30).One of the first hippodramas, The Blood Red Knight, opened at Astley’s Amphitheatre in 1810.Presented in dumbshow, and interspersed with grand chivalric processions, the show featured Alphonso’s rescue of his wife Isabella from her imprisonment and forced marriage to the evil knight Sir Rowland and concluded with the spectacular, fiery destruction of the castle and Sir Rowland’s death. (Moody 69)Another later hippodrama, The Spectre Monarch and his Phantom Steed, or the Genii Horseman of the Air (1830) was set in China where the rightful prince was ousted by a Tartar usurper who entered into a pact with the Spectre Monarch and received,a magic ring, by aid of which his unlawful desires were instantly gratified. Virtue, predictably won out in the end, and the discomforted villain, in a final settling of accounts with his dread master was borne off through the air in a car of fire pursued by Daemon Horsemen above THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA. (Saxon 303)Karen Fricker writes of early Cirque du Soleil shows that “while plot is doubtless too strong a word, each of Cirque’s recent shows has a distinct concept or theme, that is urbanity for Saltimbanco; nomadism in Varekai (2002) and humanity’s clownish spirit for Corteo (2005), and tend to follow the same very basic storyline, which is not narrated in words but suggested by the staging that connects the individual acts” (Fricker n/p). Leroux describes the early Cirque du Soleil shows as following a “proverbial and well-worn ‘collective transformation trope’” (Leroux 122) whilst Peta Tait points out that the narrative arc of Cirque du Soleil “ might be summarized as an innocent protagonist, often female, helped by an older identity, seemingly male, to face a challenging journey or search for identity; more generally, old versus young” (Tait 128). However Leroux discerns an increasing interest in narrative devices such as action and plot in Cirque du Soleil’s Las Vegas productions (Leroux 122). Fricker points out that “with KÀ, what Cirque sought – and indeed found in Lepage’s staging – was to push this storytelling tendency further into full-fledged plot and character” (Fricker n/p). Telling a story without words, apart from the inserted prologue, means that the narrative arc of Kà is, however, very simple. A young prince and princess, twins in a mythical Far Eastern kingdom, are separated when a ceremonial occasion is interrupted by an attack by a tribe of enemy warriors. A variety of adventures follow, most involving perilous escapes from bad guys with flaming arrows and fierce-looking body tattoos. After many trials, a happy reunion arrives. (Isherwood)This increasing emphasis on developing a plot and a narrative arc positions Cirque as moving closer in dramaturgical aesthetic to illegitimate circus.Visual TechnologiesTo increase the visual excitement of its shows and compensate for the absence of spoken dialogue, illegitimate circus in the late 18th and early 19th century drew on contemporaneous and emerging visual technologies. Some of the new visual technologies that Astley’s used have been termed pre-cinematic, including the panorama (or diorama as it is sometimes called) and “the phantasmagoria and other visual machines… [which] expanded the means through which an audience could be addressed” (O’Quinn, Governance 312). The panorama or diorama ran in the same way that a film runs in an analogue camera, rolling between vertical rollers on either side of the stage. In Astley’s production The Siege and Storming of Seringapatam (1800) he used another effect almost equivalent to a modern day camera zoom-in by showing scenic back drops which, as they moved through time, progressively moved geographically closer to the battle. This meant that “the increasing enlargement of scale-each successive scene has a smaller geographic space-has a telescopic event. Although the size of the performance space remains constant, the spatial parameters of the spectacle become increasingly magnified” (O’Quinn, Governance 345). In KÀ, Robert Lepage experiments with “cinematographic stage storytelling on a very grand scale” (Fricker n.p.). A KÀ press release (2005) from Cirque du Soleil describes the show “as a cinematic journey of aerial adventure” (Cirque du Soleil). Cirque du Soleil worked with ground-breaking visual technologies in KÀ, developing an interactive projected set. This involves the performers controlling what happens to the projected environment in real time, with the projected scenery responding to their movements. The performers’ movements are tracked by an infra-red sensitive camera above the stage, and by computer software written by Interactive Production Designer Olger Förterer. “In essence, what we have is an intelligent set,” says Förterer. “And everything the audience sees is created by the computer” (Cirque du Soleil).Contemporary Technology Cutting edge technologies, many of which came directly from contemporaneous warfare, were introduced into the illegitimate circus performance space by Astley and his competitors. These included explosions using redfire, a new military explosive that combined “strontia, shellac and chlorate of potash, [which] produced […] spectacular flame effects” (Moody 28). Redfire was used for ‘blow-ups,’ the spectacular explosions often occurring at the end of the performance when the villain’s castle or hideout was destroyed. Cirque du Soleil is also drawing on contemporary military technology for performance projects. Sparked: A Live interaction between Humans and Quadcopters (2014) is a recent short film released by Cirque du Soleil, which features the theatrical use of drones. The new collaboration between Cirque du Soleil, ETH Zurich and Verity Studios uses 10 quadcopters disguised as animated lampshades which take to the air, “carrying out the kinds of complex synchronized dance manoeuvres we usually see from the circus' famed acrobats” (Huffington Post). This shows, as with early illegitimate circus, the quick theatrical uptake of contemporary technology originally developed for use in warfare.Innovative StagingArrighi writes that the performance space that Astley developed was a “completely new theatrical configuration that had not been seen in Western culture before… [and] included a circular ring (primarily for equestrian performance) and a raised theatre stage (for pantomime and burletta)” (177) joined together by ramps that were large enough and strong enough to allow horses to be ridden over them during performances. The stage at Astley’s Amphitheatre was said to be the largest in Europe measuring over 130 feet across. A proscenium arch was installed in 1818 which could be adjusted in full view of the audience with the stage opening changing anywhere in size from forty to sixty feet (Saxon 300). The staging evolved so that it had the capacity to be multi-level, involving “immense [moveable] platforms or floors, rising above each other, and extending the whole width of the stage” (Meisel 214). The ability to transform the stage by the use of draped and masked platforms which could be moved mechanically, proved central to the creation of the “new hybrid genre of swashbuckling melodramas on horseback, or ‘hippodramas’” (Kwint, Leisure 46). Foot soldiers and mounted cavalry would fight their way across the elaborate sets and the production would culminate with a big finale that usually featured a burning castle (Kwint, Legitimization 95). Cirque du Soleil’s investment in high-tech staging can be clearly seen in KÀ. Mark Swed writes that KÀ is, “the most lavish production in the history of Western theatre. It is surely the most technologically advanced” (Swed). With a production budget of $165 million (Swed), theatre designer Michael Fisher has replaced the conventional stage floor with two huge moveable performance platforms and five smaller platforms that appear to float above a gigantic pit descending 51 feet below floor level. One of the larger platforms is a tatami floor that moves backwards and forwards, the other platform is described by the New York Times as being the most thrilling performer in the show.The most consistently thrilling performer, perhaps appropriately, isn't even human: It's the giant slab of machinery that serves as one of the two stages designed by Mark Fisher. Here Mr. Lepage's ability to use a single emblem or image for a variety of dramatic purposes is magnified to epic proportions. Rising and falling with amazing speed and ease, spinning and tilting to a full vertical position, this huge, hydraulically powered game board is a sandy beach in one segment, a sheer cliff wall in another and a battleground, viewed from above, for the evening's exuberantly cinematic climax. (Isherwood)In the climax a vertical battle is fought by aerialists fighting up and down the surface of the sand stone cliff with defeated fighters portrayed as tumbling down the surface of the cliff into the depths of the pit below. Cirque du Soleil’s production entitled O, which phonetically is the French word eau meaning water, is a collaboration with director Franco Dragone that has been running at Las Vegas’ Bellagio Hotel since 1998. O has grossed over a billion dollars since it opened in 1998 (Sylt and Reid). It is an aquatic circus or an aquadrama. In 1804, Charles Dibdin, one of Astley’s rivals, taking advantage of the nearby New River, “added to the accoutrements of the Sadler’s Wells Theatre a tank three feet deep, ninety feet long and as wide as twenty-four feet which could be filled with water from the New River” (Hays and Nickolopoulou 171) Sadler’s Wells presented aquadramas depicting many reconstructions of famous naval battles. One of the first of these was The Siege of Gibraltar (1804) that used “117 ships designed by the Woolwich Dockyard shipwrights and capable of firing their guns” (Hays and Nickolopoulou 5). To represent the drowning Spanish sailors saved by the British, “Dibdin used children, ‘who were seen swimming and affecting to struggle with the waves’”(5).O (1998) is the first Cirque production to be performed in a proscenium arch theatre, with the pool installed behind the proscenium arch. “To light the water in the pool, a majority of the front lighting comes from a subterranean light tunnel (at the same level as the pool) which has eleven 4" thick Plexiglas windows that open along the downstage perimeter of the pool” (Lampert-Greaux). Accompanied by a live orchestra, performers dive into the 53 x 90 foot pool from on high, they swim underwater lit by lights installed in the subterranean light tunnel and they also perform on perforated platforms that rise up out of the water and turn the pool into a solid stage floor. In many respects, Cirque du Soleil can be seen to be the inheritors of the spectacular illegitimate circus of the 18th and 19th Century. The inheritance can be seen in Cirque du Soleil’s entrepreneurial daring, the corporeal dramaturgy privileging the affective power of the body over the use of words, in the performers presented primarily as character bodies, and in the delivering of essential text either as a prologue or as lyrics to songs. It can also be seen in Cirque du Soleil’s innovative staging design, the uptake of military based technology and the experimentation with cutting edge visual effects. Although re-invigorating the tradition and creating spectacular shows that in many respects are entirely of the moment, Cirque du Soleil’s aesthetic roots can be clearly seen to draw deeply on the inheritance of illegitimate circus.ReferencesBratton, Jacky. “Romantic Melodrama.” The Cambridge Companion to British Theatre 1730-1830. Eds. Jane Moody and Daniel O'Quinn. Cambridge: Cambridge University, 2007. 115-27. Bratton, Jacky. “What Is a Play? Drama and the Victorian Circus in the Performing Century.” Nineteenth-Century Theatre’s History. Eds. Tracey C. Davis and Peter Holland. Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. 250-62.Cavendish, Richard. “Death of Madame Tussaud.” History Today 50.4 (2000). 15 Aug. 2014 ‹http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/death-madame-tussaud›.Cirque du Soleil. 2014. 10 Sep. 2014 ‹http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/home/about-us/at-a-glance.aspx›.Davis, Janet M. The Circus Age: Culture and Society under the American Big Top. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 2002. Hays, Michael, and Anastasia Nikolopoulou. Melodrama: The Cultural Emergence of a Genre. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1999.House of Dancing Water. 2014. 17 Aug. 2014 ‹http://thehouseofdancingwater.com/en/›.Isherwood, Charles. “Fire, Acrobatics and Most of All Hydraulics.” New York Times 5 Feb. 2005. 12 Sep. 2014 ‹http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/05/theater/reviews/05cirq.html?_r=0›.Fink, Jerry. “Cirque du Soleil Spares No Cost with Kà.” Las Vegas Sun 2004. 17 Sep. 2014 ‹http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2004/sep/16/cirque-du-soleil-spares-no-cost-with-ka/›.Fricker, Karen. “Le Goût du Risque: Kà de Robert Lepage et du Cirque du Soleil.” (“Risky Business: Robert Lepage and the Cirque du Soleil’s Kà.”) L’Annuaire théâtral 45 (2010) 45-68. Trans. Isabelle Savoie. (Original English Version not paginated.)Hurley, Erin. "Les Corps Multiples du Cirque du Soleil." Globe: Revue Internationale d’Études Quebecoise. Les Arts de la Scene au Quebec, 11.2 (2008). (Original English n.p.)Jacob, Pascal. The Circus Artist Today: Analysis of the Key Competences. Brussels: FEDEC: European Federation of Professional Circus Schools, 2008. 5 June 2010 ‹http://sideshow-circusmagazine.com/research/downloads/circus-artist-today-analysis-key-competencies›.Jando, Dominique. “Philip Astley, Circus Owner, Equestrian.” Circopedia. 15 Sep. 2014 ‹http://www.circopedia.org/Philip_Astley›.Kwint, Marius. “The Legitimization of Circus in Late Georgian England.” Past and Present 174 (2002): 72-115.---. “The Circus and Nature in Late Georgian England.” Histories of Leisure. Ed. Rudy Koshar. Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2002. 45-60. ---. “The Theatre of War.” History Today 53.6 (2003). 28 Mar. 2012 ‹http://www.historytoday.com/marius-kwint/theatre-war›.Lampert-Greaux, Ellen. “The Wizardry of O: Cirque du Soleil Takes the Plunge into an Underwater World.” livedesignonline 1999. 17 Aug. 2014 ‹http://livedesignonline.com/mag/wizardry-o-cirque-du-soleil-takes-plunge-underwater-world›.Lavers, Katie. “Sighting Circus: Perceptions of Circus Phenomena Investigated through Diverse Bodies.” Doctoral Thesis. Perth, WA: Edith Cowan University, 2014. Leroux, Patrick Louis. “The Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas: An American Striptease.” Revista Mexicana de Estudio Canadiens (Nueva Época) 16 (2008): 121-126.Mazza, Ed. “Cirque du Soleil’s Drone Video ‘Sparked’ is Pure Magic.” Huffington Post 22 Sep. 2014. 23 Sep. 2014 ‹http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/22/cirque-du-soleil-sparked-drone-video_n_5865668.html›.Meisel, Martin. Realizations: Narrative, Pictorial and Theatrical Arts in Nineteenth-Century England. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1983.Moody, Jane. Illegitimate Theatre in London, 1770-1840. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. O'Quinn, Daniel. Staging Governance: Teatrical Imperialism in London 1770-1800. Baltimore, Maryland, USA: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. O'Quinn, Daniel. “Theatre and Empire.” The Cambridge Companion to British Theatre 1730-1830. Eds. Jane Moody and Daniel O'Quinn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. 233-46. Reed, Peter P. “Interrogating Legitimacy in Britain and America.” The Oxford Handbook of Georgian Theatre. Eds. Julia Swindells and Francis David. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. 247-264.Saxon, A.H. “The Circus as Theatre: Astley’s and Its Actors in the Age of Romanticism.” Educational Theatre Journal 27.3 (1975): 299-312.Schlicke, P. Dickens and Popular Entertainment. London: Unwin Hyman, 1985.St. Leon, Mark. Circus: The Australian Story. Melbourne: Melbourne Books, 2011. Stoddart, Helen. Rings of Desire: Circus History and Representation. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000. Swed, Mark. “Epic, Extravagant: In Ka the Acrobatics and Dazzling Special Effects Are Stunning and Enchanting.” Los Angeles Times 5 Feb. 2005. 22 Aug. 2014 ‹http://articles.latimes.com/2005/feb/05/entertainment/et-ka5›.Sylt, Cristian, and Caroline Reid. “Cirque du Soleil Swings to $1bn Revenue as It Mulls Shows at O2.” The Independent Oct. 2011. 14 Sep. 2014 ‹http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/cirque-du-soleil-swings-to-1bn-revenue-as-it-mulls-shows-at-o2-2191850.html›.Tait, Peta. Circus Bodies: Cultural Identity in Aerial Performance. London: Routledge, 2005.Terdiman, Daniel. “Flying Lampshades: Cirque du Soleil Plays with Drones.” CNet 2014. 22 Sept 2014 ‹http://www.cnet.com/news/flying-lampshades-the-cirque-du-soleil-plays-with-drones/›.Venables, Michael. “The Technology Behind the Las Vegas Magic of Cirque du Soleil.” Forbes Magazine 30 Aug. 2013. 16 Aug. 2014 ‹http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelvenables/2013/08/30/technology-behind-the-magical-universe-of-cirque-du-soleil-part-one/›.

Ausgangspunkt der vorliegenden Arbeit war es, das theaterhistorische Phänomen des chinesischen experimentellen Theaters komparatistisch sowohl als das Ergebnis der Begegnung zweier sehr verschiedener kulturhistorischer Linien (China/ Europa) zu beschreiben als auch in den traditionellen Kontext chinesischer Theaterinnovationen einzuordnen und aus ihm heraus zu erklären. Behandelt wird u.a. der machtpolitische Kontext interkultureller Begegnungen. Es stellt sich die Frage, ob man auf einem "transzendentalen Hügel hockend" China beobachten kann. Man ist immer wieder mit der Frage konfrontiert, aus welcher Perspektive man bei der Untersuchung anderer Kulturen zu adäquaten Ergebnissen kommen kann. Soll man einen aussenstehenden Beobachterposten behaupten oder soll man anerkennen, dass die eigene Anwesenheit vor Ort den Beobachtenden bereits involviert in das zu Beobachtende oder soll man sich seiner eigenen Aktivität bewusst werden und den ohnehin fiktiven Objektivitätsstatus bewusst aufgeben? Ich konnte während der Arbeit an der Inszenierung "Leg deine Peitsche nieder - Woyzeck" in Peking künstlerische und Alltagskommunikation erleben und Einsichten gewinnen, die ohne diese Arbeit unmöglich gewesen wären. Die chinesische Kultur hat bereits frühzeitig Schriftsysteme und eine Schriftkultur ausgebildet. Dennoch haben meine Untersuchungen ergeben, dass die Bereiche der Wissensvermittlung (Lern- und Lehrverhalten), der darstellenden Künste und der sozialen Kommunikation bis in unser Jahrhundert hinein von einer Tradition oraler Techniken und Kommunikation geprägt sind. Ganz wesentlich ist z.B. traditionell der Aspekt der LEIBLICHKEIT bei der Wissensvermittlung. Das Leibwissen eines Lehrers wird durch ständiges Üben und Wiederholen durch den Schüler in dessen Leib inkorporiert. Die Schüler (im profanen, im religiösen oder künstlerischen Bereich) werden hauptsächlich in das WIE der Übungen, nicht aber in das WARUM eingewiesen, weil sich aus der Logik dieses Denkens ergibt, dass sich aus der ausgefeilten Qualität des Geübten mit der Zeit der Sinn dessen über den Leib des Schülers von selbst erschließt. Oralen Techniken von Wissensvermittlung ist es eigen, dass sie dem Wiederholen größeren Wert beimessen als dem Neuerfinden. Dies ist eine Traditionslinie, die noch heute für das chinesische Sprechtheater wirksam ist. Innovation im chinesischen Kontext bedeutet vor allem Detailinnovation, aufbauend auf ein gegebenes Modell. Die chinesische Gesellschaft verfügt über ein reiches Instrumentarium theatraler Kommunikation. Aufgrund der Sozialstruktur und des ausgeprägten Relationsdenkens verfügen die kulturell Kommunizierenden über "shifting identities" wie Jo Riley es für die Darsteller im chinesischen traditionellen Musiktheater feststellte und wie Rosemarie Juttka-Reisse ein adäquates Phänomen für die Praxis von sozialem Rollenwechsel in sozio-kulturellen Kommunikations- und Interaktionsprozessen nachwies. "Shifting identies" bedeutet, dass Kommunizierende in der Lage sind, spontan und flexibel auf neue Kommunikationskontexte mit dem entsprechenden performativen Instrumentarium zu reagieren. Dieser Umstand hat weitreichende Konsequenzen für die Rollengestaltung im chinesischen Theater. Zum Beispiel ist der Brecht'sche Begriff der Verfremdung aus diesem Grunde NICHT oder bestenfalls nur partiell auf das chinesische Theater anwendbar. Die Brecht'sche Verfremdungstheorie ist nicht dem chinesischen Theater abgeschaut, sondern auf das chinesische Theater projiziert. Im Zusammenhang mit dem Leiblichkeitskonzept steht eine spezifische Vorstellung der EINVERLEIBUNG von Wissen, auch nicht-chinesischen Wissens. Beispielsweise wird bis in die 1990er Jahre hinein immer wieder auf die VERDAUUNGSMETAPHER zurückgegriffen. Das Einverleibungsprinzip, welches in engster Verbindung mit dem chinesischen Ahnenkult steht, ist mindestens einmal einer Fundamentalkritik unterzogen worden. Kurioserweise geschah dies nach der Einverleibung westlichen Wissens, insbesondere der Fortschrittsidee und der Vorstellung evolutionärer historischer Weiterentwicklung. Lu Xun nämlich prägte die Metapher der Menschenfresserei, die sich auf die als reaktionär erkannte Einverleibung "feudalistischen" Wissens aus der alten, dem Westen unterlegenen chinesischen Gesellschaft bezog. Seither gibt es die "fortschrittliche" und die "reaktionäre" Verdauung, wobei der Diskurs um kulturelle Identität, um Erneuerung und Bewahrung immer wieder neu festzulegen versucht, was gegebenfalls nützlich oder nutzlos ist. Die Entstehung des chinesischen experimentellen Theaters ist ohne das Eingebettetsein in historische Linien der chinesischen Theatergeschichte nicht erklärbar. Aneignungsmuster in bezug auf die Aufnahme neuer Anregungen aus anderen Kulturen haben eine traditionelle Logik entwickelt, die man nur erkennen und einordnen kann, wenn man sich ausführlich den historischen Voraussetzungen und Rahmenbedingungen von Theater in China widmet. Deshalb bin ich auf diese historischen Linien ausführlich eingegangen. Das experimentelle Theater in China setzt diese Linie fort. Deshalb kann man schlussfolgern, dass das chinesische Sprechtheater "eine Art Pekingoper mit anderen Mitteln" ist, und nicht ein bürgerlich-westliches Sprechtheater mit chinesischer Kolorierung. Das chinesische Theater hat sich über die langen historischen Zeiträume seiner Entstehung als sehr aufnahmefähig für interkulturelle Anregungen gezeigt. Man kann sagen, dass es das Ergebnis dieser Interaktionsprozesse ist. In diesem Sinne ist die Integration westlicher Theaterstile und damit auch die Entstehung des experimentellen Theaters als traditionelle Strategie im Umgang mit dem Fremden anzusehen. Es handelt sich tendenziell nicht (nur) um einen Ausdruck von Modernität, sondern von Tradition. Es ist in der chinesischen Theatergeschichte nicht um die Echtheit/ Authentizität des adaptierten ausländischen Materials gegangen, sondern hauptsächlich um die Anwendbarkeit im eigenen Kontext. Das wiederum führt folgerichtig zu dem Schluss, dass es z.B. keine "falsche" Rezeption westlichen Theaters in China geben kann, sondern nur eine chinesische. Der experimentelle Zugang zu neuen Formen innerhalb der chinesischen Theaterkultur ist ein historisch praktizierter. Die chinesische Praxis des Experiments ist historisch verbunden mit einer Praxis des Ausprobierens, Integrierens, Ausschmückens, einer Art Patchwork-Strategie. Im Gegensatz zum westlichen Begriff des Experiments ist diese Praxis nicht an abstrakte Hypothesenbildung und die systematische Beweisführung gebunden. Hauptinstrument neuer Erkenntnisse war die empirische Beobachtung. Die Entstehung des experimentellen chinesischen Theaters im 20. Jahrhundert, welches erstmals an verschiedene Begrifflichkeiten gebunden wird und nicht einfach als historische Praxis dem chinesischen Theater inhärent ist, deutet auf eine neue Qualität dieses Phänomens in der chinesischen Theatergeschichte hin. Die neue Qualität im Vergleich zur historisch-experimentellen Praxis besteht darin, dass die chinesische Kultur erstmals in ihrer Geschichte als Hochkultur Asiens mit einem ernstzunehmenden, hegemonial operierenden Feind konfrontiert war, der mit seinem ökonomisch-militärischen Potenzial die Qualität der chinesischen Kultur als Ganzes in Frage stellte. Nun sahen sich die chinesischen Eliten gezwungen, die westlichen Mittel zum chinesischen Zweck des Überlebens zu machen. Aus diesem Grunde wurden westliche Ideen und Praktiken, wie z.B. das bürgerliche Sprechtheater rezipiert. Dies musste als Praxis aber auch als Begriff umgesetzt werden. Aus diesem spezifischen Entstehungskontext ergibt sich eine unterschiedliche Richtung der Theateravantgarden in China und im Westen. Während die historische Theateravantgarde im Westen in ihrer Kritik am bürgerlichen Theaterkonzept und in ihrer Auseinandersetzung mit Industrialisierungs- und Technologiesierungsprozessen auf "Retheatralisierung" des Theaters drängte, gingen die chinesischen Theaterkünstler den entgegengesetzten Weg. Die neuen historischen Erfahrungen ließen sich in den volkstümlichen Geschichten und den historischen Analogien des traditionellen chinesischen Theaters und in ihrer stilisierten Theatralität nicht mehr adäquat darstellen. Plötzlich wurde ein neues Realismuskonzept, welches nach DETHEATRALISIERUNG drängte, wesentlich. Darüberhinaus gehört es zur historischen Linie des chinesischen Theaters, dass es stark profitierte sowohl von nicht-chinesischen Anleihen anderer Theaterkulturen als auch von den Volkskünsten der eigenen Kultur. Es waren zunächst Laiendarsteller und Amateurtheaterkünstler, die in den 1920er Jahren die vielfältigen Kategorien des chinesischen "experimentellen" Theaters erfanden und später in einen professionellen Status überführten. Neben den kulturellen Einflüssen des westlichen Imperialismus war China ebenfalls mit dem hegemonialen Bestreben insbesondere des sowjetischen Kulturimperialismus konfrontiert. Die sowjetische Kulturpolitik favorisierte das Stanislawski-Konzept. Dieses wurde dann zunächst, nach Gründung der VR China 1949, zu einem der Grundpfeiler der Idee eines neu zu entwickelnden chinesischen Nationaltheaters. Seit den 1980er Jahren wird es zunehmend kritisiert. Seitdem werden andere westliche Konzepte interessant. Dazu gehören die Konzepte der westlichen historischen Avantgarde ebenso wie die des absurden und weitestgehend postmodernen Theaters. Seit den 1990er Jahren sind zwei Haupttendenzen im modernen chinesischen Theater festzustellen. Zum einen unterliegt das Theater rigiden Kommerzialisierungstendenzen. Zum anderen sieht sich das Theater einer Vielzahl neuer Unterhaltungsmedien (TV, Kino, Karaoke, Shows etc.) gegenüber, die es veranlassen, sich verstärkt auf die spezifischen Möglichkeiten theatralen Ausrucks zu besinnen. Das führt dazu, dass nun sowohl das theatrale Potenzial des klassischen chinesischen Theaters interessant wird ebenso wie die Retheatralisierungsversuche der westlichen Avantgarde. Seit Mitte der 1980er Jahre ist eine erneute, hitzige Debatte über Begriff und Inhalt von experimentellem Theater im chinesischen Kontext zu beobachten.
The starting point of this paper was both to describe the theatre-historical phenomenon of Chinese experimental theatre in a comparative way, as the result of the encounter of two culture-historical lines differing very much (China/Europe) and to put it in its proper historic context and thus to explain from its context. The power-political context of intercultural encounters is dealt with. The question arises whether one would be able to watch China at all " sitting on a transcen-dental hill". You are constantly facing the question from which perspective you can achieve adequate results when researching/ investigating foreign cultures. Should you maintain your (external) observer status or should you recognise that your own presence at the site involves the observer what he watches or should you consciously give up the anyhow fictitious status of objectivity. While staging "Put down your whip - Woyzeck" in Beijing at the State theatre called Central Experimental Theatre I could experience both artistic and every-day communication, without which this paper would and could never have been written. The Chinese culture has developed writing systems and a written culture early on in history. Nevertheless, my study has shown, that instruction (learner and teacher behaviour), performing arts and social communication have been highly influenced by the oral tradition of communication throughout the centuries. The aspect of corporality in instruction is essential. The teacher's incorporated knowledge is transferred to the student's body through permanent exercise and repetition/revision. The student (worldly, religious and artistic spheres) is taught HOW to do the exercise but not necessarily WHY because part of this thinking is the idea that the awareness of the meaning of the skill comes to the student through his body. This implies that it is a characteristic feature of oral instruction/information stresses repetition rather than innova-tion. This line of tradition has always been efficient for the Chinese spoken drama, even today. Innovation in a Chinese context means chiefly innovation of detail based on a model given. The Chinese society developed a rich variety of tools of theatrical communication. Due to the social structure and a well-developed relational thinking the cultural communicators have "shifting identities" as Jo Riley stated it in terms of the performers in the Chinese traditional music thea-tre. Rosemarie Juttka-Reisser confirmed an adequate phenomenon for the practice of switching social roles in processes of socio-cultural communication and interaction. "Shifting identities" means that communicators are capable of spontaneously and quickly responding to new communication contexts through adequate performative sets of instruments. This has an impact on the performance of roles in Chinese theatre. Therefore the Brechtian term of alienation, for instance, can not or only partly be applied to Chinese theatre. Thus, the Brechtian theory of alienation is not derived from Chinese theatre but rather projected to it. Linked to the concept of incorporation of knowledge is a specific image of incorporation of knowledge including the non-Chinese one. Up to the 1990s the metaphor of digestion had been used again and again. The principle of incorporation which is closely connected with ancestor cults underwent fundamental criticism at least once. Curiously enough, this happened after the incorporation of Western knowledge, in particular of the idea of progress and evolution/ revolution. Lu Xun coined the metaphor of cannibalism. This relates to the traditional incorporation of the so-called "feudal" knowledge based in the Chinese culture which has been understood as inferior to the West. Since then there has been "progressive" and "reactionary" digestion; discourse about cultural identity, about renewal and preservation of Chinese values has always been trying to re-determine what is useful or useless respectively. The appearance and existence of the Chinese experimental theatre can not be explained without it being embedded in the line of Chinese (theatre)history. Patterns of acquisition in terms of the perception of new stimuli from other/foreign cultures have developed a traditional logic which can only be recognized and categorized if you have a deeper understanding of the historic condition and the whole framework of theatre in China. Therefore I dealt with this historical line in detail. The experimental theatre in China continues this line to a certain extend. This results in the Chinese spoken theatre being "a kind of Beijing opera with a different approach" but not a bourgeois Western spoken drama with a Chinese touch. Throughout its history the Chinese theatre has always readily absorbed intercultural stimuli. So you can say that these processes of interaction have contributed to contemporary Chinese theatre. Thus you can regard the integration of Western theatre styles including the development of the experimental theatre a highly traditional strategy for encountering and dealing with the foreign element. This strategy is not an expression of modernity only but mainly of tradition. Chinese theatre history was not particularly interested in the authenticity of the adopted foreign material but in its application within the Chinese context. This has led to the conclusion that there cannot be any "wrong" perception of the Western theatre in China but only a Chinese. The experimental approach to new forms within the Chinese theatre culture has been used all the time. The Chinese experimental practice has indeed been linked with integrating, ornamenting and trying out resulting in a kind of patchwork. In contrast to the Western term of experiments this practice does not depend on abstract hypotheses and proofs systematically shown. This is partly due to Western sciences focussing on mathematics while Chinese sciences were concentrating on dealing with problems of relations (physics). Therefore they (have) preferred empirical observation to mathematical analysis in order to achieve new knowledge. In contrast, the experimental Chinese theatre in the 20th century, reflects a new quality in their approach to theatre which, for the first time, attempts to use concepts like in the Western theatre. The reason for this new approach resulted from the fact that for the first time in its history Chinese culture as an Asian high culture was faced with a serious hegemonially operating enemy that questioned the quality of the Chinese culture as a whole through its economic and military potential. The Chinese intellectual elite was forced to respond to the Western threat by using Western methods (including spoken drama) in order to survive: using a Western means to a Chinese end. These specific historical circumstances and power relations have led to different directions of avantgarde theatre movements in China and the West in the early 20th century. Western and Chinese theatre artists went opposite ways: while the former initiated the Re-theatralisation in their criticism of the bourgeois theatre concept and of industrialisation; the latter focused on De-theatralisation which had become a new concept, that of realism/ naturalism. The new experiences of the time could no longer be expressed in their folktales and historical analogies of the traditional Chinese theatre and its stylised theatricality. Amateurs (in particular students of big cities) were the first to invent the various categories of a Chinese "experimental" theatre and later transformed its status into a professional one. Apart from cultural influences of Western (including Japan) imperialism China faced the same problems with the Soviet cultural imperialism. The Soviet cultural policy favoured Stanislavsky's concept. This idea became the basis of a new Chinese national theatre which was to develop after the formation of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Since the 1980s it has increasingly been criticised. In addition other Western concepts have attracted attention including concepts of the Western historical avantgarde, the theatre of the absurd and post-modern theatre. Since the 1990s two major tendencies of modern Chinese theatre can be stated. On the one hand, the theatre is subject to rigid tendencies of commercialisation (which means that the state cut the subsidies), on the other hand, the theatre is confronted with a variety of new entertainment media (TV, cinema, karaoke, shows etc.) which make it remember its specific oppor-tunities of theatrical expression (now including traditional Chinese theatre forms). At the moment a new heated debate about the term and the content of experimental theatre is going on.

Eine Reihe literaturwissenschaftlicher Arbeiten seit Anfang der Neunzigerjahre bezeugt das lebhafte Interesse an der subjektiven Verfasstheit von Müllers Schreiben. Keine jedoch widmet sich erschöpfend Müllers als Autobiografie ausgewiesenem Text KRIEG OHNE SCHLACHT – LEBEN IN ZWEI DIKTATUREN. Zu Ehren kam der Text bislang nur als Zitatsteinbruch, Interpretationshilfe und umfangreiche poetologische Materialsammlung. Zumeist wird das Werk als gültiger Beleg der Intention müllerschen Schreibens herangezogen und erlangt damit einen unzulässigen Grad an Deutungshoheit. Dabei wird die poetische Dimension des Textes oft nur unzureichend reflektiert oder gänzlich missachtet. Die vorliegende textkritische Untersuchung soll dazu beitragen, die Forschungslücke in der einschlägigen Sekundärliteratur zu schließen und dazu anregen, das Potenzial Müllers enormen und vielgestaltigen Werkes jenseits seiner als Theaterarbeiten ausgewiesenen Texte wahrzunehmen und in Bewegung zu setzen. Nach einführenden Darstellungen zu Rezeptionssituation und Forschungsstand, der Diskussion spezifischer poetologischer Fragestellungen im Allgemeinen wie solcher der Autobiografieforschung im Besonderen, der Untersuchung der Genese und formaler Besonderheiten des Textes, analysiert die vorliegende Arbeit vor allem die strukturellen Wirkungsmechanismen, die Müllers disparate Selbstexplikation zum Auto-Drama werden lassen. Die Rückführung der Bedeutungsgeneration auf die strukturästhetischen Wirkungsmechanismen scheint insofern geeignet, als sie durch Textnähe und punktuelle Analyse der Textgenese Müllers Strategie der Selbst-Dekonstruktion sehr nahe kommt. Zumal Müller seine »Lebenserzählung« nach ähnlichen Strukturprinzipien aufbaut, wie seine anderen »poetischen« Texte auch. Aus der Beschreibung der disparaten Äußerungsformen des autobiografischen Ichs ergeben sich die textimmanenten Strategien der überaus komplexen Selbstinszenierung Müllers, sein »Theater der Schrift«.
Since the early 1990s a number of literary papers testify the vivid interest in the subjective composition of Müller’s writing. But none of these detailed devotes to Müller’s as autobiography assigned text WAR WITHOUT BATTLE – LIFE IN TWO DICTATORSHIPS. Until now the text has been only used as quarry of quotations, aid of interpretation and extensive poetological collection of material. Mainly the work is used as evidence of the intention of Müller’s writing and therefore receives an inadmissible degree of sovereignty of interpretation. The poetical dimension of the text is often inadequately reflected or even totally neglected and ignored. This text-critical examination will contribute to close this gap of research within the relevant secondary literature and encourage the recognition and discussion of the potential of Müller’s enormous and multifarious work beyond his as theatre work assigned texts. After the introduction of the situation of reception and the status of current research, the discussion of specific poetological questions in general such as autobiographical research, examination of genesis and formal specific features of texts, this paper will analyse the structural mechanisms of effect, which turn Müller’s disparate self-explication into an auto-drama. It seems suitable to return the meaning of generation on the structure-esthetical mechanisms of effect, as the proximity of text and selective analysis of the genesis of text is very close to Müller’s strategy of self-deconstruction. Particularly as Müller constructs his »Lebenserzählung« to similar structural principals as well as others of his »poetical« texts. The description of the disparate form of expression of the autobiographic I result in the text-immanent strategies of the enormous complex self-dramatisation of Müller; his »Theater der Schrift«.

Das titelgebende Zitat von Volker Braun kann als poetische Quintessenz eines vielschichtigen Verständnisses von Arbeit in der DDR gelten. In ihm enthalten sind ein identifikatorisches Verhältnis zur Arbeit, die utopische Bestimmung von Arbeit als nicht entfremdete, schöpferische und ästhetische Tätigkeit sowie eine vom Staatsapparat erzwungene Disziplinierung durch Arbeit. In der vorliegenden Dissertation werden die Inszenierungen von Arbeit und Geschlecht in künstlerischen Diskursen der Dramatik und des Spielfilms der DDR im Zeitraum 1961 bis 1990 analysiert. Die Theatertexte und Filme werden hinsichtlich ihrer Konstruktion von Arbeit, den darin enthaltenen geschlechtsspezifischen Konnotationen sowie den damit verbundenen künstlerischen Inszenierungsstrategien untersucht. Die metaphysischen Bestimmungen von und Zuweisungen an Arbeit werden unter einer poststrukturalistischen Perspektive als historische Konstrukte gefasst, die bestimmter kultureller Moral- und Wertvorstellungen bedürfen, um sich zu entfalten, und gleichzeitig diese Vorstellungen beständig erzeugen und bestärken. In einem Ausblick auf die künstlerischen Arbeiten von ostdeutschen DramatikerInnen und FilmemacherInnen nach 1990 werden die Brüche und Kontinuitäten in der Inszenierung von Arbeit und Geschlecht nach dem Ende der DDR aufgezeigt. Die Dissertation ist das Ergebnis einer Zusammenarbeit. Peggy Mädler übernahm die Analyse der Theatertexte und Bianca Schemel führte die Untersuchung der Spielfilme durch.
The citation of Volker Braun that gives this publication its title can be read as the poetic quintessence of a multilayer understanding of work in the GDR. It transports an identificatory relationship to work, the utopian designation of work as not alienated, creative and aesthetic activity as well as the disciplinary role of work that is enforced within the state apparatus. In the dissertation at hand, the performances of work and gender in the artistic discourses of drama and film of the GDR between 1961 and 1990 are analysed. The theatre texts and films are examined with regard to their construction of work, the gender specific connotations contained therein and the associated artistic staging strategies. The metaphysical designations of and assignations to work are conceived of, from a poststructural perspective, as historic constructs that require specific moral concepts and cultural ideals to unfold themselves, and at the same time incessantly produce and reinforce these notions. In an outlook on the artistic works of eastern German dramatists and filmmakers after 1990, the ruptures and continuities in the performance of work and gender after the end of the GDR are brought into focus. The dissertation is the outcome of a collaboration. Peggy Mädler undertook the analysis of the theatre texts and Bianca Schemel conducted the examination of the feature films.

Das titelgebende Zitat von Volker Braun kann als poetische Quintessenz eines vielschichtigen Verständnisses von Arbeit in der DDR gelten. In ihm enthalten sind ein identifikatorisches Verhältnis zur Arbeit, die utopische Bestimmung von Arbeit als nicht entfremdete, schöpferische und ästhetische Tätigkeit sowie eine vom Staatsapparat erzwungene Disziplinierung durch Arbeit. In der vorliegenden Dissertation werden die Inszenierungen von Arbeit und Geschlecht in künstlerischen Diskursen der Dramatik und des Spielfilms der DDR im Zeitraum 1961 bis 1990 analysiert. Die Theatertexte und Filme werden hinsichtlich ihrer Konstruktion von Arbeit, den darin enthaltenen geschlechtsspezifischen Konnotationen sowie den damit verbundenen künstlerischen Inszenierungsstrategien untersucht. Die metaphysischen Bestimmungen von und Zuweisungen an Arbeit werden unter einer poststrukturalistischen Perspektive als historische Konstrukte gefasst, die bestimmter kultureller Moral- und Wertvorstellungen bedürfen, um sich zu entfalten, und gleichzeitig diese Vorstellungen beständig erzeugen und bestärken. In einem Ausblick auf die künstlerischen Arbeiten von ostdeutschen DramatikerInnen und FilmemacherInnen nach 1990 werden die Brüche und Kontinuitäten in der Inszenierung von Arbeit und Geschlecht nach dem Ende der DDR aufgezeigt. Die Dissertation ist das Ergebnis einer Zusammenarbeit. Peggy Mädler übernahm die Analyse der Theatertexte und Bianca Schemel führte die Untersuchung der Spielfilme durch.
The citation of Volker Braun that gives this publication its title can be read as the poetic quintessence of a multilayer understanding of work in the GDR. It transports an identificatory relationship to work, the utopian designation of work as not alienated, creative and aesthetic activity as well as the disciplinary role of work that is enforced within the state apparatus. In the dissertation at hand, the performances of work and gender in the artistic discourses of drama and film of the GDR between 1961 and 1990 are analysed. The theatre texts and films are examined with regard to their construction of work, the gender specific connotations contained therein and the associated artistic staging strategies. The metaphysical designations of and assignations to work are conceived of, from a poststructural perspective, as historic constructs that require specific moral concepts and cultural ideals to unfold themselves, and at the same time incessantly produce and reinforce these notions. In an outlook on the artistic works of eastern German dramatists and filmmakers after 1990, the ruptures and continuities in the performance of work and gender after the end of the GDR are brought into focus. The dissertation is the outcome of a collaboration. Peggy Mädler undertook the analysis of the theatre texts and Bianca Schemel conducted the examination of the feature films.

Im filmischen Werk des russischen Regisseurs Andrej Tarkowskijs sind an markanten Stellen Spiegel zu sehen. Ein Film trägt sogar den Namen des Objektes. Vom einfachen Spiegel ausgehend wird der Prozess der Spiegelung über verschiedene Abstraktions- und Transformationsstufen ausgearbeitet. Der Spiegel wird als Objekt und Metapher ganz hinter sich gelassen und zur zentralen filmischen Konstruktionsmaschine, dem Kinematographen, entwickelt und theoretisch interpretiert. Hierzu wird von Andrej Tarkowskijs Filmen ausgegangen und von seinen Schriften her das theoretische Instrumentarium erarbeitet, das sich an entscheidenden Stellen mit filmtheoretischen Kategorien von Gilles Deleuze trifft. Der zweite Teil dokumentiert die theatralische Umsetzung des nicht realisierten Szenarios "Hoffmanniana" von Andrej Tarkowskij in dessen Zentrum ein Spiegel steht. Hierzu wird der literarische Text im Zusammenhang des tarkowskijschen Filmwerkes als "Kinotext" interpretiert, d.h. auf seine kinematographischen Konstruktionselemente hin gelesen, "gesehen" und "gehört".
Films from Russian director Andrei Tarkovski often present mirors in various situations. One of his films is even named "The mirror". The reflection process starts from a simple mirror up to many levels of abstraction and transformation. Beyond mirrors as mere objects, or simple metaphors, the tarkovskian concept of "construction-machine" of cinema (i.e. the cinematographe) is described. Additionnal theoretical elements of my work are based on Andrei Tarkovskies films and many writings; they will coincide with the film theory of French philosopher Gilles Deleuze. Another part of this work deals with the staged version of "Hoffmanniana" (script by Tarkovski, the film was was never shot) tha I directed: The poetic scenario is seen through Andrei Tarkovskies other films, considered as "film material2 and analysed in terms of visual and musical elements.

Der Ausgangspunkt der vorliegenden Dissertation ist die nationale Identitätsproblematik in den westdeutschen und georgischen Autorenfilmen zwischen den 60er- und 80er- Jahren. Die Arbeit analysiert zwei unterschiedliche, in verschiedenen sozial-kulturellen Bedingungen und unterschiedlichen politischen Systemen entwickelte Filmkulturen, die über zwei Jahrzehnte hinweg die kulturelle Szene der jeweiligen Länder besonders geprägt haben. Sie gliedert sich in mehrere Teile, die sich mit folgenden Schwerpunkten auseinandersetzen: - Die Filmsituation der jeweiligen Filmkulturen in der Nachkriegszeit und in den 50er Jahren als Vorgeschichte des Autorenfilms. - Die Entwicklung des Autorenfilms in beiden Ländern und im internationalen Vergleich. - Das Verhältnis der Autorenfilmemacher/Innen zur Frage der nationalen Identität. - Die Analyse der unterschiedlichen Aspekte, Stoffe, Motive und besonderer filmischer Sprache verschiedener westdeutscher und georgischer Autorenregisseure/Innen vor dem Hintergrund ihrer jeweiligen kulturhistorischen Spezifik. - Interviews mit westdeutschen und georgischen Autorenfilmer/Innen zu diesem Thema. - Vergleichende Gegenüberstellung der westdeutschen und georgischen Autorenfilme. Die Arbeit endet mit einer Filmographie der interpretierten Filme sowie einem Literaturverzeichnis.
The thesis analyses and compares the two different cultures of cinema in West Germany and Georgia which evolved under different sozio-cultural conditions in two different political systems and which had a strong impact on cultural life in their countries for decades. The thesis focuses on the question of national identity reflected in the West German and Georgian cinema between the 1960s and the 1980s. The thesis has following structure: - Prehistory of Autorenfilm in West Germany and Georgia: The national cinemas after World War II in the late 1940s and in the 1950s in both countries. - The evolution of the Autorenfilm in both countries between the 1960s and the 1980s in comparison to other national cinemas - The relationship of filmmakers toward the the question of national identity - Analysis of artistic aspects, motivs, themes and filmic language in the films with regard to the cultural history background in the Georgia and Westgermany. - Interviews with West German and Georgian filmmakers - Comparison of selected West German and Georgian films A filmography and a list of literature is included in the thesis.

Soziokulturelle Zentren, Kultur- und Kommunikationszentren in früheren Industriegebäuden, sogenannte „Kulturfabriken“ haben seit Ende der sechziger Jahre die Kulturlandschaft und -politik der Bundesrepublik anhaltend beeinflußt und verändert. Aus anfänglichen Nischenprojekten entwickelten sie sich in größeren Städten innerhalb weniger Jahre zu etablierten Kulturinstitutionen, die neben den bereits bestehenden Theatern, Konzerthäusern, Kunsthallen und Museen zum festen Bestandteil des kulturellen Angebots der Kommunen geworden sind. Die Motivation, leerstehende Fabrikgebäude für kulturelle Arbeit nutzbar zu machen, gründet sich jedoch nicht auf deren vermeintliche Praktikabilität und Eignung, sondern auf die Zeichenfunktion der Gebäude. Die Umnutzung eines Fabrikgebäudes zu kulturellen Zwecken, und das ist die zentrale These, ist ein symbolischer Akt. Der Arbeit wurde daher ein semiologischer Ansatz zugrunde gelegt. Am Zeichenwandel der Fabrik in der Kulturarbeit lassen sich die unterschiedlichen Definitionen eines Kulturbegriffs in der Bundesrepublik ablesen. Die Kulturfabriken fungierten als eine Art Projektionsfläche und Medium für die verschiedenen Konzeptionen von Kultur. Insgesamt wurden sechs unterschiedliche Konzeptionstendenzen von Kulturfabriken herausgearbeitet, die sich in einem Symbol, einem Symbolsystem manifestieren: 1. Die Kulturfabrik als gesellschaftspolitischer Gegenentwurf, 2. Die Kulturfabrik als Modell für Stadterneuerung, 3. Die Kulturfabrik als Ort individueller Re-Produktion, 4. Die Kulturfabrik als Gegenstand der Geschichtskultur, 5. Die Kulturfabrik als Vermittler im kulturellen Umbruch und 6. Die Kulturfabrik als Wirtschaftsfaktor.
Centres of culture and communication founded in former industrial buildings, the so-called culture factories have continuously influenced culture and culture politics in Germany ever since the late nineteen-sixties. Within a few years small experimental projects developed into fully established cultural institutions thus becoming an integral part within communities’ cultural facilities – as theatre houses, concert halls, galleries and museums. The idea of using abandoned industrial buildings as cultural institutions is founded on symbolic rather than practical or functional principles: the conversion of industrial buildings to cultural institutions is, in essence, a symbolic act. Consequently the concept follows a semiological approach. The changing symbolic significance of the industrial building within the framework of cultural work has accorded changes in the various concepts of culture seen within Germany. In this, culture factories act as both a projection surface and medium for various concepts of culture and cultural activities. Six concepts of the role of culture factories as symbols and symbolic systems are: 1. Culture factories as socio-political counterstrike, 2. Culture factories as models of urban revitalization, 3. Culture factories as places of individual reproduction, 4. Culture factories as historical objects, 5. Culture factories as mediators of the cultural upheaval in the former GDR, and 6. Culture factories as economic factors.