Theatre and the Crisis of Democracy

Western-style democracy is in crisis: migration, global warming and the economic consolidation of power go hand in hand with a devaluation of former stakeholders and institutions, such as the nation and its parliament. In many places, the answer is a return to forms and structures of authoritarian rule. Against this background, the lecture series “Frankfurter Positionen 2021” invites artists and academics from disciplines dealing with theatre and performance to reflect on the relationship between theatre and democracy. How do new forms of theatre, choreography and forms of performance that transcend genres and styles react to this crisis? How does this crisis affect their formats, modes of organisation and content?

Christine Abbt is Professor for Political Philosophy at the University of Graz since March 2020. Her research focuses on democratic theory, ethics, and the capacity to remember. In her lecture, she reviews the notions of allotrio and polypragmosynê (meddling in the affair’s of others and in multiple things) taken from ancient democratic practices for their relevance to current debates.