Tanzpakt Dresden

The starting point for the research is observations of how nationalist, patriotic and chauvinist forces are flourishing and strengthening in more and more European and non-European countries, how more and more people clearly want to be led by a firm hand.

The search for someone who ‘de-complexes’ and ‘a-globalises’ the world and thus makes the impossible possible – someone who pretends that we can move backwards, go backwards in a world and time where it is only possible to move forwards – is becoming the political agenda.

During their research residency, Johanna Roggan and Benjamin Schindler deal with human rights, their violation(s) and how to deal with them as individuals or as a group.

Starting from the assumption that human rights are (like) our skin, which protects our insides and yet allows the outside world to enter, it is necessary to examine, document, negotiate and question:

Who knows human rights?

What experiences have people in Europe had with their human rights?

What stories are there to tell?

Where are they violated in daily life – without us noticing?

Which scars remain?

Are human rights in danger?

Does the list of rights need to be completed?

Which rights should be rewritten or even deleted?

The residency is intended to serve as a place to collect precisely those experiences and reports, in order to translate them later into movement, dance, language, text, film and image.

Originally, joint journeys to many European countries were planned in order to research stories there and document them on film and audio.

In the current travel situation, it’ll be the questions instead of Johanna Roggan and Benjamin Schindler personally that will go on the journey.

For the new situation, Schindler and Roggan are looking for adequate and also aesthetic translations.