Dance and sustainability at FRAGILE 2024 – Pina Bausch Zentrum under construction #6

Wuppertal, 10 October 2024: Thirteen days, eleven productions, 24 performances, a diverse audience of all generations, equality across all participants and team, biotopes from the Amazon to the Wadden Sea. FRAGILE 2024, the international festival for sustainability and art, ended in Wuppertal on October 6, 2024. FRAGILE was filled with joyful moments, thrilling performances, artists from diverse cultural backgrounds., a togetherness of generations, lots of movement and encounters. What happens when people aged 4 to 75 venture into the unknown with Kate McIntosh or passionately dance Krump with Tanzkomplizen? FRAGILE is the first and only festival in Germany and internationally that tackles climate change, economic reform, and social sustainability through dance and performance. The aim is to encourage people to take action.

TANZKOMPLIZEN / Janne Gregor / Ich kann’s nicht lassen / © René Löffler

With the Pina Bausch Centre “under construction”, the Schauspielhaus opens to the citizens of the city and broader public during the interim period before its renovation and expansion – because it belongs to them. The refurbishment of the historic building, designed by Gerhard Graubner, along with the new extension by the renowned architecture studio Diller Scofidio + Renfro, is in the planning phase. Until the groundbreaking ceremony, the Schauspielhaus will serve as a space for experimentation, paving the way for the future.

The new institution for the 21st century will also serve as a best-practice model for sustainability. The sixth edition of the "under construction" series has just taken place with FRAGILE 2024. With a special focus: thanks to the support of the German Federal Cultural Foundation’s Zero Fund, the ÖkoKult NRW fund of the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Sparkasse Wuppertal, the Knipex company, WSW Wuppertaler Stadtwerke, and the Goethe-Institute, a sustainability strategy is being developed for the future Pina Bausch Centre. Important partners are the Wuppertal Institute and the Szenografie-Bund. Art and cultural institutions play a key role in securing our future by setting an example. "Wherever people come together and take action, the future and a sense of optimism are created. With FRAGILE, we inspire change! We are part of nature and the diversity of this world, not above it. The challenges we increasingly face can only be overcome together—through movement, encounters, and co-creation," says Bettina Milz.

LAKE LIFE / © Julian Petrich

Reckless Sleepers from Belgium kicked things off, followed speeches of the students of the Pina Bausch Comprehensive School, as well as by Mayor Prof. Dr. Uwe Schneidewind, DR. Carolin Baedeker from the Wuppertal Institute, Head of Cultural Affairs Matthias Nocke and Bettina Milz from the Pina Bausch Centre. FRAGILE 2024 opened with LAKE LIFE, a participatory performance by New Zealand artist Kate McIntosh, inviting the audience to engage in transformative, empathetic play with identities. In AMAZONIA 2040, Colombian choreographer Martha Hincapié Charry offered an urgent declaration of love for the sacred river and tropical rainforest, and a sobering reflection on the harsh reality of environmental destruction. Artists from African Loop (Senegal) and Wuppertal-based Japanese dancer and choreographer Kenji Shinohe brought indigenous knowledge and empathy for both people and nature to the stage in a compelling triple bill. KEUR explored the loss of traditional knowledge and dignity through the neglect of practices like clay construction, that holds potential as a climate solution. BELOVED “Oui ou Non” focused on violence against women, while TREE TREE portrayed poignant, tender images of the devastating tsunami in Japan 2011. MESOKOSMOS by Anja Plonka and Rasmus Nordholt-Frieling transported audiences to the Wadden Sea, exploring a cosmology that connects plants, animals, bacteria, humans, and planets. In collaboration with LOCH, an art and culture centre, HÖHLE (cave) brought a playful research lab for innovative early education and musical exploration to the Pina Bausch Centre, where children aged 3 to 5 joyfully engaged. Young dancers in EGO – a Journey of Urban Art, a hip-hop production by Urban Art Complex and TANZRAUSCHEN from Wuppertal, inspired the audience with their energy. Self-empowerment was also at the heart of ICH KANN'S NICHT LASSEN by TANZKOMPLIZEN/Janne Gregor, where people of all ages danced together Krump. Cologne-based choreographer and dancer Barbara Fuchs (tanzfuchs) presented GRÜN in collaboration with the Kinder- und Jugendtheater Wuppertal, captivating a diverse, multi-generational audience with the question: What do people and plants have in common?
As Young Change Watchers, 14 young people from the Pina Bausch Comprehensive School accompanied all the productions, excellently moderated the audience discussions and documented their impressions in pictures and collages. The pieces were selected by a jury consisting of members of Fridays for Future Wuppertal, the curators Melanie Zimmermann, Tobias Staab, Xenia Gromatzki from the Junior University and Bettina Milz and Xenia Wachtel, the Pina Bausch Centre's preliminary phase team.

Kenji Shinohe / TREE-TREE / © Stefan Fries

Humus-program

Dancing filled every corner of the beautiful Schauspielhaus foyer - around the Japanese gardens designed by Dr. Akira Sato for 1966. The artist duo deufert&plischke offered a glimpse into their project JUST IN TIME/anarchivTANZ, which has spent the last eight years collecting and archiving letters to dance from 22 cities around the world. Scottish-born, Wuppertal-based choreographer, dancer, and visual artist Mark Sieczkarek presented video works alongside a delicate garment made from interwoven bottle caps. The FRAGILE FORUM: Towards a future for all, together with dramaturge and transformation manager Dr. Uta Atzpodien, provided space for lively negotiation processes: Young committed people, such as the Young Change Watchers from Pina Bausch Comprehensive School and representatives of the Schools for Future project, met politicians and other stakeholders from urban society. The young and versatile Lina Börger from Schools for Future and former head girl at Erich-Fried-Gesamtschule Ronsdorf took on the role of moderator. Oliver Wagner, Co-Head of the Energy Policy Research Unit at the Wuppertal Institute, gave brief insights into the book Earth for All Deutschland. Towards a Future for All, published by the Club of Rome and the Wuppertal Institute.The city walk by Architects4Future was also well-received, highlighting Wuppertal buildings threatened by demolition and introducing the Demolition Atlas, an interactive digital platform.

All around FRAGILE 2024 and the future Pina Bausch Centre

The Minister for Environment, Nature Conservation, and Transport of North Rhine-Westphalia, Oliver Krischer, and Lord Mayor Prof. Dr. Uwe Schneidewind were also in attendance, accepting awards for the concepts presented at the Circular Insights Days student congress, a collaboration with FRAGILE. Neue Effizienz brought together students and companies eager to leverage the circular economy as a chance to become future-proof and innovative think tanks. Over three days, young professionals worked on real-world “cases” provided by companies, with sessions held at the Alte Glaserei, the Living Lab, and the Pina Bausch Centre, showcasing Wuppertal's potential. One such case focused on the Pina Bausch Centre and unsealing and greening its forecourt and surrounding area. It was solved with a dynamic concept featuring trees, garden beds, and vertical gardens mounted on rails.

In the Kaleidoscope #5 2024 workshop, Professor Christoph Grafe and Ariane Dehghan collaborated with 40 young architects from the universities of Wuppertal and Liège, along with the Pina Bausch Centre. They designed and implemented temporary installations around the Schauspielhaus to create connections between the interior and exterior, integrating the building's external appearance with its internal spaces and enhancing the transparency of the facade as a "building skin."

Reckless Sleepers / String Section © Julian Petrich

Pina Bausch Centre and FRAGILE 2024 at the 10th NRW Sustainability Conference

FRAGILE 2024 concluded on a high note on October 7, coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the NRW Sustainability Conference, which welcomed over 700 participants at the Historical Cityhall Wuppertal. The conference was opened by Prof. Dr. Uwe Schneidewind, Lord Mayor of Wuppertal; Mona Neubaur, Deputy Minister President and Minister for Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection, and Energy in NRW; and Oliver Krischer, Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Transport in NRW. Their addresses underscored a strong commitment to sustainability and the necessity for an evolved economy. Mayor Schneidewind highlighted the significance of the FRAGILE 2024 festival as an exemplary model of the transformative potential inherent in the “art of the future.”

The significance of art and culture in all aspects of sustainability transformation – social, economic and environmental – was once again at the forefront of discussion. Ultimately, it poses a cultural question: will we continue to impose the waste of our affluent society on other countries, or will we cultivate global empathy and commit to ensuring a good life for all people on this planet? The power of art lies in its ability to help us experience the contradictions and ambiguities of our reality through all our senses, recognizing that human behavior is often driven by more than just reason.

Bettina Milz, content coordinator and head of the preliminary phase, participated in the panel discussion titled “Confessions of Society - Between Disagreement and Togetherness.” She emphasized the necessity of forming alliances among art, science, society, and business to inspire action and reassess our economic models. Crucially, we must invest in our children's education, encompassing not only art and culture but also the development of quality schools, kindergartens, and swimming pools. Number 1 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals is the eradication of poverty as the greatest challenge of our time.

The Pina Bausch Centre showcased its presence at the “Market of Opportunities,” which featured 60 exhibitors, using turf instead of a traditional roll-up banner. Oliver Krischer, Minister for Environment, Nature Conservation, and Transport in NRW, visited the Market and emphasized the vital role of art and culture in the sustainability strategy. With FRAGILE 2024 now concluded, the “green carpet” of meadow, along with trees generously provided by GartenBaumschule Selders, now graces the swings at Walldorf Kindergarten. After all, what inspires both children and adults more than the joy of movement—swinging, rolling, jumping, and dancing?

FRAGILE is being realized as part of the project “The Pina Bausch Centre as a holistic sustainable approach” in cooperation with the Wuppertal Institute and is funded by the Federal Cultural Foundation's Zero - Climate Neutral Art and Culture Projects programme. Funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. Further sponsors are the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Stadtsparkasse Wuppertal, Knipex, WSW Wuppertaler Stadtwerke and the Goethe-Institute.