Jahrgang 2026 des Universitätslehrgangs “Curating in the Performing Arts” Prepping for the Unexpected – Art, Theory, and Sauerkraut

Preppers stockpile supplies, gather equipment, learn survival techniques and run through possible crisis scenarios to safeguard themselves and their immediate surroundings. The familiar image conjured up by this is one of hoarded tinned food, toilet paper and isolated masculinity. Real agency looks different.

‘Prepping for the Unexpected’ contrasts the logic of individual self-preservation with a different idea of preparation: one that relies on shared knowledge, available resources and collective agency.

To this end, the event places ‘prepping’ in tension with improvisation. Whether in theatre, music or disaster management:

improvisation requires knowledge, experience and practised skills – and the willingness to deviate from the tried and tested at the decisive moment. Preparation does not provide a ready-made plan here. It creates a repertoire for situations that cannot be planned.

‘Prepping for the Unexpected’ brings together artistic, theoretical and practical ideas that shed light on and explore this alternative form of preparedness.

In a presentation, the artist, curator and engineer specialising in landscape and open-space planning, Dr.-Ing. Margit Schild, will share her research on crises of time and the role of provisional solutions and artistic strategies in overcoming them.

The talk will be delivered in German.

In her work ERUPTIVA EXTRAVAGANZA, performer Nolundi Tschudi embodies the volcano as a drag persona of catastrophe and explores the transformative potential of destruction.

The performance will be in German.

In a joint ‘prepping’ session involving all participants, philosopher Dr Eva Backhaus takes an academic look at prepping as a unifying practice and at improvisation as a form of resistant action.

The contribution will be in English

As PARTICLE TRIALITY, Sofia Salvo (saxophone), Dan Peter Sundland (bass and vocals) and Valentin Schuster (drums) come together in a freely improvised performance that interweaves sound, movement and space, and embodies improvisation as a social practice.

In her performance *The Sermon of the Weeds*, artist Luiza Prado establishes a physical connection between the struggle for reproductive justice and ancient knowledge of plant medicine in the form of a shared ritual.

The performance will be in English.

Programme:

• 11.00 am Doors open
• 12 noon Dr Margit Schild: Improvising in crises and disasters – what is it, how does it work, and what needs to happen for us to get better at it?
• 1.00 pm Nolundi Tschudi: ERUPTIVA EXTRAVAGANZA (performance)
• 1.30 pm Break
• 1.45 pm Dr Eva Backhaus: Academic input and joint preparation.
• 3.00 pm Break
• 3.30 pm Particle Triality (concert)
• 4.00 pm Break
• 4.15 pm Luiza Prado: The Sermon of the Weeds (performance)