Ministry for the Future ist eine transdisziplinäre Produktion über mögliche Zukünfte im Angesicht der Klimakrise – und darüber, wie wir sie verhandeln, bevor sie eintreten. Inspiriert vom gleichnamigen Roman von Kim Stanley Robinson entwickelte sich ein groß angelegtes Kooperationsprojekt zwischen dem Theater Neumarkt, dem Collegium Helveticum Zürich und der Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe.
Ausgangspunkt ist ein spekulatives Szenario im Jahr 2034: Die Erde hat Kipppunkte erreicht, Regierungen reagieren, eine neue Institution wird gegründet – das Ministerium für die Zukunft. Innerhalb dieser Fiktion operiert die Produktion als diskursives Format, das sich fortlaufend mit der zentralen Frage auseinandersetzt: Welche Handlungsspielräume bleiben uns?
Das Projekt kombiniert künstlerische, wissenschaftliche und gestalterische Perspektiven zu einem Format zwischen Preenactment und realer Wissenschaftskommunikation. Herzstück ist ein mobiles Bühnenbild, das drängende forschungsbasierte Diskurse in eine begehbare, funktionale Infrastruktur übersetzt. Die Szenografie wurde konsequent durch Re- und Upcycling-Prozesse entwickelt. Sie folgt einer Haltung, die den Anforderungen ökologischer Krisen standhalten will – indem sie aus dem Material jener Krisen selbst hervorgeht. In vier thematisch fokussierten Episoden an vier verschiedenen Orten in Zürich wird der Raum selbst zum Instrument: eine spekulative Versammlung, eine temporäre Institution, ein Möglichkeitslabor.
Die Inszenierung bringt reale Wissenschaftler:innen, Performer:innen und Bürger:innen im Modus eines fiktionalen Ministeriums in Austausch – und mit ihnen die Fragen: Wie lässt sich Zukunft verhandeln, wenn sie längst begonnen hat? Was bedeutet Teilhabe, wenn die Katastrophe strukturell geworden ist? Und wie kann Raum für solche Aushandlungen heute aussehen?
Ministry for the Future is a transdisciplinary production about possible futures in the face of the climate crisis—and about how we negotiate them before they arrive. Inspired by the novel of the same name by Kim Stanley Robinson, the project evolved into a large-scale collaboration between Theater Neumarkt, the Collegium Helveticum Zurich, and the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (HfG).
Its starting point is a speculative scenario set in the year 2034: the Earth has reached tipping points, governments are reacting, and a new institution is established—the Ministry for the Future. Within this fiction, the production functions as a discursive format that continuously engages with the central question: What room for action remains?
The project combines artistic, scientific, and design perspectives into a hybrid format somewhere between preenactment and real science communication. At its core is a mobile stage design that translates urgent, research-based discourses into an immersive, functional infrastructure. The scenography was developed entirely through re- and upcycling processes, guided by an attitude that seeks to meet the demands of ecological crises—by emerging from their very material. Across four thematically focused episodes in four different locations in Zurich, the space itself becomes an instrument: a speculative assembly, a temporary institution, a lab of possibilities.
The performance brings together real scientists, performers, and citizens within the framework of a fictional ministry—and with them, the questions: How can we negotiate the future when it has already begun? What does participation mean when catastrophe has become structural? And what kind of space is needed for such negotiations today?
Krisenästhetik
Ministry for the Future denkt Zukunft als materielle Praxis im Krisenmodus der planetaren Erschöpfung. Die Szenografie wird dabei selbst zum Statement: Modular, mobil, weitgehend aus wiederverwendeten Materialien gefertigt, nimmt sie die Krise nicht nur als Thema, sondern als Produktionsbedingung ernst. Statt dystopischer Illustration oder unbegrenzter Technikvision wird ein ästhetischer Umgang mit Funktion, Knappheit und Transformation vorgeschlagen – resilient, improvisiert, offen
Medien-Beschreibung (en)
Aesthetics of Crisis
Ministry for the Future imagines the future as a material practice within the crisis mode of planetary exhaustion. The scenography becomes a statement in itself: modular, mobile, largely made from reused materials—it takes the crisis not only as its theme but as a condition of production. Instead of dystopian illustration or limitless technological visions, it proposes an aesthetic approach to function, scarcity, and transformation—resilient, improvised, open.
Ministry for the Future ist eine transdisziplinäre Produktion über mögliche Zukünfte im Angesicht der Klimakrise – und darüber, wie wir sie verhandeln, bevor sie eintreten. Inspiriert vom gleichnamigen Roman von Kim Stanley Robinson entwickelte sich ein groß angelegtes Kooperationsprojekt zwischen dem Theater Neumarkt, dem Collegium Helveticum Zürich und der Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe.
Ausgangspunkt ist ein spekulatives Szenario im Jahr 2034: Die Erde hat Kipppunkte erreicht, Regierungen reagieren, eine neue Institution wird gegründet – das Ministerium für die Zukunft. Innerhalb dieser Fiktion operiert die Produktion als diskursives Format, das sich fortlaufend mit der zentralen Frage auseinandersetzt: Welche Handlungsspielräume bleiben uns?
Das Projekt kombiniert künstlerische, wissenschaftliche und gestalterische Perspektiven zu einem Format zwischen Preenactment und realer Wissenschaftskommunikation. Herzstück ist ein mobiles Bühnenbild, das drängende forschungsbasierte Diskurse in eine begehbare, funktionale Infrastruktur übersetzt. Die Szenografie wurde konsequent durch Re- und Upcycling-Prozesse entwickelt. Sie folgt einer Haltung, die den Anforderungen ökologischer Krisen standhalten will – indem sie aus dem Material jener Krisen selbst hervorgeht. In vier thematisch fokussierten Episoden an vier verschiedenen Orten in Zürich wird der Raum selbst zum Instrument: eine spekulative Versammlung, eine temporäre Institution, ein Möglichkeitslabor.
Die Inszenierung bringt reale Wissenschaftler:innen, Performer:innen und Bürger:innen im Modus eines fiktionalen Ministeriums in Austausch – und mit ihnen die Fragen: Wie lässt sich Zukunft verhandeln, wenn sie längst begonnen hat? Was bedeutet Teilhabe, wenn die Katastrophe strukturell geworden ist? Und wie kann Raum für solche Aushandlungen heute aussehen?
Ministry for the Future is a transdisciplinary production about possible futures in the face of the climate crisis—and about how we negotiate them before they arrive. Inspired by the novel of the same name by Kim Stanley Robinson, the project evolved into a large-scale collaboration between Theater Neumarkt, the Collegium Helveticum Zurich, and the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (HfG).
Its starting point is a speculative scenario set in the year 2034: the Earth has reached tipping points, governments are reacting, and a new institution is established—the Ministry for the Future. Within this fiction, the production functions as a discursive format that continuously engages with the central question: What room for action remains?
The project combines artistic, scientific, and design perspectives into a hybrid format somewhere between preenactment and real science communication. At its core is a mobile stage design that translates urgent, research-based discourses into an immersive, functional infrastructure. The scenography was developed entirely through re- and upcycling processes, guided by an attitude that seeks to meet the demands of ecological crises—by emerging from their very material. Across four thematically focused episodes in four different locations in Zurich, the space itself becomes an instrument: a speculative assembly, a temporary institution, a lab of possibilities.
The performance brings together real scientists, performers, and citizens within the framework of a fictional ministry—and with them, the questions: How can we negotiate the future when it has already begun? What does participation mean when catastrophe has become structural? And what kind of space is needed for such negotiations today?
Wissenschaftskommunikation
Wissenschaftliches Denken wird nicht nur vermittelt, sondern verhandelt. In dieser Inszenierung treffen sich reale Wissenschaftler:innen aus Klima-, Sozial- und Zukunftsforschung und der Bürger:innenrat -das Publikum- auf Augenhöhe. Gemeinsam werden sie zu Akteur:innen eines kollektiven Nachdenkens. Die Bühne fungiert als Kommunikationsraum, in dem sich Fakten, Unsicherheiten und ethische Fragen gleichberechtigt begegnen – ein Diskurs in Echtzeit.
Situative Platznahme
Ministry for the Future versteht Intervention als situative Platznahme in öffentlichen, wissenschaftlichen und ästhetischen Räumen. In Form des fiktiven Ministeriums werden temporäre Infrastrukturen geschaffen, die unterstützen oder auch Reibung erzeugen.
An vier Orten in Zürich reagiert das mobile Set auf konkrete räumliche, institutionelle und thematische Kontexte: als installative Präsenz, als Gesprächsarchitektur, als spekulative Behörde oder als gezielte Störung. Intendiert ist damit weniger ein Bruch als ein Angebot – im Einschreiben einer möglichen Zukunft in die Logik des Hier und Jetzt.
Medien-Beschreibung (en)
Science Communication
Scientific thinking is not only conveyed, but negotiated. In this performance, real scientists from the fields of climate, social, and futures research meet with the citizens’ assembly—the audience—on equal footing. Together they become actors in a collective process of reflection. The stage functions as a space of communication where facts, uncertainties, and ethical questions interact on equal terms—a discourse in real time.
Situational Occupation of Space
Ministry for the Future understands intervention as situational occupation—within public, scientific, and aesthetic spaces. In the form of the fictional ministry, temporary infrastructures are created that either support or disrupt. In four locations in Zurich, the mobile set responds to concrete spatial, institutional, and thematic contexts: as an installative presence, as conversation architecture, as speculative authority, or as deliberate provocation. The aim is not rupture, but offering—a way of inscribing a possible future into the logic of the present.
Rückseite der Installation; mehrere Elementen angeschlossen an die „Maschine“ der Selbstreferenz: HDMI-Analog Konvertern, Android Media Players, DC 5V Stromversorgungsgeräte
In seinem Text „Videowelt und fraktales Subjekt,“ beschreibt Baudrillard ein Subjekt der digitalen Ära, das danach trachtet, „sich selber in seinen Bruchstücken anzugleichen“ und anstatt nach seinem vollkommenen Idealbild, sehnt es sich nach der „Formel einer endlosen genetischen Reproduktion“ (Baudrillard 1989). Technologische Reduplikationen und Erscheinungsweisen des Körpers formen das Konzept des neuen Selbst. „Es geht heute nicht einmal mehr darum, einen Körper zu haben, sondern an seinen Körper angeschlossen (connected) zu sein.“
"Videowelt und fraktale Entspannung" ist als eine Mehrkanal-Installation, die sich auf das Konzept des fraktalen Körpers nach Baudrillard und der Interpassivität nach Pfaller stützt. Sieben Bildschirme zeigen die Verlängerung des menschlichen Körpers, während ein beauftragter Bot ein ungezwungenes Entspannungsprogramm durchführt. Basierend auf der progressiven Muskelentspannung nach Edmund Jacobson ermöglicht die Installation den Betrachter:innen, an der angeleiteten Choreografie teilzuhaben und so die Verbundenheit des Selbst mit der Technik zu erfahren. So ist sie ironisch als eine interpassive ‘Oase der Entspannung‘ konzipiert.
In his text "Video World and Fractal Subject," Baudrillard describes a subject of the digital era that strives to "align itself with its own fragments." Rather than aspiring to its perfect ideal image, it yearns for the "formula of an endless genetic reproduction" (Baudrillard 1989). Technological reduplications and manifestations of the body shape the concept of the new self. "Today, it is no longer even about having a body, but about being connected to one's body."
"Video World and Fractal Relaxation" is a multi-channel installation that draws on Baudrillard's concept of the fractal body and Pfaller's theory of interpassivity. Seven screens depict the extension of the human body while a programmed bot conducts a casual relaxation routine. Based on Edmund Jacobson's progressive muscle relaxation, the installation allows viewers to participate in the guided choreography, offering them an experience of the self's connection with technology. It is ironically designed as an interpassive "oasis of relaxation."
Das Werk stützt sich auf Theodor Rehbocks Buch von 1898, "Deutsch Südwestafrika. Seine wirtschaftliche Erschließung unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Nutzbarmachung des Wassers", um die durch die Wissenschaft gerechtfertigte Ausbeutung zu untersuchen. Es verweist auch auf die Regulierung des Rheinflussbettes und die Standardisierung von Sprachen als weitere Folgen des "aufgeklärten Kolonialismus". Die Videoinstallation untersucht die Erzählungen wissenschaftlicher Erkundungen während der Kolonialzeit, eingebettet in einen futuristischen Kontext.
Beschreibung (en)
The work draws on Theodor Rehbock's 1898 book, "Deutsch Südwestafrika. Seine wirtschaftliche Erschließung unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Nutzbarmachung des Wassers" ("German South West Africa: Its Economic Development with Special Consideration of the Utilization of Water") to examine the exploitation justified by science. It also references the regulation of the Rhine riverbed and the standardization of languages as further consequences of "enlightened colonialism." The video installation explores the narratives of scientific explorations during the colonial era, embedded in a futuristic context.
We live in times of high competition. Survival of the fittest is the omnipresent motto in most fields of human action, especially in the western world. This philosophy was only established about 200 years ago and manifested by Charles Darwin and especially the Social Darwinists at the end of the 19th century. They believed that according to a law of nature, only the physically strongest and most aggressive individuals and species would survive in the struggle for life. Many Social Darwinists justified therefore capitalism and racism with devastating consequences in the coming decades until nowadays.
Peter Kropotkin is attempting in his philosophical work Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (1902) to dismantle their arguments and based on numerous observations of zoologists and anthropologists, he proves, that the fittest species are the most sociable ones and that sociability develops intelligence, which is the most powerful arm in the struggle for survival. This includes insects, animals and humans. Higher moral sentiments and compassion is also essential for survival in all societies.
The ritual burning of sage in nature should help to cleanse the negative energy of social darwinism in our world and make room for a more cooperative society, that will secure the well-being of all members, even the most weak ones and furthermore facilitate a more sustainable, safe and content society.
We live in times of high competition. Survival of the fittest is the omnipresent motto in most fields of human action, especially in the western world. This philosophy was only established about 200 years ago and manifested by Charles Darwin and especially the Social Darwinists at the end of the 19th century. They believed that according to a law of nature, only the physically strongest and most aggressive individuals and species would survive in the struggle for life. Many Social Darwinists justified therefore capitalism and racism with devastating consequences in the coming decades until nowadays.
Peter Kropotkin is attempting in his philosophical work Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (1902) to dismantle their arguments and based on numerous observations of zoologists and anthropologists, he proves, that the fittest species are the most sociable ones and that sociability develops intelligence, which is the most powerful arm in the struggle for survival. This includes insects, animals and humans. Higher moral sentiments and compassion is also essential for survival in all societies.
The ritual burning of sage in nature should help to cleanse the negative energy of social darwinism in our world and make room for a more cooperative society, that will secure the well-being of all members, even the most weak ones and furthermore facilitate a more sustainable, safe and content society.
We live in times of high competition. Survival of the fittest is the omnipresent motto in most fields of human action, especially in the western world. This philosophy was only established about 200 years ago and manifested by Charles Darwin and especially the Social Darwinists at the end of the 19th century. They believed that according to a law of nature, only the physically strongest and most aggressive individuals and species would survive in the struggle for life. Many Social Darwinists justified therefore capitalism and racism with devastating consequences in the coming decades until nowadays.
Peter Kropotkin is attempting in his philosophical work Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (1902) to dismantle their arguments and based on numerous observations of zoologists and anthropologists, he proves, that the fittest species are the most sociable ones and that sociability develops intelligence, which is the most powerful arm in the struggle for survival. This includes insects, animals and humans. Higher moral sentiments and compassion is also essential for survival in all societies.
The ritual burning of sage in nature should help to cleanse the negative energy of social darwinism in our world and make room for a more cooperative society, that will secure the well-being of all members, even the most weak ones and furthermore facilitate a more sustainable, safe and content society.
We live in times of high competition. Survival of the fittest is the omnipresent motto in most fields of human action, especially in the western world. This philosophy was only established about 200 years ago and manifested by Charles Darwin and especially the Social Darwinists at the end of the 19th century. They believed that according to a law of nature, only the physically strongest and most aggressive individuals and species would survive in the struggle for life. Many Social Darwinists justified therefore capitalism and racism with devastating consequences in the coming decades until nowadays.
Peter Kropotkin is attempting in his philosophical work Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (1902) to dismantle their arguments and based on numerous observations of zoologists and anthropologists, he proves, that the fittest species are the most sociable ones and that sociability develops intelligence, which is the most powerful arm in the struggle for survival. This includes insects, animals and humans. Higher moral sentiments and compassion is also essential for survival in all societies.
The ritual burning of sage in nature should help to cleanse the negative energy of social darwinism in our world and make room for a more cooperative society, that will secure the well-being of all members, even the most weak ones and furthermore facilitate a more sustainable, safe and content society.
We live in times of high competition. Survival of the fittest is the omnipresent motto in most fields of human action, especially in the western world. This philosophy was only established about 200 years ago and manifested by Charles Darwin and especially the Social Darwinists at the end of the 19th century. They believed that according to a law of nature, only the physically strongest and most aggressive individuals and species would survive in the struggle for life. Many Social Darwinists justified therefore capitalism and racism with devastating consequences in the coming decades until nowadays.
Peter Kropotkin is attempting in his philosophical work Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (1902) to dismantle their arguments and based on numerous observations of zoologists and anthropologists, he proves, that the fittest species are the most sociable ones and that sociability develops intelligence, which is the most powerful arm in the struggle for survival. This includes insects, animals and humans. Higher moral sentiments and compassion is also essential for survival in all societies.
The ritual burning of sage in nature should help to cleanse the negative energy of social darwinism in our world and make room for a more cooperative society, that will secure the well-being of all members, even the most weak ones and furthermore facilitate a more sustainable, safe and content society.
We live in times of high competition. Survival of the fittest is the omnipresent motto in most fields of human action, especially in the western world. This philosophy was only established about 200 years ago and manifested by Charles Darwin and especially the Social Darwinists at the end of the 19th century. They believed that according to a law of nature, only the physically strongest and most aggressive individuals and species would survive in the struggle for life. Many Social Darwinists justified therefore capitalism and racism with devastating consequences in the coming decades until nowadays.
Peter Kropotkin is attempting in his philosophical work Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (1902) to dismantle their arguments and based on numerous observations of zoologists and anthropologists, he proves, that the fittest species are the most sociable ones and that sociability develops intelligence, which is the most powerful arm in the struggle for survival. This includes insects, animals and humans. Higher moral sentiments and compassion is also essential for survival in all societies.
The ritual burning of sage in nature should help to cleanse the negative energy of social darwinism in our world and make room for a more cooperative society, that will secure the well-being of all members, even the most weak ones and furthermore facilitate a more sustainable, safe and content society.