Dystopian Thinking as a Dialectic Strategy of Politically Engaged Performing Arts
PhD Project by Sonja Kessner, Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna
Is there a dialectic relationship between dystopian thinking and a potential utopian Political Imaginary and if so – how can the understanding of this interconnection be used to enhance both artistic strategies and public discourse around the experience of world endings and crisis? Even though utopian thought and image production have a long and productive legacy in art history, there seem to remain a list of unsolved problems regarding for example positionality and perspective, a suspected incompatibility of freedom and equality, the problem of utopian concepts‘ unalterability and the danger of totalitarianism. Although dystopian artworks have been valuably criticised in many ways, the research follows the hypothesis that dystopian art can be especially effective in responding to contemporaries‘ variously shaped experiences of crisis. Reasons for that may lie in their dialectic operating principles that incorporate contradictions and paradoxes and that do justice to the urgency of the experienced problems whilst solutions can occur as collective scenarios within the audience’s imagination. “Mapping Dystopia“ therefore aims to research, develop and apply dystopian thinking as a strategy for politically engaged performing arts as a resource of unexpected Imaginaries of the future(s).
Events and Presentations:
Dark Literacy – Paper Presentation at Drama Boreale Conference, Uniarts Helsinki, August 2026. More Information here.
Salon TrickStar in cooperation with the University of Erfurt, 7th of June 2026.
Dark Literacy Laboratories in cooperation with students of the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna and Schauspielhaus Wien 29/30 May 2026.
Past Events:
Studio Research Presentation/ Performance Premiere „Paradise on your Shoulders“, Theater Erfurt, May 2026
Photos: Alice End
More Artistic Research Projects and Collaborations:
Owdnegrin nirgendwO
“My artwork is about the small line which exists between resilience and violence, the power which comes from that place and which is able to transform destruction into creation.” (Jeanne)
Photo: Sonja Keßner, Project: „Hear me to feel me“
Content warning: sexualized violence. Jeanne is a classically trained dancer, performance artist, art therapist and anthropologist. Sonja is a trained actress and anthropologist whose work takes various forms in the field of music and theatre. The two met during their studies of social and cultural anthropology and found a mutual interest in the structural and institutional side of violence and in the question how personal experiences can form the base for social analysis and artistic activism. Within their research the two Berlin based artists/anthropologists investigate the phenomenon of sexualized violence and its political implications, zoom in on trauma and resilience and the transformative possibilities of its artistic progression. Their methodology ranges from autoethnographic means to a broad research into various disciplines as for example feminist and queer theory, postcolonial studies, psychological anthropology and political philosophy. Their studio work includes theatre and dance improvisation, creative writing, painting and performance art.
Find out about current activities here.
Exit Anthropos – Performing and leaving the AnthropoScene
Photos: Fredrik Kinbom (1), Sonja Kessner (2), Jenny Fitz (3-5)
Sonja Kessner and Theater.Macht.Staat created an artistic project based on several steps of Artistic Research. The dissemination project „Anthropos Ex (Machina)“ contained a theatre part, an immersive performance istallation and a concert by Kinbom & Kessner and their live band. The piece premiered in march 2023 in Berlin, Germany.
By and with: Sonja Kessner, Anton Pohle, Cathrein Unger, Peter Posniak, Anton August Dudda, Angharad Matthews, Adrian Williams, wer.werther & Leonard Wölfl, Jenny Fitz, Kinbom & Kessner + Band (Fredrik Kinbom, Sonja Kessner, Chris Farr, Andreas Dormann).
Supported by Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media as part of NEUSTART KULTUR.
