cARE (core Artistic Research Ensemble)
Philosophy on Stage #6: Notebook of the Heart
Heart research on stage and on all levels: Philosophy on Stage #6: Notebook of the Heart is a four-day research lab crossing art and philosophy, inviting audiences to participate in cross-cultural research on the heart. Researchers from India, Europe and North America as well as from the different fields of art, philosophy, cardiology and quantum physics display their expertise on the pulsating realities of the heart on the stage of brut nordwest, thus giving a taste and shared sense of rhythmically vibrating matter: from the pulse rate of the human heart to cosmic heartbeats and all the way to the pulse of the Earth with which all beings try to get in accordance. By the way, fun fact: The word ‘accordance’ comes from the Latin ‘ad-cor-dia’ and means ‘to bring hearts together’. Isn’t that a beautiful wording? So, from the bottom of our hearts: Welcome!
On the first evening the event will open by recording heartbeats from the audience as a basis for the lecture performances to follow. On the next two days, the research lab will begin in the mornings with body work and readings from the cARE researchers’ personal ‘notebooks of the heart.’ After lunch, two lecture performances will be followed by a speakers’ corner, where audience members are invited to make their voices heard. The evenings will be spent watching performances, also there will be permanent installations created as part of the multiannual research project Philosophy in the Arts : Arts in Philosophy.
The festival will be concluded with music, a film – Notebook of the Heart – and a keynote by Debashish Banerji, Professor of Indian Philosophie, on the heart’s cross-cultural dimension.
Timetable
Thu. 09.04.
- 18:00–18:30 Welcoming #0 (Arno Böhler, Susanne Valerie Granzer, Kira Kirsch, Johannes Kretz)
- 18:30–19:15 Seven Chambers of the Heart #1 (cARE Ensemble)
- 19:30–20:30 Trans-Lecture #2 (Nikolaus Gansterer, Arno Böhler)
- 20:45–22:00 Black Hole #3 (Jyoti Dogra)
Fri. 10.04.
- 09:30–10:30 Body Work Station & Speech Exercises (Aurelio C. Hammer, Florian Reiners)
- 11:00–12:00 Morning Reading with the Audience (Arno Böhler, Susanne Valerie Granzer, Evi Jägle, Christoph Müller)
- 12:00–13:00 Lunch
- 13:00–14:15 The Poetic Heart #4 & Discussion (Aurelio C. Hammer, Johannes Kretz, Evi Jägle, Christoph Müller, Arno Böhler, Susanne Valerie Granzer)
- 14:45–16:00 Artist Philosophers #5. Nietzsche et cetera (Florian Reiners, Yunus Tuncel)
- 16:30–17:15 Speaker’s Corner
- 17:15–17:35 Shared Silence
- 18:00–18:45 Darakht #6 (Jyoti Dogra)
- 19:15–20:00 The Heart, the Mother, the Posthuman, the New Being #7 (Patrick Beldio)
- 20:30–22:00 Yam Yam #8 (Aurelio C. Hammer, Johannes Kretz & cARE Ensemble & Audience)
Sat. 11.04.
- 09:30–10:30 Body Work Station & Speech Exercises (Arno Böhler, Sabina Holzer, Florian Reiners)
- 11:00–12:00 Morning Reading with the Audience (Arno Böhler, Susanne Valerie Granzer, Evi Jägle, Christoph Müller)
- 12:00–13:15 Lunch
- 13:15–14:15 The Heart of Steel #9 (Arno Böhler, Susanne Valerie Granzer, Christoph Müller, Evi Jägle, Johannes Kretz)
- 14:45–16:00 Shaken Grounds, Shifting Skies #10 (Nikolaus Gansterer, Mariella Greil, Peter Kozek, Lucie Strecker)
- 16:30–17:15 Speaker’s Corner
- 17:15–17:35 Shared Silence
- 18:00–18:45 The Genius of the Heart #11 (Yunus Tuncel)
- 19:15–20:00 Witch Power in Quantum Physics #12 (Tanja Traxler, Jyoti Dogra, Sabina Holzer, Evi Jägle)
- 20:30–22:00 Heartless Pulsation #13 A–C (Florian Reiners, Choir: Students of Max Reinhardt Seminar), Heartless (Susanne Valerie Granzer), Embryonic Heart (Sabina Holzer)
Sun. 12.04.
- 10:00–10:20 Music (Johannes Kretz, Aurelio C. Hammer)
- 10:30–11:30 Keynote (Debashish Banerji)
- 12:00–13:30 Notebook of the Heart (film, introduction: Arno Böhler & Susanne Valerie Granzer)
- 13:30–14:00 Seven Chambers of the Heart (cARE Ensemble, exodus)
Team 2026
Arno Böhler is teaching philosophy at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Vienna and is the principal investigator of the PEEK project Philosophy in the Arts : Arts in Philosophy, conducted at ARC-mdw and funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF [grant DOI 10.55776/AR822]. He has been a visiting research fellow at universities in Bangalore, Heidelberg, New York and Princeton and a visiting professor at universities in Vienna, Bremen and Berlin. He co-founded baseCollective with Susanne Valerie Granzer in 1995 to create new formats between art and philosophy such as Philosophy on Stage and 'arts-based philosophy.' Philosophy on Stage #6 is part of this experimental tryout.
Patrick Beldio, MFA, PhD, is a scholar and teacher of comparative theology with specialisations in Hinduism, Sufism, and Christian spirituality. He teaches in the Theology and Religious Studies Department at the University of Scranton, serves as a Research Fellow at Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, and is a Core Team member of Philosophy in the Arts : Arts in Philosophy, a cross-cultural research initiative on the role of the heart in artistic research and performance philosophy, funded by the Austrian Science Fund. His current book The Mother of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram: Co-Creator of the Integral Yoga (Bloomsbury, 2025), explores the transformative legacy of Mirra Alfassa (1878–1973), a French Jewish woman who became an Indian guru with a global following. In addition to his academic work, Beldio is a professional sacred sculptor with a studio at the Franciscan Monastery in Washington, DC. His artwork is held in private and public collections across the United States, Europe, and India.
Sabina Holzer (AT) is a dancer, writer and researcher working in the field of expanded choreography. Her practice unfolds at the intersections of performance, theory & poetry. As a graduate of the Hoogeschool voor de Kunsten Amsterdam (SNDO), she performed internationally for many years and published numerous articles on performance, theory and the embodied processes of artistic creation. In her recent work, Holzer investigates ecological interrelations and speculative future scenarios, rendering these inquiries tangible through what she calls choreographic assemblages – such as the riverhood project. Since 2005, she has taught somatic practices and dance at various institutions combining it with her yoga practice. Her artistic works and collaborations have been presented at dOCUMENTA (13), Secession Vienna, Tanzquartier Vienna and the Volkskundemuseum Vienna, among others.
Susanne Valerie Granzer is an actress and a professor emeritus of acting at the Max Reinhardt Seminar, University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna (mdw). Alongside her acting career (Vienna, Basel, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Berlin), she was awarded a PhD in Philosophy in 1995 (University of Vienna). From 2021 to 2025, she taught aesthetics as ethics at the Max Reinhardt Seminar. Her research focuses on the actor on stage and performance philosophy. She is currently a key researcher in an international research project led by Arno Böhler at the Artistic Research Centre mdw, Arts in Philosophy : Philosophy in the Arts, funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [grant DOI 10.55776/AR822].
Johannes Kretz is a composer, electronics performer/improviser and artistic researcher. He is associate professor at mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and the head of the artistic research center (ARC) of mdw. Since 2023, he has been a member of the Research Advisory Council of Orpheus Institute, Belgium, and since 2024 a member of the executive bord of the Society for Artistic Research. His works have been performed at/with National Theatre Hall, Taipei, Festival Ars Electronica, Konzerthaus Wien, eclat festival Stuttgart, Klangforum Wien, Ensemble On Line, Internationale Lemgoer Orgeltage, Haller Bachtage, Triton Trombone Quartett, Wiener Kammerchor, in Europe as well as in Argentina, Mexico, Canada, USA, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, Uzbekistan, Iran and India.
Florian Reiners is an actor and professor for voice and speech at the Max Reinhardt Seminar (University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna), where he also studied. His theatre work includes engagements at Schauspielhaus Leipzig, Staatstheater Augsburg, Schlossparktheater Berlin and Cologne Opera. He has realised projects such as Philosophy on Stage at the Essl Museum and Future Box at the International Conference on Artistic Research Vienna. Reiners published Das gesprochene Bild. Die Methode „Bilder sprechen" zur künstlerischen Sprachgestaltung ('The Spoken Picture. The Method of Speaking Pictures in Artistic Speech Design'; Falter Verlag, 2022).
Yunus Tuncel is a co-founder of the Nietzsche Circle and the editor-in-chief of its electronic journal, The Agonist. He is the author of Towards a Genealogy of Spectacle (Eye Corner Press, 2011), Agon in Nietzsche (Marquette University Press, 2013), Emotion in Sports (Routledge, 2019), Nietzsche on Human Emotions (Schwabe, 2021), Flames of Passion (Beadle Books, 2022) and Nietzsche, Gai Saber and Modernity (2024, Transnational Press of London), and The Devil Gave the Poison to Eros: Notebook E (Beadle Books, 2024) and the editor of Nietzsche and Transhumanism (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017) and the co-editor of Nietzsche and Music (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2022). He has been working with Arno Böhler and Susanne Granzer on Nietzsche and Thinkers on Stage projects since 2005.
Aurelio (A.C. Hammer) has lived in the international community project of Auroville since 1991, where s/he is founder and creative director of SVARAM-Sound Experience. Having been trained in guitar and flute, s/he teaches workshops, trainings and seminars internationally on Integral sound studies and practices and Integral Yoga studies. Previous performances include Lost Treasures of Central Asia (Chicago Art Center, 2015), Scenes from Sri Aurobindo's Savitri (Sri Aurobindo Auditorium, 2015) Man, sole awake... (2017), Is it enough O' Spirit? (2019), Nachiketas (2021) and Usha and the Dawns to Come (2022). www.svaram.org
Jyoti Dogra is a theatre-maker based in Mumbai. Her work has been supported by ProHelvetia – Swiss Arts Council, Goethe Institute New Delhi, Saison Foundation, Japan, and Arts Council, England, Flinn Works, Berlin, Base Collective, Vienna, India Foundation for the Arts, Prakriti Foundation and Serendipity Arts Festival. Beyond India, her work has been showcased in Tokyo, Zurich, Bern, New York, Berlin, Warsaw, London, Washington DC, Singapore, Vienna, Dhaka, Hong Kong, Warsaw and Denmark. Jyoti was a guest faculty at the National School of Drama in New Delhi and also taught and directed at the Department of Indian Theatre, Panjab University. Three books on contemporary Indian theatre-makers and 4 PhD theses have been accomplished on her work in universities in India and at Berkeley.
Stefan Dobner is a cardiologist. He studied medicine in Vienna (MD 2004) and graduated from the University of Cape Town (PhD 2010) before going on to conduct post-doc research at Harvard Medical School (Brigham and Women's Hospital, 2009–2011) and finishing subspecialty training in internal medicine and cardiology with a focus on heart failure and transplantation in Hamburg, Innsbruck and Bern (2011–2019). Stefan Dobner has been an FMH cardiology since 2019 and a specialist in internal medicine and cardiology since 2021. He also holds an MSc title in clinical trials from Oxford University (2023) and has worked as an attending physician at Klinik Ottakring in Vienna since 2023.
Nikolaus Gansterer is an artist, a university teacher and a researcher based at the Department for Transmedia Arts at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. His research practice is deeply grounded in a trans-medial and trans-disciplinary approach, underpinned by conceptual discourse on performative visualization and cartographic representations. His artistic research work was awarded with several scholarships and prizes, among others as PI of two PEEK grants for artistic research by the Austrian Science Fund (2014 and 2019) developing systems of notation of atmospheres, situations and environments. Since 2007, he has been teaching at the UAAV. He is board member of the Applied Performance Laboratory, Vienna where he is researching on performative practices of notation and reflection. www.gansterer.org
Tanja Traxler is a quantum physicist, a journalist and a lecturer at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Her research focuses on the philosophical foundations of quantum physics and the societal impact of quantum technologies. As head of the science department of the Austrian broadsheet Der Standard, she is a leading communicator of science and one of Austria's most established science journalists. She was awarded several prizes for her work in science communication. At the UAAV Tanja Traxler combines quantum physics with artistic practices and pursues cross-disciplinary links between science, philosophy and the arts.
Evi Jägle studied visual art at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and Philosophy at the University of Vienna (VDP – Vienna Doctoral School). She has created videos, installations and performances as part of the performance-philosophy collective Philomation. Her works include a theatre production at the Cammerspiele Leipzig (2022) and Inhabiting the Impossible with Dans.Kias at WUK Vienna (2023). Exhibitions have been shown at, among others, the Fotogalerie im WUK (2021), Schmatz (2020) and Urhof Grünbach (2019), performances at the Soundcheck Philosophie festival in Leipzig (2018, 2019). She is currently a doctoral researcher in the FWF project Philosophy in the Arts : Art in Philosophy (PEEK AR-822) at the mdw, Vienna, supervised by Arno Böhler.
Christoph Müller studied philosophy in Leipzig and Vienna. Together with the performance-philosophy collective Philomation, he develops audiovisual works shown at various festivals, exhibitions and conferences. Highlights include an installation/performance at the 2019 festival [Soundcheck Philosophie] #5: Am Nerv der Demokratie; screenings of essayistic experimental films (arts-based research) at the 2021 DRHA conference in Berlin ('Digital Matters') and at the 2022 conference organised by the Centre for Continental Philosophy at Royal Holloway, University of London ('Unlearning Nihilism'). In November 2022, the collective premiered its first stage production at the Cammerspiele Leipzig. Christoph Müller is currently a doctoral researcher in the FWF project Art as Philosophy – Philosophy as Art (PEEK AR-822) at the mdw, Vienna, where his dissertation is supervised by Univ.-Doz. Dr. Dr. Arno Böhler.
Credits
Created by & featuring cARE (core Artistic Research Ensemble) Arno Böhler, Susanne Valerie Granzer, Aurelio C. Hammer, Jyoti Dogra, Nikolaus Gansterer, Florian Reiners, Sabina Holzer, Johannes Kretz, Patrick Beldio, Stefan Dobner, Tanja Traxler, Yunus Tuncel, Evi Jägle, Christoph Müller Guest lecturer Debashish Banerji
A co-operation of cARE (core Artistic Research Ensemble), brut Wien, the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (ARC and MDW) and the University of Vienna (excursion lecture series)
Funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). Grant DOI: 10.55776/AR822
Links & Social
Dates & Tickets
April 2026
Free admission. Registration via the ticket button
Free admission. Registration via the ticket button
Free admission. Registration via the ticket button
Free admission. Registration via the ticket button
brut nordwest
Nordwestbahnstraße 8-10, 1200 Vienna
accessible
Info
Content notes
The audience is free to move around the space but can also sit down.
Event recommendations
Der Betrieb / Alexander Gottfarb
The Season of Narratives
DARUM (Victoria Halper & Kai Krösche)
Auflösung
Ein (virtueller) Kontrollverlust
Dissolution. A (Virtual) Loss of Control
brut all over Vienna
brut nordwest
accessible
Nordwestbahnstraße 8-10, 1200 Vienna
Subway: U1, U2 (Praterstern), U4 (Friedensbrücke), U6 (Dresdnerstraße) Tram: 5 (Nordwestbahnstraße) Bus: 5A (Wasnergasse)
accessible
studio brut
not accessible
Zieglergasse 25, 1070 Wien
Subway: U3 (Zieglergasse), Tram: 49 (Westbahnstraße / Zieglergasse)
not accessible
Bears in the Park Art Place
not accessible
Eyzinggasse 12, 1110 Vienna
U-Bahn: U3 (Gasometer) Bus: 72A (Gasometer), 76A, 76B (Simoningplatz)
not accessible
WUK performing arts
barrierefrei
Währinger Straße 59, 1090 Vienna
Subway: U6 (Währinger Straße / Volksoper), Tram: 40, 41, 42 (Währinger Straße / Volksoper), 5, 33 (Spitalgasse), 37, 38, 40, 41, 42 (Spitalgasse / Währinger Straße)
Der Betrieb
accessible
Vogelweidplatz 13, 1150 Wien
Subway: U6 (Burggasse-Stadthalle) / Bus: 48A (Moeringgasse) / Tram: 9 (Camillo Sitte Gasse)