In the context of the talk De-romanticizing nature, the author and philosopher Fahim Amir and the media cultural scientist Nanna Heidenreich talk about opportunities for new concepts of coexistence and counterexistence along the lines of combative animals and so-called invasive species.

Fahim Amir is a philosopher and author living in Vienna. He is concerned with the transitions between natural cultures and urbanism, art and utopia, colonial historicity and modernism. He has worked with artists* such as Chicks on Speed, Deichkind, Ted Gaier, and Rocko Schamoni and wrote the afterword to the German translation of Donna Haraway's Manifesto for Companions (Merve, 2016). His book Schwein und Zeit was honored with the Austrian Karl Marx Prize, was on the nonfiction bestseller lists of Deutschlandfunk Kultur, ZDF, and Die Zeit, and was chosen as one of the best books of 2019 by the Goethe-Institut and the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Nanna Heidenreich is a media culture scholar and professor for transcultural studies at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and curator. She has worked as a curator for Forum Expanded / Berlinale, ADKDW Cologne and HKW Berlin, among others, and realized the project "Expiring Environments" (together with Marcus Held) for Kunstverein D21 in Leipzig. Numerous publications in the field of critical migration research, visual culture, postcolonial theory, politics/art/cinema, other cinema (feminist, queer, experimental). She was part of the organizing network for the tribunal "NSU-Komplex auflösen" (Cologne 2017). Her main topics include migration and marine research.

Anna Laner, dramaturg and director. From 2015 to 2019 she worked as a dramaturg at Schauspielhaus Wien. Since 2019 she works freelance in collaboration with Elke Auer, Eva Jantschitsch & Matthias Köhler and for numerous theatres like Schauspiel Stuttgart or Landestheater Marburg. In addition, she has been co-curating the season program at Kosmos Theater Vienna since 2020.

Overview of the additional program

Wed, 18^th January
7:00 pm: Open archive
8:00 pm: Protocolling Demolition Talk with Katrin Hornek and Elisabeth Schäfer, moderated by Matthias Seier

Fri, 20^th January
7:00 pm: Open archive
8:00 pm: Deromanticizing Nature Talk with Fahim Amir and Nanna Heidenreich, moderated by Anna Laner

Sat, 21^st January
5:00–7:00 pm: Fighting in Contaminated Spaces – Fieldwork with Erde Brennt
Followed by the performance Tattooing the Earth

Sun, 22^nd January
5:00–7:00 pm: Fighting in Contaminated Spaces – Fieldwork with LAGDA
Followed by the performance Tattooing the Earth

The performance collective Freundliche Mitte was established in 2011 by writer Gerhild Steinbuch, set designer Philine Rinnert and actor Sebastian Straub as part of a joint project at steirischer herbst. The collective has chosen to work without the authority of a director. It constantly grows by new accomplices from different artistic and scientific fields such as architecture and music and collaborates with experts from various initiatives and societies. Since 2018, Freundliche Mitte have been working closely with Vienna-based musician b.fleischmann. Joint works include: Am Schönsten ist das was bereits verschwunden ist (steirischer herbst, Graz, 2011), Previously On (Garage X, Vienna, 2014), Finsternis (brut Wien, 2016), BERGEINS (brut Wien, 2018), Oratorio Europa (brut Wien, 2019), Sportplatz Europa (brut Wien, 2021).
www.freundlichemitte.com