Fundus Theater

The FUNDUS THEATER | Research Theater is a children's theater known for its innovations in participatory and research-oriented theater and cultural education. A particular focus is on research with children.For Family Day, we will take you on small group tours through the theater and behind the scenes. Discover the curiosities in our props department and take a look into our workshop and dressing rooms. You will realize that the theater building is more extensive than it appears and that running a theater involves many different work areas. Of course, the technical team has also prepared a little theater magic for you. In addition, the Kinderschutzbund (German Child Protection Association) is organizing a large children's festival outside on the forecourt.

On the occasion of the artistic research project 'We are building a castle in the air', exciting artists, curators, and scientists will come together for the research workshop at FT.Artists and educators, teachers, researchers, and dreamers are warmly invited to the research workshop. > On Saturday, September 5, Joanna Warsza, the Hamburg City Curator, will speak about her exhibition series 'From the Cosmos to the Commons', which will focus on the element of air next year. Afterwards, Ines Moreno, a researcher from the Paris Conservatoire Nationale des Arts et Métiers (CNAM), will provide insights into the history of scent as a medium of the arts. > On Sunday, September 6, we will speak with Zoe Laughlin, the founder and director of the Institute of Making/UCL London, about air and wind as material actors. Afterwards, Lydia Schulze Heuling will take us into the history of knowledge: How does our thinking about air change over time? Together we will visit the castle in the air in the Platz der Kinderrechte, experience various air arts, and talk about air as something that connects us with all living beings on Earth. How can we develop an art of air across generations that helps us all to experience this anew?

For the Theater Night, we will take you on a tour of the theater and behind the scenes in small groups. Discover the curiosities of our props department and take a look into our workshop and dressing rooms. You will find that the theater building is more extensive than it appears and that running a theater involves many areas of work. Of course, the technical crew has also prepared a bit of theater magic for you. Additionally, we invite you to the "Luftschloss" (Air Castle) outside on the Platz der Kinderrechte (Children's Rights Square): The Luftschloss (Open Format, ages 5 and up) Air is always there, within and around us, invisible, omnipresent, and indispensable. Yet, we often consider it unstable, almost unreal: An air castle – that is an impossible dream. A scatterbrain – that is a fool. Sometimes we forget about air entirely: A room filled with nothing but air seems empty to us. The climate crisis is first and foremost a crisis of air, and perhaps also a consequence of us having ignored air for too long. It's time to build an air castle and celebrate air! But how? Perhaps by saving CO2 and flying acrobatically through the air. Perhaps with wind and scent and clouds, or from the breath of trees. Or perhaps as augmented reality? In any case, with parachutes, swim rings, fog machines, and helium balloons. And what about the micro-organisms that live in the air? The Luftschloss was developed by a transdisciplinary group of children, artists, and scientists: Sibylle Peters, Matthias Anton, Idgie Groffmann, Felix Jung, Nils Löfke, Ines Moreno, Julia Münz, Lydia Schultze-Heuling, Florian Tampe, Margaux Weiß, Christopher Weymann, and children from the IVK classes 5-7 of the Louise Weiss Gymnasium. The Luftschloss originated from the EU project SENSE.STEAM and was funded by the Edmund Siemers Foundation.

We need air to breathe. The air is always around us. It is created by all living beings on Earth and carried to us as wind. The air is precious. Yet, we often forget it. The climate crisis is a crisis of the air. So that we don't forget it again, we want to build an air castle together. An air castle to celebrate the air. But how? By saving CO2 and flying acrobatically through the air! With wind and scent and clouds and the breath of trees! With parachutes, swim rings, fog machines, and helium balloons! With the micro-beings that live in the air, which you can search for in our Augmented Reality. >> Artists like Amy Balkin, Ana Mendietta, Virginia Melnyk, and many others also had some ideas. We are incorporating these into our air castle and becoming air artists. >> For the season opening, you are all invited to help build! (Open format, outdoors on the Platz der Kinderrechte, free of charge.) >> The air castle was developed by a transdisciplinary group of children, artists, and scientists: Sibylle Peters, Matthias Anton, Idgie Groffmann, Felix Jung, Nils Löfke, Ines Moreno, Julia Münz, Lydia Schultze-Heuling, Florian Tampe, Margaux Weiss, Christopher Weymann, and children from the IVK classes 5-7 of the Louise Weiss Gymnasium. >> Supported by the Edmund Siemers Foundation.

The VR Lab When we ask children about their wishes for the theater, they often come from the world of computers: They want to be hackers, control robots on stage, or build their own virtual worlds. The VR LAB was born from this wish: Starting with a VR headset, we have been developing theater apps for digital participation in the theater since 2018, together with children, programmers, and digital artists. In the VR Lab, we connect self-built analog worlds with digital ones – and the theater hall with VR headsets.Free participation possible at any time. FUNDUS THEATER/Research Theater | By and with: Brenda Alaís and Christopher Weymann Made possible by the inventions of: Christopher Strachey, Hiroko Okuda, Mabel Addis, Roberta Williams, Yōko Shimomura Thanks to the SAGA GWG Neighborhood Foundation, the basic technical equipment could be realized.