When Annemie Vanackere, together with her deputy Aenne Quinones and the team, reopened HAU Hebbel am Ufer in the fall of 2012, they issued a call to the audience: “Auch wenn ihr müde seid, kommt vorbei!” – “Even if you’re tired, come by!” What was then diagnosed as Berlin’s sensory overload has given way to a greater and more far-reaching crisis today: We are living in a time of global exhaustion. The erosion of democratic norms in Germany, the global rise of authoritarianism and fascism, the climate crisis – the world we’ve been working toward seems further away than ever before. How can we confront this exhaustion and the resulting sadness, countering it with determination and joy so that we are not swallowed up by it and do not give way to destructive forces?
Today, art has the power to be socially relevant – and thus respond to the powerlessness of our present – if it is granted autonomy and freedom and protected from being exploited too quickly through questions about its (commercial) usefulness. Today’s art world is driven by strong neoliberal impulses. HAU responds with a different approach: We create conditions in which artistic developments have time to unfold; long-term relationships can emerge and grow. And in doing so, we repeatedly take risks, also with special and unique projects. Since the 1990s, HAU’s hallmark has been the contemporary and international performing arts. Today, it is an anchor institution for the Independent Scene (Freie Szene)worldwideand aspringboard for international visibility.
These long-term relationships foster sustainable artistic developments. They also enable the audience to build a relationship with the artists and follow their development. When an artist is successful with a work at HAU, it can lead to a breakthrough with a tour of renowned international venues. This also applies to the world premieres by Berlin-based artists during our international festival Tanz im August. Especially in economically unstable times, we see how this visibility – but above all planning certainty, trust, and reliability – is of great importance to artists in the Independent Scene, which still remains financially precarious.
As well as maintaining close ties to international artists and companies, we also focus on our local context – as a theatre for the urban society. We are thinking about how we can connect with and involve the people here in Berlin, and how we can take on board local concerns and anger, as well as a sense of community and hope, and reflect on them together.
For us, challenging established habits and allowing ourselves not to always understand everything straight away is an essential artistic and curatorial approach. In this way, things we take for granted can be called into question, and new possibilities emerge. This often becomes apparent quite immediately: in standing ovations – for the works on stage, but also for the shared experience that has emerged in that moment. Artists, the audience, and we – the HAU team – have the opportunity to try out many different things, which in turn provides sparks of inspiration not only to a wider community, but also for larger institutions.
Exhaustion and sadness over the world’s current divisions can also serve as a starting point: the mutual reassurance that we are still capable of taking action and can tackle social renewal together, when we acknowledge these feelings and life circumstances – which many can relate to – and open up spaces for them.
Theatre has always been a powerful remedy for loneliness. With HAU, we have a place where solidarity is put into practice and where people can draw strength from the arts. “Your pain becomes my pain becomes our pain” writes British sociologist Gargi Bhattacharyya in her essay “We, the Heartbroken,” which inspired the subtitle of the “Love is a Verb #2” festival taking place in the fall of 2026. In it, love becomes a compassionate, defiant stance, and heartbreak a sign of revolutionary consciousness. So: Come by, even if you’re heartbroken!