What constitutes us – Pilkentafel Theatre Workshop in autumn
We inherit, whether we want to or not. We are all born into a world that is already there, that has a history. A history of inequality, violence, exploitation and privilege, coloniality, patriarchal domination, racism, destruction of nature, hubris, but also of all the uprisings against it. We occupy a place in this world by birth – a material inheritance that regulates what access, resources and rights we have.
But this heritage is also in us, it shapes us, forms us, distinguishes us, makes us.
And because it constitutes us, we cannot see it, because it also shapes the way we see.
“You always inherit a secret. ‘Read me!’ it says, ‘Will you ever be able to?” writes French philosopher Jacques Derrida.
We have inherited – rum and sugar, ivory and looted art, bones of murdered people, the hubris of supposed white supremacy, images of normality, histories inscribed in our bodies. All the artists in this programme deal with their heritage – sometimes very concretely with the colonial heritage, an ivory tooth, sugar and rum, the bones of a Yoruba woman, sometimes with the implicit heritage, the illusion of normality, our habits, precisely what makes us who we are, without us having chosen it.
The heritage is always there. Even if we reject it, we cannot escape it. We live in the world as it is. But we can tell stories differently, fathom the mystery, open up new perspectives, and that is what we see as our task as theatre: shifting perspectives, taking a stance, telling stories differently. No more, but also no less!
5 years after Imani Tafari Ama’s exhibition at the Maritime Museum, we are once again putting the question of our heritage at the centre of this playbill. And we are no longer doing it only from the Flensburg perspective, but our colleagues are bringing in their perspectives and aesthetics and so we hope to bring Flensburg’s awareness of its colonial heritage further, to enter into a new or renewed conversation with you about what we want to bequeath.