Peter Stamer

Well, maybe the best way to characterize myself is to describe what I am not: I am not a physicist. I am also not a bank clerk. And I am somehow far from being an all too serious man. Despite having been trained as a theatre scholar in Germany, having been employed as a dramaturg at a German state theatre and as a curator for theory at Tanzquartier Vienna in the 90ies and zero years of this millenium.

Nevertheless, I take my profession very seriously: For more than 15 years now I am working as a free-lance art/theatre maker in the international context of contemporary performing arts. Next to my works on stage, I am „exploring conditions for discursive and physical empowerment within given social and narrative apparatuses“. In other words: together with other people I like creating performative playgrounds in order to engage in and learn from the games of everyday behaviour. And these playgrounds necessitate collaboration both with other players and the society we play in; those playgrounds make collaboration the ingredient without which nothing would be possible.

Drumroll: „As funny as a stumbling man / As sticky as a chewing gum // As cheerful as a football fan / As nutrient as a doughnut crumb // As charming as a frying egg / Alarming like a powder keg // The powder fuse to our salvation / Here it is: collaboration.“

Not only need artists to be poets of collaboration. In my opinion they need to be joint story-tellers in order to reshape the world ensemble, in order to create narratives of a different world, in order to summon creative forces that open up to – the circus of life.

No wonder that I wish I had been brought up as the child of a family of knife throwers. Thus I could have lived in a travelling circus among fellow artist families of animal trainers, acrobats, and jugglers who work together to get the shows going. I know that I am over-romanticizing. But I like the idea. Very much. And if that story about me is not enough please go to peterstamer.com