News
ICH.!!!-2025
Installation in public space
by Angie Hiesl + Roland Kaiser, text: Lothar Kittstein
ICH.!!! returns to Cologne with a completely new text. The installation in public space was already on display in 2019 on Kurt-Hackenberg-Platz in Cologne, and now an updated version is being shown on Ebertplatz. Four large red word objects intervene in Cologne's urban everyday life – visually, linguistically, and acoustically: a text by Lothar Kittstein dealing with the ego is played on a continuous loop from the sculptures. It confronts passers-by and interested parties with the dangers of a world that is increasingly shaped and dominated by ruthless egos – a world in which we are increasingly observing a regression to a purely binary worldview and experiencing growing exclusion of those who think differently or are weaker. ICH.!!!-2025 treads the fine line between the pursuit of freedom and anti-democratic ego trips. How much obstinacy can a society tolerate? At what point does the ego (ICH) become a danger?
Location: Cologne
Ebertplatz + Sudermannstraße + Eigelstein
Dates:
Thursday, 09.10.2025, 1:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. (Premiere of the new Version!)
Friday, 10.10.2025, 1:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Saturday, 11.10.2025, 1:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
and
Thursday, 23.10.2025, 1:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Friday, 24.10.2025, 1:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Saturday, 25.10.2025, 1:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Artist talk:
Friday, 24.10.2025, 4:00 p.m.
Stawrula Panagiotaki (director of studiobühneköln) will talk with Lothar Kittstein and Angie Hiesl + Roland Kaiser about ICH.!!!-2025 at Ebertplatz. Audience participation is appreciated!
Accessibility:
The installation is also accessible to deaf and hearing-impaired people: Lothar Kittstein's text is available in written form and can be accessed on site via a QR code.
Blind and visually impaired people can also experience ICH.!!!–2025: the sound component forms a central part of the work, and the objects can be touched and felt.
PUBLICATION
WAR SCHÖN. KANN WEG ... Alter(n) in der Darstellenden Kunst
(WAS BEAUTIFUL. CAN GO ... Age(ing) in the Performing Arts)
The anthology refers to the symposium under the same title that we organised in 2021 and that met with great interest. The book is at the same time an extension of the discussion that was started then.
How do the performing arts deal with age(ing)? This is the question Angie Hiesl + Roland Kaiser explored. Together with kubia* director Almuth Fricke, they have published the results of their artistic and discursive investigation in this anthology.
People in Germany and many other industrialised nations are getting older and often stay in work longer. Artists, too, are increasingly working into old age. Many do this of their own accord; after all, their creativity does not end when they reach retirement age. The truth is, however, that for financial reasons some people "keep working until we fall off the stage", as performer Lisa Lucassen puts it. But not everyone has this option either: it is still a great exception when professional dancers can continue to work in their "old age", in other words, beyond the age of 40.
The cultural and socio-political challenges of age(ing) in the performing arts, e.g. with regard to old-age provisions and appropriate funding concepts, are explored in depth in personal, academic and cultural-political texts.
WAR SCHÖN. KANN WEG ... Alter(n) in der Darstellenden Kunst
edited by Angie Hiesl + Roland Kaiser
in collaboration with Almuth Fricke (kubia*)
Published by Theater der Zeit, December 2022
You can order the book online: tdz.de
*kubia = Centre for Creative Ageing and Inclusive Arts