The End of Repetition
100 experts from the fields of activism, art, and theory share their knowledge in individual conversations and present their ideas and practices for and against repetition.

In German, partly in English, and others. Check-in is from 18:30, open all day, starting at 19:00. Free admission and registration required. Get free ticket
Participation on a 1:1 conversation costs € 1 and can be booked at the event.

The pandemic is not over yet, war is here again, and the climate is changing inexorably. Absolute faith in progress, expansion, and extraction on the one hand, and incessant, unvarying repetition on the other, are not contradictions. They co-create one other and give rise to the normality from within which we circle the abyss. First comes tragedy, then farce, then the series. Is it possible to interrupt the eternal return, to act, to remember, to live together with a true difference?

Climate activists demand exnovation instead of innovation: to take a real pause in the breathless onrush of political, cultural, economic pursuits, to make space, to give things up. Postcolonial, emancipatory, and queer theory and action sharply interrupt white and patriarchal repetitive loops. Habits of speech are under scrutiny and contemporary politics of memory seek ways out of entanglement in historical memorial rituals.

In the arts, on the other hand, repetition is often a critical practice. Loops, citations, parody, and drag do away with individual authorship and question ideas about originality; gender and antiracist discourses shake up traditional representations.

Arranged side-by-side in an arena and running according to a strict administrative rhythm, 100 experts from the arts, activism, theory, and a wide variety of professions present their expertise in support of and against the repetitive. Which routines need to get kicked to the curb, given fresh meaning, or taken up anew? Or is everything already there and we’re just repeating the wrong things?

The Market for Useful Knowledge and Non-Knowledge is a site of knowledge exchange, an archive and a reading room, a market and a consultation center all at the same time. Book an expert for a one-on-one conversation on-site the night of the event—just 1 Euro for 30 minutes! Or listen in over a pair of headphones!