GOD’S ENTERTAINMENT
Everyone in Vienna knows God’s Entertainment.
But what exactly it IS isn’t quite so easy to explain because rather than simply being theatre or performance, it is a sociological experiment that explores questions of destiny, human empathy, our abilities, but more importantly, our inabilities, humanity’s love for risk-taking, and its idiocy.
Based in Vienna, the collective – which has been exploring the boundaries between art, politics and society through radical approaches since 2006 – always works with a changing line-up and deliberately seeks to provoke confrontations with every kind of ‘establishment’ (top and bottom, right and left).
Their works usually move beyond the traditional theatre settings and take place in public places, private homes, and rather unconventional venues. Involving the audience is one core feature of the collective’s practice. Here, the audience becomes an agent of the social sculpture. An approach, which is done with ‘the utmost precision’ in the spirit of an affective realism.
God’s Entertainment’s core members include Boris Ceko, Maja Degirmendzic, Simon Steinhauser and Domokos Iszlay. Since the 2010s, the collective has been attracting attention beyond Vienna’s borders and is regularly invited to prestigious festivals (Wiener Festwochen, Donaufestival, HAU Berlin, Kampnagel Hamburg, Liverpool Biennale).
Current projects include the exhibition and performance series “LSD – Words and their Worlds” (2024), and an ongoing collaboration with Black Page Orchestra. The God’s can look back on a series of large-scale projects such as “Human Zoo” (2014) or “Austrians, integrate yourselves!” (2012). They are facilitators of impactful reference works for German studies, such as “DULDEN” (ed. Azadeh Sharifi, 2023). Their focus lies in the fault lines of society, with great humour and the hope of remaining unscathed despite their radical openness. Quite true to the motto: “don’t bite my finger, just look at where I’m pointing” (Peter Weibel).
Link: https://www.gods-entertainment.org/
BLACK PAGE ORCHESTRA
Gert Resinger
Gefördert durch das Bundesministerium für Wohnen, Kunst, Kultur, Medien und Sport (BMWKMS), Stadt Wien MA 7 Kultur und die Bezirkskultur Ottakring. Danke an Stadt Wien Bäder.
