Uncertain States One Table, Two Chairs

On the Necessity of Cross-Cultural Discussions

Ke Jun, grand master of Kunqu opera, Danny Yung, Hong Kong director and cultural policy commentator, Christel Weiler, Programme Director at the International Research Centre “Interweaving Performance Cultures” at FU Berlin, and theatre director Cao Kefei join forces to discuss translation processes between tradition and contemporary art, Chinese and European theatre, performance and image, and artists and institutions.

“One Table, Two Chairs” is a format which Danny Yung has developed in over 100 performances for experimental encounters with the Chinese theatre tradition. The format also reflects the social and cultural policy upheavals in Hong Kong and China described in the slogan “One Country, Two Systems” as the merging of these two different social and economic systems.

Academic research has shown that modern European theatre has a strong relationship to Asian theatre. The International Research Centre “Interweaving Performance Cultures”, founded by theatre scholar Erika Fischer-Lichte investigates the process of exchange processes in different cultures past and present, and provides a crucial contribution to contemporary intercultural dialogue.