Lecture Notes: Julia Visit and Anta Helena Recker

Introduction

Event Introduction: Next speakers: Julia Visit and Anta Helena Recker.
Julia Visit: Directed at University Mozart in Salzburg and Drama with Media Arts at University of Surrey. Worked as assistant director and explored structural racism in German theater.
Anta Helena Recker: Worked in Berlin Group Theatre, studied drama at the University of Hildesheim. Her works focus on normativity and spatial experience.
The speakers will discuss their professional journeys and experiences.

First Meeting: Met each other briefly before, never had in-depth conversation prior to this.
Commonalities: Both work in theater, both not white, often suggested to meet each other due to assumed similarities.
Projection Issues: Highlighted the problems of projection where people assume black artists must know each other and work similarly.

Anta's Work: Focus on working on 'whiteness'; copied an existing theater piece with black actors instead of white. The piece examined post-WWII German identity.
Reception Issues: White audience often feels the piece isn’t provocative or assumes black actors are being compared to white ones in terms of performance quality.
Black German Identity: Anta underlines that being black and German is not considered a norm by the mainstream audience.

Julia's Approach: She describes her work as 'working on blackness', seeking to create spaces where POC performances are normalized and no longer exotified.
Challenges Faced: Casting and performance in mainstream institutions still biased towards viewing black bodies through a racialized lens.

Perception: Different experience for black vs white audiences. Black audiences can sense the symbolism while white spectators often see it as detached or just a theatrical event.
Color Blindness: Critical of the 'post-racial' narrative and emphasizes ongoing daily racial experiences.

Artistic Collaboration: Forming collectives to resist and create work that defies expectations without explicitly stating the motive.
Survival and Protection: Strategies to maintain integrity and avoid burnout in a racist society while continuing to work in Germany.
Institutional Challenges: Discusses how structural racism is deeply embedded in institutional practices and the extra labor of educating peers.
External Influences: Mentioning the influence of their trips abroad, especially trips to predominately black communities like Namibia and Johannesburg.

Systemic Racism: Faced significant micro and macro-level racism throughout education and career.
Personal Experiences: Instances of being excluded or tokenized in academic and professional settings.
Initiatives for Change: Shared aspirations for creating more inclusive and representative theatrical spaces.

German Identity: Questions and critiques the idea of a singular German identity, highlighting diverse cultural backgrounds within Germany itself.
Role of Allies: The need for genuine allies who are self-educating and aiding in the dismantling of institutional biases.
Looking Forward: Optimistic about the future and the increasing visibility and recognition of black artists and their work in Germany.

Reception of Work by POC: Discussed how their work has been received by black critics and the importance of having black voices in arts criticism.
Allies and Networks: Need for well-informed allies and robust support networks in the arts community.
Broader Artistic Contributions: Reflection on historical and contemporary contributions of black artists to German and broader European theatrical and cultural spaces.

Conclusion: Ongoing dialogue about race, identity, and the arts in Germany needs continued effort, and collective action for tangible change.

[Applause]