Wunder der Prärie
Live-Art Festival
The live art festival “Wunder der Prärie” takes place every two years in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region. With performance, dance and cross-genre projects at the interface with theater and visual arts, the festival has been presenting contemporary art forms in the southwest of Germany since 2004. A motto relevant to contemporary society provides the starting point and framework for the works shown. The festival sees itself as working in and with the city in order to stimulate social discourse and act as an initiator and catalyst for social processes. Wunder der Prärie is one of the top 15 festivals in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region.
The motto of Wunder der Prärie in 2025 was “Theaters of War(s)”. This edition was curated by Sebastian Hirn and Johanna Baumgärtel.
Wunder der Prärie 2025: Theaters of War(s)
Participation and individual responsibility for peace and cohesion in society - an artistic approach
We look at our present with fear and helplessness. Climate change and wars are ubiquitous for more and more people. The alleged security architecture is beginning to totter. The world seems to be coming more and more apart. Questions about war and the military surround us every day and concern everyone.
With “Theatres of War(s)”, zeitraumexit invites the audience to spend ten days questioning the warlike history of our present and past, taking various temporal and geographical perspectives by means of various artistic formats as well as in dialogue through an accompanying series of talks.
The title, derived from the Latin ‘Theatrum Belli’, which became established for battlefields in the early modern period, refers to the methodical attempt to approach the topic not only intellectually, but also associatively and physically. We aim to create a place for art and public participation. A space for experience and empathy in which fears are also permitted. A playful opportunity to adopt different positions and explore grey areas. An alternative to simplistic populist slogans. In favour of a democratic and inclusive discourse.
Ethical, legal and economic aspects are linked to the topic of military issues. We want to confront the challenges that exceed the existential self-efficacy of each individual and counteract the (experienced) individual powerlessness through exchange and shared experience.
Building on 20 years of experience and the orientation of zeitraumexit, we will open the festival with guests from Namibia and a joint parade through Mannheim city centre.
Download the program here.
Photos: Lys Y. Seng
