Festival Transformation Forever: A look back at 30 years of change!

Festival Transformation Forever: A look back at 30 years of change!

The “Transformation Forever” festival starts in the heart of Dresden and looks at the far-reaching transformation processes that have shaped Central and Eastern Europe and Eastern Germany since 1989/1990. With its subtitle “Search for Traces,” the Festspielhaus Hellerau focuses on a diverse performance that includes short stage plays, captivating lectures and an exhibition on the history of the festival hall in the 1990s. MDR reports that ... Director Carena Schlewitt emphasizes the central role of funding and cooperation for an extensive season, especially in an environment where financial cuts could already lead to cancellations or postponements of individual projects.

The productions during the festival reflect the diversity of the topics. Richard Wagner's magnificent “Ring of the Nibelungs” is presented in the form of “Ring without Words” by Lorin Maazel as an immersive visual space with an invisible orchestra. International groups are not left out either: the Indian “Sandbox Collective” and the Berlin dance group “She She Pop” show their feminist and postcolonial piece “Wait to be seated”. In her play “Mothers,” the Polish director Marta Górnicka addresses the current war in Ukraine and gives women from Ukraine, Belarus and Poland a platform to tell their stories.

A look into the past

The festival stimulates a cultural-historical perspective by addressing the challenges and developments of transformation in East Germany. It should be noted that the GDR, despite ethno-cultural homogeneity, had a population that was often viewed as “less than a nation”. From the 1950s onwards, the West German economic miracle began to draw countless people from the GDR to the West, which led to a serious exodus. BPB states that... These migration movements ultimately increased the longing for the West, an emotion that was at the core of the change in 1989.

The fall of the Berlin Wall represents a turning point, not only for Germany, but for all of Central and Eastern Europe. The cry “We are one people” symbolized a new reality and the pursuit of unity. The subsequent German-German unification process took place with a dynamic that could not be found in many other Eastern European countries. Docupedia emphasizes that ... the definitions in the context of transformation are diverse and the transformations cannot be clearly delineated - a fact that is widely discussed in contemporary historical research.

Cultural meanings

The festival not only offers entertainment value, but also the opportunity to gain deeper insights into social and cultural changes. The associated research on East Germany has increased significantly in recent years. It turns out that the challenges of transformation are not only economic, but also cultural. The term “transformation” itself is often vague and encompasses a variety of historical and societal changes.

Overall, the “Transformation Forever” festival highlights the relevance of history in the present and offers a platform for dialogue about the ongoing effects of the transition on society. It is a space where past and present meet and new perspectives are opened on what once was and what may yet come.