More Than Activism, Less Than Art: The Heritage of Bertolt Brecht and Theodor Adorno in Contemporary Theatre

One of the goals of engaged I subversive art is to change social anomalies, and to effect political change. However, in the contemporary world, instead of large, global, radical movements or artistic actions, one might rather speak of a collection of micro-changes, especially in elitist art. We should therefore consider the ways in which art prevails over activism, but achieves its ultimate goal just as well: subverting the status quo, undermining normal, legitimate, and accepted models of behaviour, transforming social life and its ethical parameters. Drawing on the legacy of Bertolt Brecht, I will take the activists and directors Christoph Schlingensief and Oliver Frljić as examples of contemporary artivism.