Radical Proximity

One of the Most Exciting Venues for Contemporary Art, Performance, and Discourse Turns 20

PACT Zollverein is an international venue for contemporary art, performance, and research located in the former changing house of the Zollverein coal mine industrial complex in Essen, Germany, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001. PACT produces and co-produces new dance and performance works, presents regular guest performances, runs an international residency program, and hosts various exchange and work platforms for regional and international artists and scholars. Since its founding in 2002, PACT Zollverein has become a crucible for innovative developments in the fields of dance, performance, theater, media, and visual arts at the intersection of science, technology, and society.The present moment-a time of profound change-challenges our understanding of subjectivity and our capacity to act: With an essay by Rosi Braidotti and interviews with Tim Etchells, Gabriele Gramelsberger, and Ingrid LaFleur, as well as an artwork by Luiza Prado de O. Martins, the first volume in the series pursues the potential latent in critical, self-empowering, and collaborative practices and seeks out the possibilities that lie in establishing speculative spaces.