About PAN.OPTIKUM

The action theatre PAN.OPTIKUM is a collective that has defined itself for many years through productions and projects in public space. This term includes virtual public space. Interdisciplinary, cross-genre projects have always been a focus of the work and productions, and since the 2010s dance has also increasingly become the focus of the expressive language in its own productions.

The question of the social relevance of art and work in a cultural context leads to a broad understanding of projects. For example, with inclusive projects, productions with migrants, district projects. 
Since 2015, the focus has increasingly been on European cooperation projects. The representation of diversity in the ensemble as well as the participatory approach and the corresponding working methods are seen as a contemporary form of expression of democratic societies. Therefore, this principle of creation is elementary for the collective, especially in the current crises.

The group interprets the concept of street theatre, which it was founded as in 1982 in Berlin, as a question of contemporary exchange with society and the public. Audience development and mobility, bringing together people from different social and geographical backgrounds, as well as cooperation projects with very differently oriented cultural institutions, are therefore among the core issues that occupy the international collective.

Since 2013, it has been based in Freiburg in the old Lokhalle on the Güterbahnhof grounds.
In addition to tour productions and international projects, this location shall become a theatre production site and shall be also open to other cultural actors.
Thus, the hall where locomotives and trains were once made fit for their journeys through Europes shall be emblematic of transformation processes that art and culture make possible.

PAN.OPTIKUM has received many awards, including the Cultural Prize of the State of Baden-Württemberg. Invitations and cooperation projects have taken the collective to all five continents.
A geographical overview of the guest performances and tour dates of the last twenty years can be found HERE

All photos on this page
by
Jennifer Rohrbacher

The action theatre PAN.OPTIKUM is organised as a non-profit limited company and is institutionally funded by the state of Baden-Württemberg and the city of Freiburg.