Be Part of Something Bigger

Celebrating the art of collectives and 20 years of Gob Squad

A weekend of performances, talks, films, food, music, fun and games exploring the theory and practice of collectives.

2014 was our twentieth anniversary year. 20 years of making, discussing, planning, agreeing, disagreeing, touring and performing have passed since House, our first professional piece of work. During that time our private and professional lives have become inseparable and we’ve shared highs and lows, fame and failures, children, homes and an office. Back in 1994, visitors to House became part of the unfolding action – and giving the audience a chance to be part of something bigger than themselves is still what motivates us to make art and performance.

To mark two decades of working collectively, we turned HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin, into an open house for a long weekend of art, performance, music, dancing, theory, practice, films, discussion, magic and hot soup.

We showed three of our own productions (Are You With Us?, We Are Gob Squad And So Are You and the very last show of  the original Before Your Very Eyes), but the focus was on bringing a range of practicing artists and experts from theoretical backgrounds together to reflect on the collective as a concept and working method. In these fragmentary and insecure times, we asked whether working within the noisy, fluid, chaotic construct of a collective can be an act of liberation, turning the tables on conventional wisdom by setting the group above the individual and the social above the economic.

Once the time for talk was over, and visitors had watched, danced and debated all they could, they could rest their weary heada in the impromptu dormitory in the theatre foyer and join the collective sleepover…

Be Part of Something Bigger – Celebrating the Art of Collectives and 20 Years of Gob Squad is a coproduction of Gob Squad and HAU Hebbel am Ufer. Funded by the Capital Cultural Fund and the Berliner Kulturverwaltung.

Be Part of Something Bigger is curated by Gob Squad and Christina Runge.

November 20th – 22nd 2014 at HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin.