For more than 40 years, artists, curators and visitors have been meeting at the festival Theater der Welt – each time at a new location and under new curators. How does a festival develop over time? How does the programmatic focus change? And for whom is such a festival actually created?

Since 2018, the German Centre of the International Theater Institute has been permanently collecting artifacts and stories on all aspects of the festival in its Archive Theater der Welt, which thus considers itself as an ever evolving archive. In a digital archive installation visitors can explore previous festival editions. The “Thinking Wall” and the “Archives Lost and Found” invite everyone to participate in building up the archive and to share their stories about the festival. The exhibition is accompanied by a performative, discourse, and educational programme.

Unearthing, Unraveling, Unfolding – The Archive of Theater der Welt is part of the ITI programme at Theater der Welt 2023.