Teilnehmer*innenverzeichnis / List of participants Thomas Oberender has been Director of the Berliner Festspiele since 2012. He was previously Head of Theatre at the Salzburg Festival from 2006 to 2011. Oberender has lived in Berlin before – from 1988 to 2000 – where he completed a doctorate on Botho Strauß at the Humboldt University in 1999. At the Berliner Festspiele he conceived and launched the Immersion series in 2016, whose projects have included opening up the planetarium as a site for the work of artists in the digital age. The exhibition by Philippe Parreno that he initiated at the Gropius Bau was selected as “Exhibition of the Year 2018”. As a curator Oberender was responsible along with Tino Sehgal for the time-based exhibition “Welt ohne Außen. Immersive Spaces since the 1960s” in 2018 and, as part of a wider curatorial team, for the “Palast der Republik” in 2019. The re-examination of the historical transformation of Eastern Germany since 1989 has become an additional focus for his work in recent years. He has published numerous books, including the anthology “The New Infinity. New Art in Planetariums” (2019), the artists’ conversation “Occupy History. Decolonisation of Memory” (2019) and “Nebeneingang oder Haupteingang? – Gespräche über 50 Jahre Schreiben fürs Theater” (Side Entrance or Main Entrance? – Conversations about 50 Years of Writing for the Theatre, 2014, together with Peter Handke). His latest publication “Empowerment Ost. Wie wir zusammen wachsen” (Empowerment East. How we grow together) was released in July 2020.
Hermann Prof. Dr. Hermann E. Ott setzt sich seit September 2018 bei „ClientE. Ott Earth – Anwälte der Erde“ mit rechtlichen Mitteln für den Umweltschutz ein. Er bezeichnet sich selbst als ökologischen Fünfkämpfer: „Ich habe Erfahrung als Wissenschaftler beim Wuppertal Institut für Klima, Umwelt, Energie, als Politiker für Bündnis 90/Die Grünen im Bundestag, als Dozent an der Hochschule für nachhaltige Entwicklung Eberswalde, als Vertreter der Zivilgesellschaft durch meine Mitgliedschaft im Aufsichtsrat von Greenpeace (2001-2007), als Vorstand der Deutschen Umweltstiftung (2014-2016) und als Mitglied des Präsidiums im Deutschen Naturschutzring seit 2016. Und natürlich als Anwalt der Erde, seitdem ich für ClientEarth das deutsche Büro in Berlin aufbaue. Privat bin ich Naturfreund und Vogelbeobachter.“ Since September 2018 Prof. Dr. Hermann E. Ott has sought to protect the environment legally with ClientEarth – Environmental Lawyers. He describes himself as an ecological pentathlete: “I have experience as a scientist at the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, as a politician in the Federal Parliament for Bündnis 90/The Greens, as a lecturer at Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development, as a representative of civil society through my board membership of Greenpeace (2001-2007), as Chair of the Deutsche Umweltstiftung (2014-2016) and as member of the Presidency of the Deutscher Naturschutzring since 2016. And of course as an environmental lawyer since I began setting up the German office of ClientEarth in Berlin. In my personal life I’m a nature lover and bird watcher.” 75
