Müdigkeitsgesellschaft (DE)

When the philosophical and poetic The Exhaustion Society  (Müdigkeitsgesellschaft) is adapted for the stage, we are far removed from the simple solutions of self-help literature. In a society shaped by the chase after achievements and results – what is driving us, and where are we going?

Drawing on texts by the philosophy journalist Byung-Chul Han and the author Peter Handke, director Stefan Otteni shines a light on one of the most widespread illnesses of our time. The texts hit a nerve in a society where one symptom has come to symbolise an overriding feeling in life: Burnout.

The Exhaustion Society is an investigative, philosophical, analytical text inviting wonder and contemplation. Byung-Chul Han, originally from Korea, draws on thinkers like Nietzsche and Arendt to describe our current results-oriented society: an exaggerated positivity, fused with a constant demand to achieve, means the individual only appears to be autonomous – while really living under invisible coercion. That humans flagellate themselves to perform is a more effective tool than exploitation by outside forces, as the self-exploitation is connected to a sense of freedom. But often the result is exhaustion and depression, as body and soul refuse to function any longer.

In Handke, Byung-Chul Han finds another form of exhaustion. The author describes the state of culture as “a nation of the tired”. In a theatrical experience in search of our own tiredness, The Exhaustion Society makes us participate in a scenic situation in which we give in to our own tiredness and enter into utopian contemplation in collaboration with the actors. This way, actors and audience members together become a fleeting and temporary “nation of the tired”.