The forest is many things in Germany: a place of longing and a counter-design to urban life, a financial resource, a patriotically charged symbol, a place for leisure and recreation, an essential ecosystem. How about having a date with this forest? Just you and the forest, in the middle of the city. Maybe it will be romantic, maybe you’ll just have a good time, maybe you’ll realize that it’s not really a good fit after all. »Dating a Forest« invites you to make new connections with the forest and grow together. And, as in a good rapprochement, to clear up misconceptions. How could one meet the forest in such a way that one takes it seriously as a partner? Whether the date becomes more in the end, you can determine for yourself.

»Dating a Forest« translates theories of post-anthropocentric sociology into practice – with experts on microbiology, ecosexuality, forest science and nature writing. In times of climate crisis – just you and Forest, for two in the public space around Ballhaus Ost. Book your dating slot – now!

With absurd-fragmentary and playful-confrontational aesthetics, Janna Pinsker and Wicki Bernhardt negotiate human phenomena such as shame, physical change, climate crisis or the power of couple relationships. In doing so, they confer agency on non-human subjects and encounter them as performers in a theatrical setting. In »Dating a Forest«, the forest is the protagonist.