The amusement park on Coney Island in Brooklyn had its heyday in the early 20th century. This was where the concept of the permanently lit and permanently lively 24-hour metropolis was born – a radically artificial world of entertainment, which is described as an urban laboratory again and again. In the Dreamland section of the park, European cities such as Venice and landscapes like the Swiss Alps were emulated for the first time.

Inspired by this, the miniature world of Théâtre Rude Ingénierie from Quebec presents a park made from a multitude of electronically controlled objects: the visitors wander as giants through the fantastic island with its thousands of mechanisms which form constantly changing tableaus and simultaneously serve as sound generators and speakers.

The following events take place during opening hours:

Saturday, 31.10., 17:00-19:00
Opening Celebration: Welcome to the World Model!
Live performance, conversations, and encounters

We celebrate the opening of the mechanical landscape by Théâtre Rude Ingénierie as a festive gathering within a manipulated reality. Guests circle around the gigantic robotic model of a world we come from and dream about, while the dramatic soundscape of the mechanical island blends with dream hits from long-forgotten times. A happy-hour opening celebration with drinks and snacks.

In cooperation with the Delegation of the Government of Québec in Berlin.
 

Monday, 2.11., 17:00-19:00
Round Table
in English spoken language

The 20th century created vast dream machines designed for our distraction. “Dreamland” takes us back to their origins: the modern entertainment industry that wired our nervous systems with electric lights and enchanted crowds, then sold our dreams back to us in the form of admission tickets. A century later, it is difficult to distinguish entertainment from industry. Enchantment itself has become a business model.

The question of whether we can reclaim entertainment lies at the heart of this Round Table. Starting from the installation, which resurrects the amusement park as a toy city, a fairground built from ruins, and a workshop for possible worlds, the discussion asks whether we can still imagine and design a world that is more just and more free.

Tuesday, 3.11., 17:00-19:00
Lecture Performance
in English spoken language

In 1903, Georg Simmel diagnosed the metropolis with overstimulated nerves. That same year, Luna Park on Coney Island switched on its electric skyline. For Rem Koolhaas, Coney Island was a “fetal Manhattan”, a laboratory where the modern city could be tested before taking shape in reality.

This lecture performance, followed by a conversation, listens for what the ruins remember and what they might still become. It asks what keeps the world running and understands “entertainment” in its Latin and Old French sense as that which holds things together.

Notes on accessibility: Information about the accessibility of the venue in structural terms can be found here. The audience can move freely around the installation; no seating is provided.