State of the Arts
Series: Theatre and Performance Theory (edited by Tracy C Davis), Cambridge University Press, 2024
Get the book (paperback out in April)
https://www.cambridge.org/it/universitypress/subjects/arts-theatre-culture/drama-and-theatre-general-interest/state-arts-ethnography-german-theatre-and-migration?format=HB
Short description
This is a bold and wide-ranging account of the unique German public theatre system through the prism of a migrant artistic institution in the western post-industrial Ruhr region. State of the Arts analyses how artistic traditions respond to social change, racism, and cosmopolitan anxieties and recounts how critical contemporary cultural producers position themselves in relation to the tumultuous history of German state patronage, difficult heritage, and the tradition of Bildung (self-formation). This book unravels how actors, directors, and policy makers constitute theatre as a site for extra-ordinary ethical conduct
Shortlisted
The book was shortlisted for the German Studies Book Prize of the Waterloo Centre for German Studies, Canada. From the jury's comments: "The book’s originality was of special interest to the jury, stating that the work “conveys a profound and important message about how theatre can transform people, helping them to become aware of their own multiplicity and otherness.” Being a finalist for this prize is recognition of the valuable contribution the author has made to German studies in general and to German theatre studies in particular. The jury welcomed the attention being paid to theatre outside Berlin, namely the innovative and disruptive theatre culture of the Ruhr." Read an interview on the book here: https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-german-studies/2023-book-prize-finalist-jonas-tinius
Endorsements
'‘In this truly captivating book, Jonas Tinius shows most convincingly anthropology´s unique quality to explain the large scale: Germany as a nation and ideas of Bildung in combination with recent migration, through a small scale case of contemporary theatre, the Theatre an der Ruhr. By including the concept 'ethico-aesthetic' the analysis opens up for further understandings of how ethical issues and practices complement aesthetic ones, importantly also further afield. Inspiring and impressive, State of the Arts is a game-changer.' (Helena Wulff - Professor Emerita of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University)
‘State of the Arts is a (perhaps the first) genuine organisational ethnography of a German theatre. Tinius has written a groundbreaking study that links ethnographic fieldwork with fundamental insights into German theatre's institutional makeup to illuminate the remarkable Theater an der Ruhr.' (Christopher Balme - Professor of Theatre Studies, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich)
Reviews and Events
Rose Campion reviewed the book for Ad Marginem (Mitteilungen des Instituts für Europäische Musikethnologie an der Universität zu Köln):'… an excellent example of anthropology's capacity to draw larger insights from local practices. … this book can be recommended as a foundational contribution to understanding state patronage for the arts in modern Germany.' Rose Campion, Ad Marginem)
Matthew Raj interviewed me for the CaMP Blog (Rice University): "Against the contemporary backdrop of right-wing nationalisms and populist sentiment across the world; in a country steeped in authoritarian state history (Germany); this ethnography highlights the ‘reflexive’ ethical possibilities of artistic practice in a public theatre institution. Working in a field site in which his participants (and their institutions) are such practiced public theorizers in their own right posed some important implications for the way we conduct research and writing.”
Adam Bobeck interviewed me for the New Books Network (Podcast)
Iza Kadzijeva interviewed me for the Artery Podcast (University of Cambridge)
Misha Hadar reviews the book for Modern Drama: ‘Tinius’ book is a rich exploration of the Theater an der Ruhr, weaving together an account of the theatre’s artistic and aesthetic principles, history, labour practices, and institutional framework. It is an exciting example of ethnographic exploration of a theatre, as well as window into the recent history of German performance cultures. It addresses the themes of theatre and migration, and specifically the German post-migrant theatre moment, in important and intriguing ways. State of the Arts charts important problematizations of the existing literature on theatre and migration in Germany, shedding light on the history of one company dedicated to bastardizing the role of theatre as an institute of civic nation-building.’
Jenny Tang reviewed the book for Anthropology Forum (American Anthropological Association): 'Tinius offers a refreshing and unique contribution to the anthropology of theatre, performance, and the arts by critically analyzing the conceptual, material, and historical constitution of an actual theatre, its repertoire, its traditions, and its actors. By framing the theatre as an 'extra-ordinary' field of ethical reflection and cultural production and describing in detail the rehearsal and production processes of the Theater, Tinius has made a significant anthropological contribution to ethnographic and theoretical discussions of theatricality and performativity and their uses for politics, society, and intellectual thought.' Jenny Tang, Anthropology Book Forum
Nataliya Tchermalykh reviewed the book for Visual Anthropology Review (American Anthropological Association) and discussed the book for the launch event The State of Trouble during the biennale conference of the European Association of Social Anthropologists in Barcelona at the Ateneu del Raval theatre (July 2024): '… the most valuable aspect of the book lies in its synthetic approach, freely combining the German aesthetic paradigm … with advanced anthropological reflections on contemporary art, performance, visual culture, arts, and politics. … [it] will be of interest for anthropologists working at the intersection of political and visual anthropology or interested in institutional ethnographies of experimental artistic spaces, with a keen focus on migration to Europe.' Nataliya Tchermalykh, Visual Anthropology Review
Lindsey Drury, Lucia Ruprecht, Azadeh Sharifi, and Matthias Warstat discussed my book for the launch event State of the Arts. Anthropology, Theatre, Migration at the Institute of Theatre Studies at the Free University Berlin (December 2023)
Martin A. Ruehl and Jenny Tang discussed my book for the research seminar Culture, Conduct, and Critique with the German Graduate Studies Seminar Series at the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge (March 2024)
Georgina Born and Martin Holbraad discussed my book for a seminar at the Anthropology Department of University College London (March 2024).
I presented the book in seminars at the Ethnological Institute in Frankfurt am Main (with Mirco Göpfert at the Goethe University), the Theatre Studies Department in Munich (with David Roesner at LMU), the Centre Modern Orient in Berlin (with Kai Kresse at Free University), in the Anthropology Department in Brussels (with David Berliner at ULB), and wrote a short piece for the 1584 Blog (Cambridge University Press).
Get the book (paperback out in April)
https://www.cambridge.org/it/universitypress/subjects/arts-theatre-culture/drama-and-theatre-general-interest/state-arts-ethnography-german-theatre-and-migration?format=HB
Short description
This is a bold and wide-ranging account of the unique German public theatre system through the prism of a migrant artistic institution in the western post-industrial Ruhr region. State of the Arts analyses how artistic traditions respond to social change, racism, and cosmopolitan anxieties and recounts how critical contemporary cultural producers position themselves in relation to the tumultuous history of German state patronage, difficult heritage, and the tradition of Bildung (self-formation). This book unravels how actors, directors, and policy makers constitute theatre as a site for extra-ordinary ethical conduct
Shortlisted
The book was shortlisted for the German Studies Book Prize of the Waterloo Centre for German Studies, Canada. From the jury's comments: "The book’s originality was of special interest to the jury, stating that the work “conveys a profound and important message about how theatre can transform people, helping them to become aware of their own multiplicity and otherness.” Being a finalist for this prize is recognition of the valuable contribution the author has made to German studies in general and to German theatre studies in particular. The jury welcomed the attention being paid to theatre outside Berlin, namely the innovative and disruptive theatre culture of the Ruhr." Read an interview on the book here: https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-german-studies/2023-book-prize-finalist-jonas-tinius
Endorsements
'‘In this truly captivating book, Jonas Tinius shows most convincingly anthropology´s unique quality to explain the large scale: Germany as a nation and ideas of Bildung in combination with recent migration, through a small scale case of contemporary theatre, the Theatre an der Ruhr. By including the concept 'ethico-aesthetic' the analysis opens up for further understandings of how ethical issues and practices complement aesthetic ones, importantly also further afield. Inspiring and impressive, State of the Arts is a game-changer.' (Helena Wulff - Professor Emerita of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University)
‘State of the Arts is a (perhaps the first) genuine organisational ethnography of a German theatre. Tinius has written a groundbreaking study that links ethnographic fieldwork with fundamental insights into German theatre's institutional makeup to illuminate the remarkable Theater an der Ruhr.' (Christopher Balme - Professor of Theatre Studies, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich)
Reviews and Events
Rose Campion reviewed the book for Ad Marginem (Mitteilungen des Instituts für Europäische Musikethnologie an der Universität zu Köln):'… an excellent example of anthropology's capacity to draw larger insights from local practices. … this book can be recommended as a foundational contribution to understanding state patronage for the arts in modern Germany.' Rose Campion, Ad Marginem)
Matthew Raj interviewed me for the CaMP Blog (Rice University): "Against the contemporary backdrop of right-wing nationalisms and populist sentiment across the world; in a country steeped in authoritarian state history (Germany); this ethnography highlights the ‘reflexive’ ethical possibilities of artistic practice in a public theatre institution. Working in a field site in which his participants (and their institutions) are such practiced public theorizers in their own right posed some important implications for the way we conduct research and writing.”
Adam Bobeck interviewed me for the New Books Network (Podcast)
Iza Kadzijeva interviewed me for the Artery Podcast (University of Cambridge)
Misha Hadar reviews the book for Modern Drama: ‘Tinius’ book is a rich exploration of the Theater an der Ruhr, weaving together an account of the theatre’s artistic and aesthetic principles, history, labour practices, and institutional framework. It is an exciting example of ethnographic exploration of a theatre, as well as window into the recent history of German performance cultures. It addresses the themes of theatre and migration, and specifically the German post-migrant theatre moment, in important and intriguing ways. State of the Arts charts important problematizations of the existing literature on theatre and migration in Germany, shedding light on the history of one company dedicated to bastardizing the role of theatre as an institute of civic nation-building.’
Jenny Tang reviewed the book for Anthropology Forum (American Anthropological Association): 'Tinius offers a refreshing and unique contribution to the anthropology of theatre, performance, and the arts by critically analyzing the conceptual, material, and historical constitution of an actual theatre, its repertoire, its traditions, and its actors. By framing the theatre as an 'extra-ordinary' field of ethical reflection and cultural production and describing in detail the rehearsal and production processes of the Theater, Tinius has made a significant anthropological contribution to ethnographic and theoretical discussions of theatricality and performativity and their uses for politics, society, and intellectual thought.' Jenny Tang, Anthropology Book Forum
Nataliya Tchermalykh reviewed the book for Visual Anthropology Review (American Anthropological Association) and discussed the book for the launch event The State of Trouble during the biennale conference of the European Association of Social Anthropologists in Barcelona at the Ateneu del Raval theatre (July 2024): '… the most valuable aspect of the book lies in its synthetic approach, freely combining the German aesthetic paradigm … with advanced anthropological reflections on contemporary art, performance, visual culture, arts, and politics. … [it] will be of interest for anthropologists working at the intersection of political and visual anthropology or interested in institutional ethnographies of experimental artistic spaces, with a keen focus on migration to Europe.' Nataliya Tchermalykh, Visual Anthropology Review
Lindsey Drury, Lucia Ruprecht, Azadeh Sharifi, and Matthias Warstat discussed my book for the launch event State of the Arts. Anthropology, Theatre, Migration at the Institute of Theatre Studies at the Free University Berlin (December 2023)
Martin A. Ruehl and Jenny Tang discussed my book for the research seminar Culture, Conduct, and Critique with the German Graduate Studies Seminar Series at the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge (March 2024)
Georgina Born and Martin Holbraad discussed my book for a seminar at the Anthropology Department of University College London (March 2024).
I presented the book in seminars at the Ethnological Institute in Frankfurt am Main (with Mirco Göpfert at the Goethe University), the Theatre Studies Department in Munich (with David Roesner at LMU), the Centre Modern Orient in Berlin (with Kai Kresse at Free University), in the Anthropology Department in Brussels (with David Berliner at ULB), and wrote a short piece for the 1584 Blog (Cambridge University Press).