Theaterkasse
Maximilianstraße 26-28
Mo-Sa: 11:00 – 19:00
+49 (0)89 / 233 966 00
theaterkasse@kammerspiele.de
Wrapped in darkness, an audio(visual) installation leads us into the deep sea. We enter the kingdom of the Vampyroteuthis infernalis, an octopus that is up to 20 metres in length. We get to know a fascinating animal, one that changes its skin colour, makes itself transparent, sprays poison, can make portraits with sepia using its tentacles, and has the ability to make its surroundings more visible by using its own powers of illumination.
Though we humans and the Vampyroteuthis infernalis live in places that are diametrically opposite, we share the same profound memory. This is because, in the history of evolution, our paths diverged relatively late, when human beings ‘decided’ to move away from the shore to the mainland, and Vampyroteuthis to dive into the depths of the ocean. We would have been crushed by the pressure prevailing in the depths, and it would have suffocated in the air that we breathe. Yet despite or even because of this distance, we can recognise the basic structure of our own existence in the octopus, and therefore a part of ourselves as well.
Viewing ourselves through the eyes of another can help us learn more about ourselves. What we are attempting to do here is not to provide a scientific analysis of this unique inhabitant of the deep sea and us humans. Rather, it is a type of fable. It intends to show how human beings, as vertebrates, are seen from the point of view of a mollusc. In this way, our own psyche emerges from the chasms of the oceans. Questions emerge that trigger reflections on one’s own self-image. What would make humanity a homo sapiens infernalis? In what ways does the Vampyroteuthis infernalis show us more than just its eponymous hideousness? And how can its way of life serve as a source of philosophical inspiration?