This one-and-a-half-day workshop at the University of Amsterdam explores credit as a connective operator between theatre and economy. Bringing together researchers and artists who engage critically with money, debt, speculation and financial transactions, the workshop investigates how credit functions simultaneously as financial infrastructure, representational regime and performative practice. Rather than positioning theatre and economy as separate spheres placed in dialogue, the workshop approaches them as mutually constitutive systems of value production. Credit serves as the analytical hinge through which this interrelation becomes visible. The workshop thus resists the confinement of economic thinking to the discipline of economics, foregrounds how theatre has been constitutive in shaping what we understand as the economy, and acknowledges the capacity of artistic practices to render this visible and to propose strategies for critical inquiry.

Obtaining credits: To obtain ECTS credits, it is necessary to register via e-mail (felix.stenger@fu-berlin.de) by 30 September. We can only provide a limited number of spots in the workshop. If the number of registrations exceeds the limit, participants will be selected by lottery. Within one week after the deadline, you will be informed whether you have a spot in the workshop. Before the workshop you will be asked to prepare and submit questions and reflections for the workshop’s participatory sessions, based on preparatory readings and your study of the work of the participating artists. After the workshop, you will submit a short reflection on the interplay between economy and the productive exchanges between the methodologies of artistic practice and academic research.

Workshop Programme

Thursday, 10^th December 2026: Workshop & Artistic Encounters

Location: University of Amsterdam, Kartinizaal (Kartini Room)

09.00 | Walk-in with coffee and reception

09:30 | Round 1: Introduction Toon Fibbe, Suzanne Kooloos, Lisa-Frederike Seidler, and Felix Stenger

10:15 | Round 2: Research Spark by Marieke de Goede

11:00 – 11:15 | Break 

11:15 | Round 3: Approaching Credit – Introducing Artists’ Work

With Marissa Lee Benedict, David Rueter, Bik van der Pol (Jos van der Pol, Liesbeth Bik), and Falke Pisano

12:30 – 13.30 | Lunch Break

13:30 | Round 4: Performing Credit (working groups)

15:00 – 15.30 | Coffee Break

15:30 | Round 5: Observations and Wrap-up

16:30 | Closing Remarks

17.30 | Evening Programme 

Friday, 11^th December 2026: Reflection and Forward Planning

Location: University of Amsterdam, University Library Vendelstraat, Ruyszaal

09:30 | Walk-in

10:00 | Introducing the “Theatre & Economy” research collaboration

10:30 | Reflection: Imagining futures for the “Theatre & Economy” research collaboration

12:00 | End of the workshop