Interrobang - What
„The interrobang
is a nonstandard punctuation mark
intended to combine the functions of the
question mark and the exclamation mark: ‽
A sentence ending with an interrobang asks
a question in an excited manner, expresses
excitement or disbelief in the form of a
question, or asks a rhetorical question.”
“Interrobang reinvents interactive theater.”
Doris Meierhenrich, Berliner Zeitung, on Interrobang
“A true performance of an AI as a theatrical character can be experienced for the first time in CHATBOT CHALLENGE by Interrobang.”
Eberhard Spreng, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, on Chatbot Challenge
“Fortunately, the idea of a network that strengthens itself sounds truly promising. As an act of community empowerment, questions of ownership will have to be addressed later, and there will indeed be a way to balance social inequalities in an absurdly simple manner.”
Susanne Gietl, nd, on Commune AI
Interrobang develops new performative and digital formats to engage with contemporary social phenomena and pressing questions. In installative theater spaces and participatory AI- and game-based settings, audiences can experience, test, and reflect on new scenographic communication models—whether analog, online, or hybrid. The play with theatrical community thus becomes a play with contemporary and possible future societal structures and value systems.
TYPICAL INTERROBANG
New forms of theatrical participation, digitality, artificial intelligence, creative coding, future research, political and social relevance, humor, open dramaturgies, interactive hypertext systems, self-built and programmed performative apparatuses, and easy accessibility—since its founding in 2013, Interrobang has developed a unique artistic signature.
Interrobang is present at many Berlin-based venues as well as national and international theaters, performance spaces, and festivals, including:
HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Sophiensaele, Komische Oper Berlin, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Theater an der Parkaue, Ruhrfestspiele, Impulse Theater Festival, Heidelberger Stückemarkt, internationales figuren.theater.festival Erlangen, HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts, Schauspiel Leipzig, FFT Düsseldorf, zeitraumexit Mannheim, Theater Rampe Stuttgart, Archa Theatre Prague, Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theatre Kyiv, Meyerhold Center Moscow, Teatr Kana Szczecin, STUDIO theatrgaleria Warsaw, ARGEkultur Salzburg, WUK Vienna, Kleintheater Luzern, Schlachthaus Theater Bern, and many more.
Our work revolves around (hidden) power structures in digitalized neoliberalism, examining the political, individual, and societal impacts of digital self-optimization, surveillance, privatization, and gamification. The participatory nature of our performances challenges the possibilities and limits of co-determination, granting audiences agency and opening a reflective space for critical engagement.
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AND PERFORMANCE
Digitalization, artificial intelligence, and participation are at the core of our artistic practice. We develop formats that critically examine the conditions, mechanisms, and societal implications of digital cultures. Our projects, created in long-term collaborations with creative coders, feature custom-programmed or modified AI systems, algorithmic storytelling, and digital dramaturgies, often translated into analog and/or hybrid theater spaces. Multi-optionality is central to our work: performances rarely follow a linear structure but instead offer branching narratives, multiple endings, or unpredictable dramaturgies. Audiences frequently become decision-makers, confronted with the consequences of their own actions. Our projects thus explore democratic processes, (lack of) decision-making freedom, and the possibilities and limitations of participation.
Since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, AI-based applications have gained widespread public attention. Digital technologies are evolving rapidly, affecting nearly all areas of life and raising fundamental questions about responsibility, decision-making, and democratic participation. Our work critically examines and reflects on these developments. For us, analog and digital theater forms are not in competition but instead offer unique possibilities. Theater, as both a social and artistically utopian space, is an ideal medium to translate digital communication into analog and hybrid formats—allowing us to reveal, distort, and interrogate the mechanisms and functions of digitality.
After years of collaboration with Sophiensaele Berlin, we have been co-producing with HAU Hebbel am Ufer and the digital stage HAU4 since 2022, creating: 2022 – Chat-Inferno (hybrid performance), 2023/24 – Commune AI (international online co-production) and 2024 – Chatbot Challenge (stage performance, currently on international tour) as part of the Spy on Me #5 festival at HAU.