The transfer between science, culture, economy, and society is an important task in a challenging time. In order to connect research and theater more closely, the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe together with the KIT interprets current KIT research topics in an artistic way in the production "Nerds save the world". "With 'Nerds Save the World,' we bring science and society together in an innovative way and provide new impulses for dialog," says KIT President Professor Holger Hanselka. "For this purpose, we link important future issues with artistic forms of expression and theater languages."

Successful premiere

In a sold-out premiere on June 15, 2023, the protagonists performed their co-production in the middle of KIT Campus South to enthusiastic applause. In a multifaceted show, they entered into a lively dialog with their audience. Around 30 researchers and Karlsruhe residents were involved in the performance and created unexpected theatrical spaces on the campus.

"Ich aß die grünenden Früchte der Sehnsucht," sings Antonia Hoffmann of a poem by Mascha Kaléko on the "Tanz der Algorithmen". Because problems of graph theory can be explained with words. It becomes poetic when time complexity and search algorithms are danced with. Algorithms, computer-aided material design, mobility, ferroelectricity – to name just a few of the areas of research that will collide with art with relish on this evening – will be artistically explored by researchers and theater-makers, together with an intergenerational ensemble.

Science communication meets theater

Those combine to create new paths between art and science that mediate horizons of action and hopes of research – in the joint attempt of both institutions to explore the generative potential of theatrical science communication: How can we shape a future through good shared stories whose ground is in addressing the challenges of the present? Already on the walks between the venues, this discussion among the audience began: "People meet here who have come for very different motives: Those who simply want to see theater. Others attracted by the theme and still others who want to get to know their place of education or work in a new way. The questions posed in the performance and the strolling between the venues invites conversation already during the performance, which can be continued in the auditorium with a writing assignment and in the get-together after the performance," Nike-Marie Steinbach, director of the Volkstheater division, describes her experience during the premiere. "KIT, Du schöne Zukunftslaube" is the epilogue. Player Julia Sauter's exclamation is met by a smiling and thoughtful audience in the summer-warm "Garden of Utopias".

Future, the fundamental condition of which is the preservation of our natural foundations of life, is in the foreground in many scenes. "With the artistic implementation of the research topics, I was not only able to look at the topics of our project, but also at topics from outside the field in a completely new light," formulated Sandra Kaufmann-Weiss, who works at the InnovationCampus Mobility of the Future at KIT.

The science performance will still be performed on the following dates on the KIT South Campus:

• Thursday, July 6, 2023
• Thursday, July 13, 2023
• Monday, July 17, 2023
• Thursday, July 20, 2023