Panel discussion on "TIMMY – Die Hope stirbt zuletzt" at Ernst Deutsch Theater Hamburg

ZeMKI member Kerstin Radde-Antweiler will be a guest at the panel discussion following the performance of “TIMMY – Die Hope stirbt zuletzt” at the Ernst Deutsch Theater in Hamburg on Sunday, 20 September 2026 (main stage, 7.30 pm).

Taking the case of the humpback whale Timmy as its starting point, the evening combines theatre, music and conversation into a public act of collective self-questioning about empathy, attention and the stories we tell ourselves. In the first part, the performance retells the journey of the stranded whale as a contemporary passion story – between incense, AI pop, documentary audio recordings and religious ritual. The second part opens the evening into a discussion with changing guests, addressing empathy and attention, art and spirituality, political appropriation, protest, media and social conflict. Running through it is the question of why some fates generate enormous public resonance while other suffering goes almost unnoticed.

Together with Prof. Dr Joachim Valentin, Professor of Christian Religious and Cultural Theory at Goethe University Frankfurt, and Alexander Klessinger, the director of the production, Kerstin Radde-Antweiler will discuss the religious and spiritual charging of Timmy, the use of Christian symbolism, and how a secular media event can suddenly take on forms of hope, redemption and ritual.

Further information about the event: Ernst Deutsch Theater