Jette Büchsenschütz works as a dramaturg, writer, and cultural worker in the fields of dance, performance, and theatre, based in Berlin and with strong ties to Vienna. With an academic background in Chinese Studies and Dance Studies, her practice moves along the edges of theory and movement, language and body. Her texts have been published amongst others at PW-Magazine, tanzraumberlin magazin, Positionen – Texte zur aktuellen Musik, gallerytalk and tanzschreiber. Alongside her dramaturgical and writing practice, she explores affective states within the cultural field, questions of mental „health“, as well as structural precarity.
The Promise of Work
Berlin’s Production of Precarity
Essay by Jette Büchsenschütz
01 Jul, 2026
Bullyache: A Good Man is Hard to Find. Photo by Éamonn Zeel Freel
Abhishek Thapar: Soft Pressure (Working Title). Photo by Himashi Parmar
Liina Magnea: What’s a Mob to a King (Plot-twist Redemption). Photo by Emma Annell
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„Without a doubt, people nowhere work so hard and long as in Germany. It is a well-known fact that Germans have for generations been overfond of working; and their present industriousness seems at first glance to give substance to the opinion that Germany is still potentially the most dangerous European nation.“ (Hannah Arendt: The Aftermath of Nazi Rule: Report from Germany, in: Essays in Understanding, 1930-1954, Formation, Exile and Totalitarianism, New York: Schoken Books 1994.
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See also the Jury Commentary on the funding recommendations for entry-level grants, individual project grants, and one-year support for production venues in the performing arts and dance sector (Funding Period 2026),
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See the petition “Strukturförderung für Berlins freie Künstler*innen und Gruppen,” which advocates long-term structural funding for Berlin's independent artists and groups in place of a predominantly project-based funding system.
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A quote by Berlin-based dancer and choreographer Elvan Tekin, who was invited on stage during Olympia Bukkakis' Late Night Show during Never Work Festival at Sophiensæle.
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George Orwell: The Road to Wigan Pier, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company ED p. 202.