Eskalationsmaschinen

Escalation is the ultimate linguistic practice of the new extreme right – and of fundamentalist ideologies in general. Its goal is to provoke the greatest possible emotional response in the fastest possible way. Polarising narratives are highly successful and generate maximum click rates on social media, stirring up people's resentment beyond the realm of facts and arguments. Under the guise of free speech, they ignite shitstorms of excitement and trigger avalanches of prejudice and contempt. With the attention economy of algorithms, they keep their ‘radicalisation machines’ (Julia Ebner) running. But their success proves them wrong. The project deconstructs the rhetorical strategies of neo-right-wing and right-wing extremist politics through the medium of linguistic musical performance, exposing them to ridicule in all their abysmal dangerousness.

Bernd Liepold-Mosser, born in Griffen (Carinthia) in 1968, is an Austrian theatre, opera and film director, author, exhibition curator and artistic director. He studied philosophy in Vienna, Klagenfurt and Ljubljana. Since 2001, he has been working as a freelancer, staging theatre and film projects, serving as artistic director of the Klagenfurt Festival and heading the independent production platform Flying Opera. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the 2011 Nestroy Prize (‘Best Provincial Performance’). Director Bernd Liepold-Mosser has been collaborating with musician Clara Luzia for 10 years. She is one of the most prolific and versatile songwriters and producers on the Austrian music scene and has been successful as a guitarist, singer, producer, label founder, songwriter and performer in Austria and internationally for two decades, as well as composing regularly for the theatre.