Performativer Walk: About Panoptica and Politics of Disarmament

Prisons affect us all. As state institutions, they enforce current notions of right and wrong by depriving people of their freedom as punishment. They consolidate power on the one hand and give those who are being punished barely any scope to act. Yet the supposedly objective law is filled with discriminatory structures: minorities interpreted as migrants and people affected by poverty are imprisoned significantly more often than those who have enough money and a valid residence permit. Prisons stabilise existing power relations. Through punishment, the state seeks to make prisoners compliant and fit into the existing system. 

Taking abolitionist perspectives as a starting point, which call for the abolition of coercion and oppression, this will be a tour around the grounds of the former prison Rennelberg. From there, different voices will be brought together exploring the role and function of prisoners – and at the same time open up perspectives on how to shape more just societies.