What Do You Fear?

Stuttgart-based cultural producer Mike Schattschneider (known for his work with Schmetterlingshaus, the Linden Museum, and his collaboration with the Staatsoper Stuttgart through the JOiN-Haus project) sits down with Gitte Zschoch (Secretary General of the ifa – Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations) and Sibylle Baumbach (Professor of English Literature at the University of Stuttgart) to discuss how Otello portrays the concept of "otherness"—from narrative tools to contemporary interpretations and the historical impossibility of the opera’s titular character.

The conversation explores the subversive potential of art while also examining the responsibilities of cultural institutions in presenting operatic repertoire, literary texts, and museum objects today. How does the cultural reproduction of stereotypes and the continued use of discriminatory language affect our social cohesion? What does a progressive, responsible approach to outdated material look like? And what role must cultural institutions play in a time of growing right-wing populism?