As one of the ten world’s most important cultural projects during the Corona period, the exhibition project «Down to Earth» received the 2021 Segal Awards for Civic Engagement in the Arts.

«Since the outbreak of the Corona Pandemic, the Segal Theatre Center has presented a series of public talks during The Time of Corona with over 300 artists and institutions from over 50 countries. The aim of the initiatives presented were to introduce artistic projects and concepts that develop a new perspective on social and institutional developments in the field of art, especially performance art.

In New York, a selection of 10 pioneering projects will now be honoured with Segal Center Awards for Civic Engagement in the Arts. In this way, the Segal Center honours individuals and groups who have demonstrated exceptional achievement in the field of the arts during Corona 2020/21.​

The Segal Center Award for Civic Engagement in the Arts was originally established to recognise individuals who have made an exceptional contribution to civic discourse and have had a real impact on contemporary theatre and performance in New York City. In The Time of Corona, the Segal Center decided to honour global theatre and performance artists who have become agents of change in 2020 and 2021.

»Down to Earth” was an unplugged exhibition whose rooms also featured a daily program by experts of change. The topic of climate change was not only reflected in the exhibits, but led to a different kind of behavior: the exhibition used no electricity, no flights, all consumption was sustainable and transparent. Various communities, artists, philosophers and activists thus developed a different kind of exhibition format that radically changed the operating system of our classical cultural institutions for a short time. »Down to Earth», initiated by Thomas Oberender, was curated collectively and was part of the multi-year program »Immersion».»

Initiated by Thomas Oberender
Co-curated by Julia BadaljanThomas OberenderAnja PredeickTino SehgalJeroen Versteele
Curatorial associates Descha Daemgen, Stefanie Hessler, Marc Pohl, Joulia Strauss, Frédérique Aït-Touati