Last month, the Institute for Theater Studies was the target of several far-right and anti-LGBTQ+ assaults in the form of graffiti and vandalism. As members of the Collaborative Research Center 1512 Intervening Arts, we stand in full solidarity with the students and staff who were affected. We view an attack on them as an attack on all of us. We stand with them and join those institutes, student associations and councils in condemning these acts of violence in the strongest terms possible.

At the Collaborative Research Center, we have observed how museums, theaters, and now the university spaces where dance, music, theater, and film are researched and studied are increasingly affected by transphobia, queerphobia, and other forms of prejudice. The attack at the Institute for Theater Studies follows an incident at the Academy of Arts in August 2026 in which a Pride flag was destroyed.

We investigate the effectiveness of the arts to purposefully intervene in political crises, to create spaces of reflection and action in order to proactively counter societal polarization. Based on our research, we believe it is necessary to protect spaces for critical dissent and to resolutely oppose hate speech. We view the arts as a social force capable of exposing discrimination, defending diversity, and demanding spaces for solidarity and coexistence.

For these reasons, we stand firmly in solidarity with our colleagues at the Institute for Theater Studies in our joint resistance against right-wing and anti-democratic hostility.