Mondays have an ambivalent reputation; some detest them as a return to the treadmills of everyday life, others welcome them as a fresh start.

The project “Protokoll M” also hopes for such a fresh start. It came from the idea of an interdisciplinary final project between Pauline Bönisch, Joel Schülin (Master of Urban Studies) and myself, Paula Holzhauer (Master of Media Art and Design). The focus was on the artistic and scientific exploration and elaboration of the urban phenomenon of the Weimar “Montagsdemonstration” (Eng.: “Monday's demonstration”). Common routines and different perspectives drew a complex picture of the urban society and allowed two works with different focusses to emerge from the collective collaboration.

“Protokoll M – or the day the wolf started chasing the moon” is an installative chamber radio play that describes a kind of self-help group for residents who have been exposed to weekly demonstrations in their own homes for months. They come into the room with the question of how they should relate to the movement and its actors, whether they should do something about it, and how dialogue might be useful. The text is based on transcripts from interviews conducted with residents as well as own observations from inside the demonstration. The roles are fictitious, but based on interview partners from the living space, as well as actors and participants in the demonstration. The play was staged together with professional actors and borrowers.

The play is performed in a room in which eight chairs are arranged in a circle. Between them are loudspeakers, each of which is supposed to represent the participants of the self-help group. The chairs are free to receive listeners and expose them to the situation of becoming silent participants in the support group.