TLC – Tagesspiegel

Heimathafen Neukölln presents “The Last Conference”: An invitation to the climate conference of 2050. Dystopian, but not unrealistic: At Heimathafen Neukölln, the audience can cast their votes at a fictional climate conference set in the future. Forget the climate! We have bigger problems. Put Putin in his place. Lower food prices. Make sure the slackers stop living off the government and that homeownership remains affordable. That’s how many people think. And that’s how they act, too—whether in everyday life or in politics. Can you really blame people for that? Most people are simply too busy or too worried to think about the big picture of the future. With the exception of a few “tech bros” in the U.S., who don’t exactly have the planet’s well-being in mind either. The consequence: we’ll see. Wars over living space and resources. In Neukölln, our home base, the year 2050 has now dawned. And unfortunately, this is where we’re paying the price for having mentally pushed the looming climate catastrophe to the back burner. The Earth has warmed by two degrees compared to pre-industrial times, and various tipping points have been crossed. Floods, superstorms, mega-droughts, and other extreme phenomena are the result; the Amazon has lost 30 percent of its forest, and the Arctic has lost 60 percent of its ice. Sure, in a few affluent nations of the Global North that managed to pull off the energy transition in time, life is still livable—but only with a lot of money. Green megacities for the rich. Slums for the rest. Consequently, wars are raging over living space and resources.

The play “The Last Conference” paints a dystopian—but unfortunately not unrealistic—scenario. Against this backdrop, the newly founded “Theater des Wissens,” directed by Krzysztof Minkowski, invites the audience to a United Nations climate conference set in Berlin in the year 2050. The audience gets to take on the roles of high-ranking political representatives from various countries. These roles are assigned via name tags and information sheets. For example, you might be Leyla Kazimi, Minister of Environment and Resources from Azerbaijan—a comparatively small country that has, however, experienced 20 climate-related terrorist attacks in recent years. Such attacks have long been occurring all over the world.  Over the course of the evening, those gathered at the conference will vote on three major questions. For example: Should we immediately cut all CO₂ emissions? Should climate refugees be resettled in uninhabited areas—or be allowed to enter countries in the North? The choice between the devil and the deep blue sea

Spoiler: It’s always a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea. The information sheet handed out at the entrance to the “Berlin 2050 Climate Conference” explains the expected consequences. For example, halting emissions would lead to devastating famines in poorer countries, resulting in millions of deaths. If it doesn’t happen, global warming will rise to 2.5 degrees. Which will also claim millions of lives. Well. We really shouldn’t have let it get this far. A four-person international ensemble—Maya Alban-Zapata, Rashidah Aljunied, Oksana Cherkashyna, and Marta Malikowska—confidently guides us through this “Last Conference.” Between votes, they recite poetic reflections on a world teetering on the brink. Or, with the verve of revivalist preachers, they slip into the roles of corporate executives of the future—leading water monopolies or companies that collect the genetic material of the strongest to build a new civilization.Climate experts such as Mojib Latif and Wolfgang Lucht join via video clips, once again underscoring what science has been preaching for decades: No one can say we didn’t know. No question about it: the evening is well-structured. It’s compelling. Will it persuade climate change deniers to change their minds? Can dystopias even spur change, or would utopian narratives be more effective? “The Last Conference” raises these questions as well while you watch and vote. And that’s a positive thing. Any reflection keeps the issue in the public consciousness. 

(Patrick Wildermann, Tagesspiegel, Oct. 12, 2025)