The invited expert contributors Arne Vogelgesang, Prof. Dr. Birgit Schneider and artists of the research programme JUNCTIONS21 examine influential visual media processes and dynamic cultural techniques and how these effect on climate politics, future concepts and political radicalization.

As a scientific and artistic think-tank, ›IMPACT20 – Planetary Alliances‹ criss-crosses perspectives from biotechnology, natural science, philosophy and contemporary art: Lars Blank, Rosi Braidotti and Johannes Paul Raether reflect on the relativities, metabolisms and relationships between the elements and protagonists of our world and how these impact on ecological, social, economic and technological developments in a community. How can new alliances that no longer place humankind at the centre of perception, shape and define new models of societies?

At the heart of ›IMPACT19 – Weaving Traces‹ are positions which, through very different practices, initiatives and actions expose interventions and discrimination in the political sphere, in urban and island structures, in ecological contexts, as well as in the body. The invited artists Ingrid LaFleur, Meg Stuart, Silke Huysmans and Hannes Dereere use advanced activist and investigative, spiritual and physical as well as political and technological practices in their work. They all mobilise spaces for action and trigger the conception of essential utopias.

IMPACT18 - Matter in Movement centres around diverse modes of digital, performative and architectural transaction spaces and infrastructures. The interests of Forensic Architecture, Jaya Klara Brekke & Paul Feigelfeld and Christiane Kühl & Chris Kondek (doublelucky productions) direct in this context toward the digital, political, ecological and economic realities of global conflicts, which they explore through artistic and investigative practices.

Chim↑Pom, Dana Caspersen, Paul Feigelfeld and Jeremy Christopher Bolen / Deep Time Chicago evelop and explore di­verse forms of critical engagement with pressing global conflicts. Centering around digital infrastructures, global eco­ logical and social change, political activism as well as artistic processes in conflict research, their work provokes, transforms, analyses and intervenes in realities.

How and where do alternative realities come about both in and between different fields of knowledge? How can we productively uncover contradictory ›rift zones‹ in today’s world? What kind of frameworks for action can we cultivate? IMPACT16 is an encounter with HOOD, RYBN.ORG und FORMATIONS, three expert collectives whose diversified forms of cooperation and flexible working practices transcend disciplinary boundaries.

Now in its eleventh outing, IMPACT looks at three outstanding artistic positions that question possible aesthetic principles in art and society in an experimental and playful manner. Through the juxtaposition of unusual methods, systems and approaches in music, theatre and architecture, an unmistakable space emerges for uncovering and interweaving individual fields of action.

In the company of three expert protagonists, the tenth anniversary edition of PACT Zollverein’s interactive symposium series IMPACT takes an illuminating and engaging look at the practice and theory of performance, exhibitions and presence. In three one-day episodes it navigates borders, thwarts circumstances and sheds light on the origins and nature of these forms of ›modern ritual‹.

For the 9th edition of IMPACT we look forward to an intense encounter with Walid Raad, Kris Verdonck und Vlatka Horvat who, with their jarring and playful works, put the way we see, experience and evaluate to the test. Whether working with subtle participative elements, time-delays or multilayered framing devices, they constantly and knowingly create opportunities to get lost in translations.

In this 8th edition, IMPACT12 presents three artistic positions that demonstrate, in the most varied of ways, a human presence in fashion, music, film, sculpture and performance by revealing a real and concrete practise.

In this 7th edition, IMPACT11 presents three artistic perspectives that generate humorous, playful and paradoxical possibilities of interacting and dealing with urban, social and political phenomenon using the artistic tools available to them.

In Philippe Quesne (FR), Tino Sehgal (GB/DE) and Jim Trainor (US), IMPACT10 brings together three artists whose work present radical, subtle and humorous designs for operating in a world that is obsessed by things and by science.

By inviting Romeo Castellucci (IT), artistic director of the theatre company Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio, architects Ana Dzokic and Marc Neelen / STEALTH.unlimited (NL/RS) as well as the group Berlin (BE), IMPACT09 has selected artists, who in their work dissect today’s reality from the perspective of their respective disciplines.

The performance group Station House Opera, architects Floris Alkemade and Alex De Jong / OMA and multimedia artist Igor Stromajer and performance expert Bojana Kunst, all daringly push the limits of their own particular disciplines. Their working methods uniquely integrate social, urban, technological, political and phenomenological issues.

IMPACT07 is a transdisciplinary symposium that considers artistic strategies and methodologies in terms of practice, theoretical discourse and critical reflection.

IMPACT05 invited four outstanding artists: Xavier Le Roy (F/D), Antoni Muntadas (ES/US), Miranda Pennell & John Smith (GB) to jointly "trace translations" in contemporary artistic production in the fields of dance, theatre, film, and New Media.

IMPACT04 considers strategies, methodologies and tools used in theatre practices today. Taking part are three leading groups all of whose work explores the extents, confines and possibilities of theatre and theatrical spaces. BLAST THEORY (GB), BALLETT FRANKFURT (D) und RIMINI PROTOKOLL (D) offer an insight into their working practices, ideas and projects.