Scenario Summer School

From Athens to Berlin, not for holidays, but for a journey of transformation.

This summer, I had the privilege of joining the Scenario Summer School in Berlin, hosted by the Scenario Project of University College Cork (Ireland) in collaboration with the Free University of Berlin and the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland).

Together with educators and researchers from 20 countries, we explored how performance and embodiment can enhance learning, as understanding reaches its greatest depth when lessons are lived rather than explained.

Thomas Hürlimann reminds us that “What philosophers could not explain, the stage demonstrated … its oldest secret being transformation.”

This idea guided our inquiry. In every moment, in movement, in silence, and in shared creation, we witnessed how performance reshapes both the actor and the spectator, just as authentic learning transforms both the teacher and the student.

In contrast to traditional teaching, which relies on lecturing and treats students as empty vessels to be filled (what Paulo Freire described as the banking model of education), the performative approach invites participation, dialogue, and discovery. Here, meaning is not delivered but co-created through experience and reflection.