In 2015, the American anthropologist Anna Tsing landed something of a global bestseller with her book “The Mushroom at the End of the World” and – I hope the Science Ball audience agrees with me here – a scientific global success. “About life in the ruins of capitalism” is the subtitle of the German translation and yes, this life and survival is simply unimaginable without science: diverse and broadly networking, excellently funded, respected and persistent research, its implementation and its communication. That is as certain as, say, the successful landing after a grand jeté.

The mushroom “at the end of the world”, which Tsing follows here from the destroyed forests of Oregon via Finland to Japan and from collecting through its supply chains to Japanese genetic laboratories, is the noble mushroom Matsutake, to which poems have been dedicated since the 8th century. For me, as a passionate festival organizer who has devoted a large part of his life to dance, its artists and the audience, it was all the more beautiful to discover that Anna Tsing has titled a chapter of her book “Dancing.”

“Mushroom hunters get to know the Matsutake forest in a very special way: they look out for the lifelines of the mushrooms. Being out and about in the forest like this can be seen as a dance: the lifelines are traced with the senses, with movements and orientations. (…) It is a dance that is performed here with numerous other dancing lives.”

Now, not all mushroom hunters are scientists, and not all dancers either. But we don’t want to forget that every good science, like dance, has to do with all the senses and above all with sensuality and with life in diverse communities – and above all: celebrate appropriately and passionately as often as possible! Here’s to a brilliant science ball night!

In 1984, Karl Regensburger founded the Vienna International Dance Weeks together with the Brazilian dancer Ismael Ivo, which was renamed ImPulsTanz Festival in 1988. Today, the festival stands for performances, workshops and research projects. With an annual program of around 50 productions shown at traditional venues and more than 200 workshops where dance can be experienced in all its facets and also take place in public spaces, ImPulsTanz is now one of the most renowned festivals for contemporary dance and performance worldwide.