Milo Rau: democracy is an ’agora open to everyone who isn’t a criminal’

On the International Day of Democracy, Switzerland’s most controversial theatre director talks about the “ritual” of public votes and the global state of political participation. Over the past two decades, Milo Rau’s theatrical blurring of boundaries between reality, art and activism has led him to become one of Europe’s top directors. At the same time, Rau is an outspoken observer of global politics. Often his approach is led by experiments in radical inclusion. SWI swissinfo.ch spoke to the head of the Vienna Festival about democracy – in its direct, illiberal, and theatrical forms. SWI swissinfo.ch: Over the past decade you have worked in Italy, Congo, Russia, Belgium, and Brazil. You are currently the artistic director of the Vienna Festival. You follow an approach you call “global realism” and you live in Germany. Do you still fill out a postal ballot four times a year to vote in Switzerland? Milo Rau: Yes, I insist on it. I think the system of how Swiss votes manage to create ...