The Art of
the Deal

It is the late 20th century – the end of the 1980s, the beginning of the 1990s. History has come to an end, social democracy is being reformed in the spirit of Tony Blair's ‘Third Way’ and the sky is the limit. Capitalism is celebrating its final victory. Donald Trump is causing a stir on the New York real estate market and publishing his autobiographical book The Art of the Deal.

No one at the time could have guessed that the methods described in it would one day dominate the world's stock markets.

Do they also dominate us? Our private relationships, our workplace, the car repair shop? Do we also view everyday encounters as transactions that must be won? How tough do we want to be? Can success be trained?

With thanks to Ronald Reagan and Gerhard Schröder.

The Dutch-Flemish collective Wunderbaum, known for its hard-hitting research and delight in subverting all expectations, ran the Theaterhaus Jena from 2018 to 2022 and, following Die Hundekot-Attacke (invited to the 2024 Theatertreffen), will now tackle a similarly dirty topic: the deal