“In-between” refers to a presence that acts as separating and interrupting in space and time. This is how it appears when the gaze is directed from the outside in. However, if it is directed from the inside out, it is not the divorce that is thematized, but the boundaries that open up. What both views have in common is binarity, the neat separation of inside and outside, and an exclusion already inherent in this.

But other things are not only conceivable, they are also possible. The jubilee congress of pastoral theology in Berlin in September 2024 addressed precisely these possibilities and their implementation in practice.

Tertium datur
“In-between” does not only address divisive issues. Sitting between all the chairs also means being able to make connections – being in the middle.

“We are right in the middle” – this is how Tom Sojer begins his reflection on the evening event at the congress. “We” are all the participants of the congress who decided to take up the challenge of the meeting of pastoral theology and art with curiosity. As interested spectators in the first part – as participants in the second.
Between art and non-art, together with artists and non-artists – doing your own thing and doing things together: that is the way Fraktalwerk works. Spectators are never ‘just’ spectators. By looking, they participate in the processes that take place before their eyes and ears. Watching and listening are (in the best case) not passive processes, they require an active involvement in what is happening. This distinguishes being there from just being there.

Suddenly the congress participants find themselves in between – between their congress on pastoral theology and the art of the fractal work. As intense as the discussions were during the congress, they have now left their comfort zone of theory.

Embracing the opportunity
At the end of the first part, they are even asked to go one step further. Into the part of the room that lay unplayed behind their backs for an hour. To participate with their bodies and all their senses in the exploration of another intermediate space: the one between two people moving together – and the one between the couples moving with and among each other. If possible, without stepping on each other’s toes. Sensing this in-between space, bridging it with arms and touching hands, in joyful togetherness – this also thematises the in-between as well as the in-between.

With each step, the participants not only enter a different space – they also step into a different time. Stepping out of the chronology of the congress, they can seize the opportunity – in a different presence. End open.