What would Arnold do? The Austrian artist collective KRA is in residence at ØIT, where they are working on developing a new performance. Mission Arnold Schwarzenegger deals with topics such as car culture, community – and who actually saves the world. Meet KRA in an open artist talk on Saturday, January 10th, 2026!

KRA creates interdisciplinary projects that balance between theater, satire, and political action. In their work, they push the boundaries between fiction and reality, using humor to challenge established narratives. Who actually gets to save the world? Who is heard? And which stories do we believe when it comes to our future?

–At the heart of all our projects is a bold, ironic premise: We claim to solve all global conflicts – from a small village in Austria. Arnold comes from the same town as us, so we chose his name for this project, laughs Vera Kopfauf nad Nora Köhler who are working on their new project here in Fredrikstad this week.

Mission Arnold Schwarzenegger, is an interactive performance in public space – and a live film shoot. In each city, KRA creates a new episode: written, rehearsed, and filmed together with the people and stories they encounter.

-We are a mobile team of three performers traveling with cameras, microphones, props, and a flexible setup, the artists explain:

About the artistic project

– Over several days, different scenes emerge, forming parts of a growing cinematic universe – the first action movie with climate heroes. The setting can be a parking lot, a market square, a garage, or a meadow – each place shapes what happens. Audiences are invited to witness and subtly influence the process becoming part of an unfolding narrative that connects places, people, and questions across borders.

This open format raises a key question: Are we merely watching myths being made or are we part of how they continue? As aging male leaders continue to cast themselves as heroic figures, Mission Arnold Schwarzenegger examines why society remains so willing to believe in them, despite their failures. We explore why we keep returning to these stories, and how they shape our cultural response to crisis.

The project is a response to the collective exhaustion around the climate crisis – the guilt, the overwhelm, the paralysis. Instead of offering ready-made messages or moral lessons, it creates a space for shared imagination and collective action. It’s not about knowing exactly what to do, but about doing something together. About trying. About showing up.

We wanted to start somewhere concrete. So we chose the car. Because it’s everywhere. Because it’s visible. Because it’s still the sacred cow of a fossil era. Each new episode focuses on questions of mobility, car culture, and the infrastructures of the surroundings. We research locally, write locally, and shoot each scene in direct dialogue with its environment. Over time, a fragmented, multi-voiced film emerges – raw, playful and full of contradictions, but driven by the belief that something can change, if we make it together.

Meet the Artists

We invite you to an open meeting with Vera Kopfauf and Nora Köhler from the company, where they will present excerpts from their work and reflections on how interactive formats and theater outside traditional stage spaces can engage new audiences.

Open artist talk, free admission
Saturday, January 10th 2026, 12:15-13:00
Østfold Internasjonale Teater, Dokka 3a, Fredrikstad

KRAs exaggerated ambition to save the world serves as an artistic tool, allowing them to critically engage with power structures and savior narratives. Their performances often take place in non-theatrical spaces, disrupting traditional audience dynamics and recontextualising social issues through participatory storytelling. Humor and playfulness are central to their practice, but always as a means to reveal deeper structural questions.

Mission Arnold Schwarzenegger is one of the first ten projects to receive support through IN SITU PLATFORM, a four-year EU-supported project that promotes the careers of emerging performing artists working in public space. The finished performance will be shown at, among other places, Porsgrunn Internasjonale Teaterfestival in June.

Artists who are interested in applying to the PLATFORM program have one last chance to do so! Read more about the project here.

IN SITU is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. The author has sole responsibility for this publication, and the European Commission may not be held liable.