For twenty-five years Impulse has been presenting the most important independent theater productions in the German-speaking world and has constantly redefined itself, much like the scene itself. “Independent” not only means that the works are produced outside the state theater system. It most notably means they develop aesthetic alternatives and search for new approaches and challenges. Artists such as Rimini Protokoll or René Pollesch were introduced to a wider audience for the first time at Impulse.
Over the past few years independent theater in Austria, Germany and Switzerland became part of a very international network and established a sophisticated discourse on art. Impulse is perhaps the most significant platform and at the same time the most powerful lobbyist of this scene in the German-speaking countries. The festival challenges the independent performance-based art forms to make use of their fundamental freedom. It challenges them to amplify, to try, to strain and overstrain the freedom of theater as medium; the freedom to start from scratch again and again; the freedom to create structures, hierarchies, stereotypes, processes, and collaborations in a way appropriate to each artistic endeavor – and not the other way around.
Independent theater provides impulses for an idea of theater that does not remain trapped in particular spaces of thinking and staging. It provides impulses not to simply accept the boundaries of genres set by the logics of grant applications, markets, and marketing. It provides impulses to reclaim theatricality in art, music, literature, film, and theory as theater. It provides impulses to think differently about theater as art. The task of independent theater is not to be the low-cost repertoire by the up-and-coming. It is not a special path as the German-speaking theaters and funding structures would suggest. It is an explicit alternative in its art as well as in its work structures.
Since 2013 the festival has been curated by the artistic director Florian Malzacher. The thematic orientation for each edition is supported by an advisory board consisting of experts from academia and arts. Alongside the program of selected visiting productions, an open call extends the focus to works beyond the beaten path. The festival is accompanied by theoretical and socio-political debates as well as by an online collection of material that takes up specific questions of independent theater and puts them up for discussion.
]]>What is the essence of theater? With its contents it does not solely mirror, criticize, and challenge society. Already its particular form is always an expression of its time: The Greek Polis met at the Dionysus-Theater, to negotiate their values. During the Baroque period, the play too was totally dedicated to the absolute monarch. And it is not a coincidence that the enlightenment of the European bourgeoisie went hand in hand with the formation of the bourgeois theater as aesthetic and also concrete cultural political phenomenon.
Particularly the avant gardes of the 20th century saw theater as a tool to change society, and not only to reflect or at best challenge it. Brecht wanted a theater as a moral institution of class struggle that does not divide in actor and spectator. In contrast his antipode Artaud imagined pushing this boundary as subversive rush.
Although this structural similarity between politics and theater often remained more radical on paper than in its practice, performance artists always saw theater as a medium that enabled them to try out social and political methods, in which societies in their different varieties – existing or imagined – can be performed, thought ahead, expanded, verified or even invented in the first place.
The Impulse Theater Festival invites ten works from the German-speaking world and initiates three projects of international artists in Cologne, Düsseldorf and Mülheim, that do not only picture society, but that seriously challenge the conditions of how we live together or that directly intervene in social processes. Independent theater still is a political and social laboratory of the present that shows, how the performative arts can unfold their agonistic, provoking potential – a potential that precisely is not just integrable and merely conceals social dysfunctions, ruptures and sore spots, but that addresses them and acts them out. Because that’s what it’s about at a time of an unexpected renaissance of the slogan: “Who is not with us is against us”: To open spaces for negotiation and debate, in which contradictions are not merely tolerated, but where they can be articulated in the first place.
How are we represented? Who do we represent, by what right and how? These questions aim at the core of every society and they are raised more and more insistently in politics, media and art in the last years in light of a crisis of democracy. And last but not least at the theater -the artistic medium of the representation of human beings and stories: Who and what can and should be represented on stage?
Impulse 2015 does not only raise these questions at its own conference, but above all within the artistic contributions themselves. “The Civil Wars” for example can be seen as a turning point in Milo Rau’s work: Instead of representing others, the actors reflect on themselves and search in their own lives for possible explanations, why young people from Europe suddenly go to Syria as warriors. Gob Squads work has always questioned their own lives – but with “Western Society” they expand their vision and draw a nostalgic view of a society, that ceased to exist in that way, that cannot exist, that must not exist anymore. Whereas Gintersdorfer/Klaßen did make room for other forms of representation since years: “Chefferie” is not only an old African assembly principle of many equal chiefs, but also the vision of Gintersdorfer/Klaßen’s artistic practice. andcompany&Co also speak with many tongues, when they ask, what language still can do, but also how to end wars that have never been declared.
“Ibsen: Ghosts” by the young theater makers Markus&Markus is a theatrical monument for a person who isn’t alive anymore and for a confrontation with an existing suicide: What can be shown at the theater, how true, how close, how serious, how voyeuristic is it allowed to be? Are we voyeurs or witnesses? It is as personal as it is political when Rabih Mroué lets his brother perform in “Riding on a Cloud“, for whom representation actually does not have a meaning anymore: As a child, he lost the ability to recognize reality in words and pictures, after he was seriously wounded in the Lebanese civil war.
But theater does not only represent things, it also is a real space with real people negotiating with each other. Herbordt/Mohrens “The Performance” is the performance of an institution, representation and the thing itself at the same time, a game with categories and attributions, where the spectators keep a maximum of freedom of choice, where they’re allowed a lot, but not forced to do anything. In a disturbing way, this freedom of choice has already been taken from us in “Anonymous P.” by Chris Kondek & Christiane Kühl: Our data are sold by secret services and commercial companies with the aim to predict every single one of our steps. When we gather around the German oak, with difficulty rebuilt by Hendrik Quast & Maika Knoblich, then we realize: The utopia of a self-determined identity is fragile.
Two productions which are as well exemplary in the context of agonism and representation in theater, indirectly find their way into the Impulse program: In Milo Rau’s film documentation “Moscow Trials”, artists, curators, radically orthodox persons and reactionary journalists negotiate the freedom of art. And the radio play on Rimini Protokoll’s “Situation Rooms” follows the devious routes of weapons all over the world.
Real spaces Impulse also opens up with three international coproductions:
The “Silent University” initiated by the Kurdish artist Ahmet Öğüt settles in Mülheim/Ruhr, an autonomous platform for refugees, asylum seekers and migrants. The Dutch director Lotte van den Berg’s “Building Conversation” at the FFT in Düsseldorf realizes theater as something that is left, when everything that’s unnecessary is taken away: A date to a conversation with defined rules of the game. Talking to each other as theater. The conversation space the British artist and film maker Phil Collins develops together with students from Cologne and Ramallah at “Our Position Vanishes“ are mobile: The buses that connect our partner venues, the studiobühne in Cologne and the FFT in Düsseldorf with the festival center at the Ringlokschuppen Ruhr, become collective spaces of experience, in which geographies and sounds are overlapping, political theories and concrete actions are mixed.
For the first time in its history, the Impulse Theater Festival is focused on one city: The Ringlokschuppen Ruhr in Mülheim will be the center of independent theater for ten days, while Düsseldorf and Cologne are on board as associated partners. In the future, Impulse will take place annually, the participating cities will alternately be center of the festival.
We cordially invite you to participate with us in outstanding artistic works, that were developed beyond the structures of city theaters and that understand theater as political space for experiments. Travel with us from Cologne and Düsseldorf to Mülheim, to the heart of the changing Western Society, discuss, drink a beer to the German forest at the festival center designed by raumlaborberlin, to death, to survival, new spaces to think, independent theater.
]]>Florian Malzacher – Artistic Director
Nadine Vollmer – Dramaturgy
Emily Keller – Production Management
Heike Diehm / k3 berlin – Press and Public Relations
Dominik Müller – Artistic Assistant
NRW KULTURsekretariat
Dr. Christian Esch – Director
Dirk Fortmann – Head of Administration
Martin Maruschka – Press and Public Relations
Artistic Director
Florian Malzacher was cocurator of the interdisciplinary arts festival steirischer herbst in Graz, Austria from 2006 to 2012. After graduating from Applied Theater Studies in Gießen, he first worked mostly as a theater critic and cultural journalist. He is a founding member of the independent curators’ collective Unfriendly Takeover in Frankfurt (2000-2007) and has (co-)curated the International 4th and 5th Summer Academy at Künstlerhaus Mousonturm (Frankfurt 2002 and 2004), “Performing Lectures” (Frankfurt 2004-06), the “Dictionary of War” (Frankfurt, München, Graz, Berlin 2006/07), as well as the 170-hour marathon “Truth is concrete” on artistic strategies in politics (steirischer herbst/Graz 2012).
As a dramaturge, he has worked at theaters like Burgtheater Vienna or Künstlerhaus Mousonturm in Frankfurt with artists like Rimini Protokoll, Lola Arias, Mariano Pensotti (Buenos Aires), and the Nature Theater of Oklahoma (New York). He has taught at universities in Vienna, Frankfurt, and Berlin. He is on the advisory boards of DasArts – Master of Theatre, Amsterdam (since 2009) and the Goethe Institute (since 2015), serves as advisor to the festival Schillertage in Mannheim (since 2010), and is member of the theater commission Zurich (since 2013).
He is (co-)editor and author of books on the theater companies Forced Entertainment and Rimini Protokoll, as well as on the curating of performative arts. Recently „Truth is concrete. A Handbook for Artistic Strategies in Real Politics“ was published at Sternberg Press 2014.
For the 2015 edition Impulse Theater Festival has again named an advisory board consisting of experts from different academic fields and arts. Inke Arns the artistic director of Dortmund’s Hardware MedienKunstVerein, the art historian and professor in visual studies Beatrice von Bismarck, philosopher Boris Buden, theater scholar André Eiermann, sociologist and political theorist Oliver Marchart, sociologist Vassilis Tsianos as well as the independent curator and former Impulse dramaturge Stefanie Wenner support the thematic conception of the second edition of Impulse Theater Festival under the artistic direction of Florian Malzacher.
is the artistic director of Dortmund’s Hardware MedienKunstVerein since 2005. Since 1993 she worked as an independent curator and author focusing on media art and theory, net cultures and Eastern Europe. She holds a degree in Slavic studies, Eastern European studies, political science, and art history from universities in Berlin and Amsterdam. In 2004 she obtained a doctorate from Humboldt University Berlin. Exhibitions curated by her include, amongst others „History Will Repeat Itself“ (2007), „The Oil Show“ (2011), „Sounds Like Silence“ (John Cage – 4’33’’ – Stille heute / 1912 – 1952 – 2012) (2012), „His Master’s Voice: Von Stimme und Sprache“ (2013).
Arns is the author and editor of numerous publications and catalogues. www.inkearns.de
is professor for art history and visual studies at the Academy of Visual Arts (HGB) Leipzig. Between 1989 and 1993 she worked as a curator with the division 20th century at the Städelsche Kunstinstitut in Frankfurt/Main. From 1993 to 1999 she worked for the University Lüneburg. There, together with Ulf Wuggering and Diethelm Stolle, she was cofounder of the art space Kunstraum der Universität Lüneburg. At HGB Leipzig she was the cofounder and director of the /D/O/C/K project and initiated the study program Cultures of the Curatorial (since 2009). In her current research she focuses on approaches of cultural production combining theory and practice, curatorial strategies, cultural practice in the frame of effects of globalization, and functions of the postmodern image of the artist. Among her most recent publications are “Auftritt als Künstler” (Appearance as Artist, 2010), “Cultures of the Curatorial” (ed. with Jörn Schaffaf und Thomas Weski, 2012) and “Timing – On the temporal Dimension of Exhibiting” (ed. with Rike Frank, Benjamin Meyer-Krahmer, Jörn Schaffaf und Thomas Weski, 2014).
is a philosopher and cultural critic. He studied classical and modern philosophy in Klagenfurt, Zagreb and Ljublana and obtained a doctorate at Humboldt University Berlin. Since 1984 he works as freelance journalist and publicist. He was the founder and editor of the society and culture political journal Arkzin in Zagreb and is the founder and editor in chief of Bastard Verlag (bastard publishing house) which in 1998 published the first Croatian re-edition of the “communist manifest” with a foreword by Slavoj Žižek. Buden translated the writings of Siegmund Freud into Croatian. His publications include the essay volumes “Barricades I” (1996) and “Barricades II” (1997), “Der Schacht von Babel. Ist Kultur übersetzbar?” (the pit of Babel. Is culture translatable?”, 2004) as well as his most recent book “Zone des Übergangs: Vom Ende des Postkommunismus” (Zone of Transition: On the End of Post-communism, 2009).
is a theater scholar and currently the guest professor for theory and history of theater at the University of the Arts (UdK) Berlin. Since late 2013 he works as a dramaturge with the Brussels based artist group fieldworks, whose projects border on the fields of performance, installation and media art. He studied and obtained his doctorate at the Institute for Applied Theater Studies at the Justus-Liebig University Gießen. In 2001 he started his own artistic practice. His dissertation “Postspektakuläres Theater – Die Alterität der Aufführung und die Entgrenzung der Künste” (“post spectacular theater – alterity of performance an the dislimitation of the arts”) was published in 2009. He currently researches in various academic contexts and besides guest lecturer positions in Germany and Switzerland he worked as a postdoc at the Gießen Institute for Applied Theater Studies where he organized the conference “TO DO AS IF – Realities of Illusion in Contemporary Theater” in 2012. From 2010 to 2011 he was acting professor for theater studies at the Goethe University Frankfurt/Main.
is professor for sociology at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (arts academy of the city of Düsseldorf). From 2006 to 2012 he was SNSF professor at the sociological seminar of the University Luzern. He completed his studies in philosophy in Vienna and in political theory and discourse analysis at the University of Essex. His research focuses on societal and political theory as well as the sociology of arts and culture. Publications (selection): “Das unmögliche Objekt. Eine postfundamentalistische Theorie der Gesellschaft” (2013), “Die politische Differenz” (the political difference, 2011), “Hegemonien im Kunsfeld” (hegemonies in the art field, 2008), “Conflictual Aesthetics. Artistic Activism and the Public Sphere.” (in preparation).
studied sociology, political science and psychology in Hamburg, where he also obtained his doctorate in 2007. His dissertation “Imperceptible Politics. Rethinking Radical Politics of Migration and Precarity today” focused on the relation between migration and precarity. From 2007 through 2009 he coordinated the German section of the EU funded project “Young Urban Cartographies YouMap”. 2010 to 2013 he was the coordinator of the research focus “Border crossings” in the also EU funded project “MIG@NET transnational digital networks, migration, and gender.” He published “Escape Routes. Control and Subversion in 21st Century” (2008). Currently he works as a researcher at the faculty for economics and social studies at the University of Hamburg and as a curator, e.g. “The Art of Being Many” (2014).
studied philosophy, sociology, literature and art history in Bologna, Cologne and Berlin. She obtained her doctorate in philosophy at the FU Berlin. Parallel to her work as lecturer at various universities (FU Berlin, HMT Leipzig etc.) she primarily works as a curator for exhibitions, topical weekends and festivals in fine and performing arts. Although a freelancer since 2003 she worked permanently for HAU Hebbel am Ufer between 2008 and 2013, where she curated, amongst others, “Kunst und Verbrechen. Art without Crime”, “Your Nanny hates you! Ein Festival zum Thema Familie” (a festival on the subject of family), “ZELLEN” (cells), “Lunapark Berlin”. From 2012 to 2013 she worked as dramaturge and curator for Impulse Theater Biennale. Her most recent project “MYKHORRHIZA: Ein Apparat” took place at the Uferstudiosn in Berlin in the early summer of 2014. In addition she continuously supports the Berlin Diagonale dramaturgically.
]]>Open Call Impulse Theater Festival 2016
Submission Deadline: November, 15 2015
For twenty-five years Impulse has been presenting the most important independent theater productions in the German-speaking world. For the festival “independent” not only means that the works are produced outside the state theater system. It most notably means they develop aesthetic alternatives and search for new approaches and challenges. They expand, test, and strain the independence of the medium theater itself, i.e. the independence to always start from zero. The independence to invent structures, hierarchies, roles, processes, and collaborations in a manner they are required for the respective artistic project – and not vice-versa.
Independently produced theater gives an impetus to a possible form of theater that isn’t restricted
by predefined thinking patterns or performance spaces. It provides impulses to not readily
accept boundaries between genres as they are defined by application, market and marketing
logics. It provides impulses to also reclaim the theatrical in visual arts, music, literature, film, and theory as theater as well.
In 2016 Impulse is again going to present outstan-ding productions of independently produced
theater in the German-speaking world – meanwhile looking for the possibilities of theater to affect society. We invite theater creators and other artists
whose lives’ center in Austria, Germany or Switzer-land to submit productions and projects to be presented during the Festival in Düsseldorf, Köln or Mülheim/Ruhr from June, 16 to 25 2016:
a theater piece, a choreography, a performative in-stallation, a collective performance, a musical sculpture, a public intervention…
This open call complements our ongoing research and screening and allows for a direct insight to current developments of independently produced theater offside the beaten paths. The review and discussion of submitted proposals will be conducted with support of our interdisciplinary advisory board.
We are looking forward to surprising, provocative and consistent submittals.
RULES
Proposals may be submitted for finished productions (as touring performance or adaptation), which premiered no earlier than Januar 2015 or that will take place till the end of January 2016.
Please submit only one production per group.
Please submit the following materials exclusively as digital documents:
- RE: name of the group/the artist – title of the project
- project description of max. 3 DIN A4 pages in German or English *
- if adaptation is necessary please also provide a proposal regarding the feasibility *
- video documentation of the work (to the degree that is possible) as a vimeo link, or an explanation as to why the documentation is not possible or meaningful **
- budget proposal (considering possible adaptation costs) *
- contact information **
- vita *
- future performance dates **
Submission deadline is November 15, 2015.
Submissions to: ausschreibung@festivalimpulse.de
*Provide text documents and spread sheets as PDF.
**Provide this more vital information directly in your e-mail.
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