Impulse Theater Festival 2016
Open Call

A short documentary of the first…

…and second festival weekend

Both Videos:
Realisation: Filmpunktart – Julius Günzel
Music (Trailer) CC : Möbius “Rising High”
Concept / Production: k3 berlin – Kontor für Kultur und Kommunikation

For its 25th anniversary, Impulse Theater Festival once more invites outstanding works of independent theater in the German-speaking world and additionally initiates three international productions in the three partner cities, which will be embedded into local contexts and networks. For the first time in its history, the festival will focus on one city: Mülheim an der Ruhr. Cologne and Düsseldorf participate as satellites and associated partners; from this year on, the main venue will alternate annually.

Gesellschaftsspiele

How are we represented? Who do we represent, by what right, how? These questions aim at the core of every society and at the same time, they have always been key questions of theater: Who and what should be presented on stage, who talks about whom, instead of, for or with whom? Impulse 2015 explores how society plays itself and: Who is allowed to take part in the game. How can theater today be a political, a public space?

Einladungen

Invited to the festival are Gob Squad Arts Collective with „Western Society“, Gintersdorfer/Klaßen with „Black Thoughts Now – Chefferie“, Markus&Markus with „Ibsen: Ghosts“, Herbordt/Mohren with „Die Aufführung“, Chris Kondek & Christiane Kühl with „Anonymous P.“, Rabih Mroué with „Riding on a Cloud“, andcompany&Co. with „Sounds like War: Kriegserklärung (declaration of war)“, Milo Rau with „The Civil Wars“ and Hendrik Quast & Maika Knoblich with a site-specific adaptation of „Der Ur-Forst“.
In addition the Maiden Monsters present their concert performance „Sound of Crisis“ and Milo Rau the documentary of his project the „The Moscow Trials“. The festival center in the Ringlokschuppen Ruhr will be designed by raumlaborberlin.

International Productions & Theory

Three international productions complement the selection of works from the German-speaking world: The Silent University Ruhr, initiated by the Kurdish artist Ahmet Öğüt will be established permanently in Mülheim/Ruhr; it is an autonomous platform for the exchange of knowledge for and by refugees, asylum seekers, migrants and non-migrants. With “Building Conversation” the Dutch director Lotte van den Berg at the FFT Düsseldorf explores forms and conditions of a conversation and the British artist and film maker Phil Collins with students from Cologne and Ramallah in “Our Position Vanishes” treats the buses that connect our partner venues in Cologne and Düsseldorf to the festival center in Mülheim/Ruhr in playful manner.
Complementing the program will be talks, discussions, introductions and lectures (e.g. by the political philosopher Chantal Mouffe), as well as the conference “Images that mean the world”, which will deal with the limits of representation once again at the end of the festival.

-> detailed program

The future of Impulse is secured. After several biannual editions the festival continues in a yearly rhythm again from now on. Following Mülheim an der Ruhr in 2015, the FFT Düsseldorf is going to be the festival’s main venue in 2016 together with the associated partner venues in Cologne (studiobühneköln) and Mülheim an der Ruhr (Ringlokschuppen Ruhr).

The pre-conditions for this development were set jointly by the participating municipalities, the land North Rhine-Westfalia and the NRW KULTURsekretariat as the responsible institution by respectively increasing their financial investments.

In mid April Minister of State Monika Grütters furthermore announced federal support for Impulse and appreciated its nationwide relevance. The Commissioner for Culture and Media of the Federal Government (BKM) committed funds for 2016’s festival edition in sum of € 100,000 with hopes for continuos sponsor- ship in the future. A substantial share in securing the festivals’ existence in the long run is provided by the Arts Foundation of North Rhine-Westphalia which also assures funding in sum of € 100,000 in 2016.

We very much welcome this development which allows us to realize our plans more concentrated and for the festival to achieve stable planning beyond the upcoming year.

This year’s open call was completed November, 15 2014. Please do not send any further applications

What is the essence of theater? Surely it’s not just that it can mirror, criticize, and challenge society in its contents. Rather, and above all no matter what form it does this in, it is always already an expression of its time. But what forms can theater find today to test out the social and political processes in which society in all its–actual or imagined–varieties can be performed, expanded, verified, or even invented in the first place? How does theater become a political or social labor of the present? How can theater and performance unfold their essential agonistic, provocative potential–a potential that cannot immediately be integrated or that merely conceals social ills and breaks? How can the relationship between artists and spectators come into focus without falling into false promises of participation?

In 2015, Impulse will show outstanding works from the German-speaking independent theater scene–and in doing so look into the possibilities of theater becoming socially effective. We invite theatermakers and other artists based in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland to submit productions and projects on this thematic focus (guest performances or adaptations, which premiered no earlier than march 2013–program deadline Impulse 2013–and prior to December 2014. Those could then be shown as part of the festival from June 11 to 21, 2015, in Düsseldorf, Cologne, and Mülheim an der Ruhr: a theatrical evening, a choreography, a performative installation, a collective performance, a musical sculpture, a public intervention…

The Open Call will complement our ongoing research and viewings and provides a direct overview of what takes place in the field of independent theater also beyond the beaten track. All proposals submitted will be assessed and discussed with the support of the interdisciplinary Impulse board, consisting of Inke Arns, Beatrice von Bismarck, Boris Buden, André Eiermann, Oliver Marchart, Vassilis Tsianos, and Stefanie Wenner.

We look forward to surprising, provocative, consequential proposals.

Deadline: November, 15 2014

To the Open Call Impulse Theater Festival 2015