News

  • Videointerview: Heiner Goebbels on Harry Partch

    31 October 2012

    Video © Ruhrtriennale: Matthias Mohr, 2012
    Proben-Videomaterial des Ensemble musikFabrik © Valerij Lisac, 2012


  • Tourtriennale - Ruhrtriennale Productions on Tour

    02 October 2012

    When the Mountain Changed its Clothing
    May 4, 5, 6, 2013 - Kunstenfestival, Brussels
    May 10,11, 2013 - Grand Theatre, Luxembourg
    June 21-22, 2013 - Kunstfestspiele Herrenhausen, Hannover
    June 25-26, 2013 - Holland Festival, Amsterdam

    Lecture on Nothing: Robert Wilson Reads John Cage
    February 25, 2013 - Barbican Center, London

    Many additional co-productions of Ruhrtriennale 2012 will be performed around the
    world over the coming months.


  • Ruhrtriennale 2012: A Great Success. Harry Partch’s Delusion of the Fury: Opening Production 2013

    01 October 2012

    Heiner Goebbels, the artistic director of the Ruhrtriennale 2012/2013/2014 and Lukas Crepaz, managing director, Kultur Ruhr GmbH, take stock of Ruhrtriennale 2012, which ended this past weekend, September 29/30, 2012 with the Children’s Choice Awards and Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto’s audio-visual concert utp_ at Bochum’s Jahrhunderthalle. In the first year under the direction of the composer and director Heiner Goebbels, Ruhrtriennale brought 900 artists from around the world to the Ruhrtriennale from August 17 to September 30, 2012. Over 30 productions, including around 20 world premieres, new productions and German premieres, and many more concerts and guest performances transformed the outstanding industrial monuments of the region into spectacular venues for music, art, theater, dance, and performance. Around 50,000 guests attended the productions in 2012, while around 7000 came to see the live art exhibition 12 Rooms. Overall, festival events were 85 percent booked. In addition, 13,000 visitors provided their heartbeat for the light installation Pulse Park. Still not counted: the numerous visitors to Our CenturY, an installation around Jahrhunderthalle Bochum. Many performances were sold out, including the opening production Europeras 1&2, enfant by Boris Charmatz, the concerts of the Boredoms, utp_, and Mandelring Quartett, En Atendant, Sacré Sacre du Printemps, and Disabled Theater, as well as individual performances FOLK., Prolog, and Soapéra. The most visited production in 2012 was Carl Orff’s Prometheus, staged by Lemi Ponifasio at Duisburg’s Kraftzentrale, with over 4,500 tickets sold.

    Ruhrtriennale 2013: Opening with Harry Partch’s Delusion of the Fury

    To kick off the 2013 season, Ruhrtriennale will present Harry Partch’s key work Delusion of the Fury (1965–66) as a European premiere.


    Ruhrtriennale 2013 will begin on August 23 and end on October 6, 2013.


  • The Children's Choice Awards 2012

    30 September 2012

    The Children's Choice Awards are the Ruhrtriennale's self-intervention! A group of children travelled from city to city and from performance to performance. Music, theatre, dance, performance, and video: with the eyes of born experts and the openness of unprepared children, they subjected the

    Best of the Best:
    Mathilde Monnier: Soapéra

    Most talented person:
    Tarek Atoui

    Best Story:
    Nature Theater of Oklahoma: Life and Times, Episode II

    Most Creative Show:
    12 Rooms (Live Art / Group Show)

    My brain almost exploded:
    Denseland (Konzert im Maschinenhaus)

    Most People:
    Michal Rovner: Current

    Girliest Show:
    Heiner Goebbels: When the mountain changed its clothing

    Most Embarassing Costume:
    John Cage: Europeras I & II

    Best Lighting:
    Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Pulse Park

    The Show Where I Fell Asleep:
    Anne Teresa de Kersmaeker/Björn Schmelzer: Cesena(Veranstaltung um 5 Uhr früh)

    Most Fantastical:
    Mathilde Monnier: Soapéra

    Worst Seats:
    Romeo Castellucci: FOLK.

    Best Autoscooter:
    Köbberling/Kaltwasser: Our CenturY

    Best Music:
    Charles Ives (Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Kent Nagano, Thomas Hampson, Chen Rise)

    Perverted Pose:
    Mathilde Monnier: Twin Paradox

    Cutest Guy in the Whole World:
    Thiago Granato, Tänzer in Soapéra (Mathilde Monnier)

    Pain in the Ears:
    Boredoms (Konzert)

    Best Teamwork:
    Boris Charmatz: enfant

    The Show I could Relate to the Most:
    Rafael Lozarno Hemmer: Pulse Park

    Best Mustache:
    Hermann Keilwerth, Kontrabassist der Bochumer Symphoniker

    The Show that Made Me Want to Dance:
    Jérôme Bel: Disabled Theater

    Psycho look:
    Robert M. Johanson in Life and Times, Episode II (Nature Theater of Oklahoma)

    The Show I Almost Left Because I hated it so much:
    Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker: En Atendant

    Incredibly Beautiful:
    Mathilde Monnier: Twin Paradox

    Best Sound Effects:
    Tarek Atoui

    contemporary art to critical examination. They turned up at even the remotest venues at all hours, taking notes, making sketches, and putting their heads together. At the Award Ceremony, the Ruhrtriennale and its artists submitted themselves to the critical judgment of the jury:

    The winners of the Children's Choice Awards 2012:


  • The Blog of the Children's Choice Awards

    27 September 2012

    For updated photos, videos and comments please visit the blog of the Children's Choice Awards: childrenschoiceawards.blogspot.de

    The Children's Choice Awards are the Ruhrtriennale's self-intervention! A group of children will travel from city to city and from performance to performance. Music, theatre, dance, performance, and video: with the eyes of born experts and the openness of unprepared children, they will subject the contemporary art to critical examination. They will turn up at even the remotest venues at all hours, taking notes, making sketches, and putting their heads together: keep an eye out for the red carpet and give a round of applause for the incorruptible ones!

    Award ceremony: September 30 at 4.00 pm, Jahrhunderhalle Bochum

    Registration via no.education@ruhrtriennale.de


  • Introducing: Vocal Theatre Carmina Slovenica

    24 September 2012

    Slovenian vocal theatre Carmina Slovenica with its artistic director Karmina Šilec is noted for its innovative programming which explores works from the forefronts of the contemporary music scene. With ›Choregie - vocal theatre or theatre of voices‹ Carmina Slovenica is introducing a concept which incorporates contemporary music, drama, movement and other stage elements.
    With this concept of vocal theatre the ensemble performed on stages worldwide - from Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Hall to the Teresa Carreño Theatre in Caracas, and from Hong Kong Cultural Centre, San Francisco Symphony Hall to Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. Carmina Slovenica has been invited to music events of the highest esteem such as the World Music Days (organized by the ISCM), Moscow Easter Festival, Dresdner Musikfestspiele, the World Symposium on Choral Music (organized by the IFCM), etc.


  • Introdcing: Lemi Ponifasio

    17 September 2012

    Lemi Ponifasio, born in Samoa, is one of New Zealand's most renowned directors and choreographers. After studying philosophy and political science, in 1995 he founded the Ensemble MAU in Auckland. The name can be traced back to the Samoan independence movement and can be translated as "vision" or "revolution." As a High Chief of Samoa, Ponifasio is one of the island nation's leading intellectual, spiritual personalities. Ritual and ceremony are central aspects of Ponifasio's works, transforming traditions and mythologies from his Pacific background into a radically modern theater that nonetheless retains a political intention.
    MAU is a company, a center for critical reflection, and a creative workshop for international and local communities, artists, scholars, activists, and intellectuals all in one. Ponifasio's latest production, Prometheus by Carl Orff, premiered on September 16 at Ruhrtriennale.

    Orff/Ponifasio: Prometheus - 18. 21. 23. 25. 27. September each at 8.00 pm, Kraftzentrale Duisburg


  • Introducing: Robert Lepage

    10 September 2012

    The visual magician Robert Lepage is celebrated around the world. Since the mid 1990s, his theater productions – often in several languages – have been performed all over the world and captivate by the way of their fantastic mode of narration. Lepage was awarded the European Theater Prize and staged the Ring cycle at the New York Met
    with great success. Robert Lepage is attending the Ruhrtriennale for the first time.

    Playing Cards 1: SPADES - 21. 22. 23. 25. 26. September, je 19.30 Uhr, Salzlager Essen


  • World premiere of Marketplace 76 by Jan Lauwers & Needcompany

    03 September 2012

    Marketplace 76 is a kaleidoscopic story in three parts. The basic scenario is as dramatic as it is quickly told: a tragic accident brings several residents of a village to their deaths. The tragedy weighs heavily on those left behind. Mourning dominates their everyday lives until one day a boat falls from the sky. This new piece for Needcompany was written and created by Jan Lauwers. Together with the three composers Rombout Willems Maarten Seghers, and Hans Petter Dahl, he developed it into a musical scenario in which the village dwellers report in an epic form of the events that they experienced.

    Premiere - 7. September 2012
    Further dates - 8. 13. 14. 15. September jeweils 19.30 Uhr
    Duration - ca. 2 h 20 min
    Location - Jahrhunderthalle Bochum

    More about Marketplace 76


  • Introducing: Christian Marclay

    03 September 2012

    Christian Marclay, Swiss- American visual artist, performer, and composer, has had great success around the world and been acknowledged for his explorations in both the world of sound and the visual arts. In 2001, he was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale for his 24-hour visual work The Clock. Everyday is a musical visual performance based on a set of brief film clips. Five musicians take the clips as inspiration for their improvisation. By doing so, the focus is placed on both the process of emergence and the resulting music.

    Everyday: 22 September, 9pm, Jahrhunderthalle Bochum


  • 30 August 2012

  • Intoducing: Mathilde Monnier

    27 August 2012

    Mathilde Monnier, born in Mulhouse, France in 1959, understands dance as an inspired play with other art forms. Since 1984, she has been developing pieces, performances, and installations with which she bridges the gap between choreography and the other disciplines. For Soapéra (2010), she collaborated with artist Dominqiue Figarella. His assemblages and mixed media works are intricate riddles combining painting, objects, projections, and reflections. The Soundscapes of her new creation Twin Paradox come from Luc Ferrari, who was a composer who made films and a filmmaker who composed. Twin Paradox will be shown for the first time in Germany after its premiere at Montpellier Danse 2012. Since 1994, she has been directing Centre National Choreographique de Montpellier Languedoc-Rousillon.

    Soapéra: 6., 7., and 8., September, 8 pm, Salzlager Essen

    Twin Paradox: 21. and 22. September, 8 pm, Maschinenhalle Zweckel, Gladbeck


  • En Atendant and Cesena start 20 minutes later

    24 August 2012

    New beginning due to actual light conditions: The performances start at
    En Atendant: 7.20 p.m.
    Cesena: 5.20 a.m.


  • Introducing: Romeo Castellucci

    21 August 2012

    Italian director and theater artist Romeo Castellucci presents a new piece in Duisburg. Castellucci’s works can be characterized by quite unique visual and sound stage aesthetics. His theatrical universes are strongly shaped by the fine arts, and allow wordless realism to collide with distant worlds never seen before. The audience is invited to experience this new production in an unusual spectator situation.

    FOLK. - World Premiere, 25. August, 19:30

    26. 28. 29. 30. 31. August and 1. 2. September, 19:30, Gebläsehalle Duisburg


  • Concerts at Maschinenhaus Zeche Carl, Essen

    20 August 2012

    Each Monday evening of the festival, Ruhrtriennale presents a concert at Essen's Zeche Carl. With its balanced acoustics and intimate settingMaschinenhaus offers the perfect site for performing music in small ensembles. The usual frontal opposition of musicians and listeners is dissolved in favor of a situation of open music making and listening. The space provides audience and artists alike with the chance to come close to one another. The series alternates classical music and concerts with improvised music.

    Tarek Atoui: September 24, 8 pm, Maschinenhaus Essen

    Further concerts


  • Introducing: Jan Lauwers & Needcompany

    14 August 2012

    Since the mid 1980s, Jan Lauwers & Needcompanyhave been developing a unique theater aesthetic that moves along the lines dividing theater, dance, performance, and fine art. The international ensemble has enjoyed great success with its oft multi-lingual productions at the Salzburger Festspiele and Festival d'Avignon, and are currently artists in residence at Burgtheater Wien. Their new piece Marketplace 76 premieres at the Ruhrtriennale on September 7. It is a meticulous report on villagers who have been overtaken and driven forward by time, and in spite of everything are able to survive heroically.

    Marketplace 76: World Premiere, 7.30 pm

    8. 13. 14. 15. September, 7.30 pm, Jahrhunderthalle Bochum

    www.needcompany.org


  • 06 August 2012

  • Introducing: Robert Wilson

    30 July 2012

    Robert Wilson - a star of the theater avantgarde - will be performing John Cage. As a homage to John Cage and in the context of Europeras 1&2, Robert Wilson will hold John Cage's Lecture on Nothing one of the central texts of twentieth century experimental literature. With his formal approach to texts and materials, freeing the imagination, Robert Wilson is the perfect Cage performer. Cage's lecture is exclusively composed according to musical criteria, and its subject is the lecture itself and its continuation. The pulse and the pauses taken by voice, the tempi and the sound of language stand at the foreground. This creates a domination-free space between text and silence, a language/music of sound and silence.

    Together with composer Arno Kraehahn and the young Polish video artist Tomek Jeziorski he will develop an acoustically and visually inspiring approach to the text.

    Lecture on Nothing: 22. and 28.August, Jahrhunderthalle Bochum

     


  • Introducing: Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker

    24 July 2012

    Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, born in 1960 in Mechelen, Belgium, is considered one of the most influential innovators in the realm of contemporary dance. Her very first production Asch (1980) already exhibited an extraordinary sensibility for the close mutual interplay of movement and music. Again and again, she has sought out collaborations with contemporary composers or engaged intensely with existing compositions. Fase, Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich was the first of several joint projects with the American pioneer of minimal music. In 1983, De Keersmaeker founded the company ROSAS. That same year, she created ROSAS danst ROSAS to music composed by Thierry de Mey and Peter Vermeersch. From 1992 to 2007 ROSAS was company-in-residence at Brussels' Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, for which De Keersmaeker choreographed several operas. In her most recent pieces, she has increasingly been working with artists from various disciplines, in Zeitung (2008) with Alain Franco, in The Song (2009) with Ann Veronica Janssens and Michel François, and finally in 3Abschied(2010) with Jérôme Bel. In 1995, De Keersmaeker founded Performing Arts Research and Training Studios (or P.A.R.T.S.): based in Brussels, it is one of the most important centers today for research and training in dance and performance, and De Keersmaeker remains its director today. For her artistic work, she has received numerous awards, in 2000 she was named Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. A Choreographer's Score, published in the spring of 2012, provides for the first time insights into the process of emergence of her early choreography.


  • 23 July 2012

  • 16 July 2012

  • 14 June 2012