News

The Ruhrtriennale mourns the death of its founding artistic director Gerard Mortier. Mortier directed the Ruhrtriennale's first cycle from 2002 to 2004, setting an international benchmark. With his forward-looking concept and exceptional programme, he established the festival in the "cathedrals of the industrial age" and gave the Ruhrtriennale its unmistakable face.
In these "construction halls for art" in the Ruhrgebiet, Gerard Mortier placed his focus on creations - productions, which crossed art-form boundaries in dialogue with their locations: theatre, opera and dance combined with innovative developments in the visual arts, pop and concert music. Representative examples of these included acclaimed productions such as Sentimenti, Saint Francois d'Assise, The Magic Flute, Wolf or the series Century of Song.

As a formative innovator in the European opera and concert landscape he worked in Brussels, Salzburg, Paris and finally Madrid. With his passing, the Ruhrtriennale loses one of its greatest supporters, who retained close links with it to the last.

Gerard Mortier, founding artistic director of the Ruhrtriennale, died on Saturday 8th March 2014 at the age of 70.

Reactions to the death of Gerard Mortier:

Heiner Goebbels, Artistic Director of the Ruhrtriennale:
"With the artistic impulses generated in his work as a curator and artistic director, Gerard Mortier more than anyone else made it possible to think of opera in a different way from that in which it had previously been known. He not only confronted music theatre with new constellations of artists and the visual arts, he also made productions of the opera repertoire contemporary and thereby gave them a future. I have been glad to carry forward many of the initiatives with which he established the Ruhrtriennale. I am very pleased to have had the opportunity to get to know him personally in recent years. His considerable interest in our productions and above all his spontaneous willingness to support our No Education programme as its patron was of great importance for our work. For this too, we thank him."

Minister Ute Schäfer MdL, Ministry for Family, Children, Youth, Culture and Sport of the State of North Rhine-Westfalia, chair of the board of Kultur Ruhr GmbH:
"With Gerard Mortier North Rhine-Westfalia loses a great friend and the world of the arts loses one of its truly great personalities. As the founding artistic director, he gave the Ruhrtriennale an unmistakable face in the years 2002-2004 and thus laid the artistic foundations for its enduring success. It was his credo to find new forms of theatre and music theatre for these "cathedrals of industrial culture" which could only be realised there."

Ruhrtriennale was announced yesterday as second winner of the "PR-Bild-Award 2013", which honors the best PR photography in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Photograpehr Wonge Bergmann took the photo for promotion of Romeo Castellucci's theatre production FOLK. at Gebläsehalle, Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord, in 2012. Further information:

http://www.pr-bild-award.de/sieger2013
http://www.pr-bild-award.de/jury

The Children's Choice Awards
Mammalian Diving Reflex
Ruhrtriennale 2013

Das Beste vom Besten/Best of the best:
Rimini Protokoll: Situation Rooms

Einfach nur wow!/Only wow!:
Ryoji Ikeda: test pattern

Schönstes Bühnenbild/Most beautiful stage setting:
Dan Perjovschi: www 2013

Die schlimmsten Kostüme/Worst Costumes:
Harry Partch: Delusion of the Fury

Bester Körper/Best Body:
Bruno Beltrão & Grupo de Rua: CRACKz

Die berührendste Show/Most touching show:
ChorWerk Ruhr /Ensemble Resonanz: Ikon of Light

Die Show, die so spannend war, dass ich mitmachen wollte/The show that was so thrilling that I wanted to be part of it:
Douglas Gordon: Silence, Exile, Deceit

Das gruseligste Make-up/Most scary make-up:
Helmut Lachenmann: Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern

Die Show mit den ältesten Darstellern/The show with the oldest performers:
Quay Brothers: In Absentia

Die Show, in der ich vor Schweiß wegschwimmen musste/The show where I had to swim away from all the sweat:
Boris Charmatz: Levée des conflits

Die Show, bei der ich am schnellsten eingeschlafen bin/The show where I fell asleep the fastest:
Gavin Bryars: The Sinking of the Titanic

Die langsamste Show/The slowest Show:
Helmut Lachenmann: Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern

Die Show, in der ich dachte wtf?/The show where I thought wtf?:
Stifters Dinge: The Unguided Tour

Der meiste Stromverbrauch/Most consumption of power:
Ryoji Ikeda: test pattern

Die Show, in der Musik und Tanz nicht zusammengepasst haben/The show where the music and dancing didn't go together:
Stuart / Gehmacher / Miller: the fault lines

Bester Regisseur/Best director:
William Forsythe: Nowhere and Everywhere

Die coolsten Töne/The coolest sounds:
Hidden Mother: Audio Graffiti

Die Show mit den verrücktesten Leuten, verrücktesten Klamotten und der verrücktesten Musik/The show with the craziest people, craziest clothes and craziest music:
Forced Entertainment & Tarek Atoui: The Last Adventures

Die Show, in der ich keine Gefühle hatte/The Show where I had no emotions:
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Boris Charmatz: Partita 2

Die Musik, die so langweilig war, dass ich mich gefragt habe, ob das überhaupt noch Musik ist/The music that was so boring that I asked myself if this was actually music:
Quay Brothers: In Absentia

Achtung Peinlichkeit!/Attention: embarassment!:
La Ribot: Laughing Hole

Die Show, bei der mein Trommelfell geplatzt ist/The show where my eardrums burst:
La Ribot: Laughing Hole

Ich will das Ding haben!/I want that thing!:
Stifters Dinge: Performance

Die Show, die irgendwie cool war, aber auch so langweilig, dass ich fast das ganze Stück gemalt habe/The show that was kind of cool but boring so I almost drew during the whole show:
Jonathan Harvey: Glasgow Trilogy, Alban Berg: Violinkonzert

Die verrückteste Gestik/The craziest gesture:
De Keersmaeker/Grisey: Vortex Temporum

So etwas wäre mir im Leben nicht eingefallen:
rAndom Internationel: Tower

Die spannendste Aufführung, die so spannend war, dass ich keinen Moment verpassen wollte/Most intense show that was so intense that I didn't want to miss a second:
Rimini Protokoll: Situation Rooms

Das Stück in dem ich mich verliebt habe/The show where I fell in love:
Mischa Kuball: Agora / Arena

Ohne Worte/Without words:
Konzerte im Maschinenhaus: Improvisation & Sound Art: Abdelnour & Battus

Die ranzigste Umgebung, aus der die Produktion aber viel gemacht hat/The ugliest setting of which the production made the best use of:
freitagsküche

"Perception and experience are very personal things, they are different for each and every one of us and, even in the theatre, at the moments when we are most powerfully moved, we are alone. Possibly for this reason we have placed more emphasis in our programme on self-selected encounters, where one may decide for oneself when one enters a space, how long one wishes to spend there, how quickly one leaves and whether one will return."
(Heiner Goebbels in the Editorial of the 2013 programme book)

Heiner Goebbels, Artistic Director of the Ruhrtriennale 2012/2013/2014 and Lukas Crepaz, Managing Director of Kultur Ruhr GmbH, present their provisional assessment of the Ruhrtriennale 2013 today in Bochum. The Ruhrtriennale comes to an end this weekend, 5th/6th October 2013, with the presentation of the Children's Choice Awards in Duisburg, the dance piece Vortex Temporum by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Le Sacre du Printemps in a concert production by MusicAeterna from Perm/Russia under conductor Teodor Currentzis in the Jahrhunderthalle Bochum.
In the second year under the artistic direction of the composer and theatremaker Heiner Goebbels there was a marked increase in audience numbers. 90% of tickets were sold, the highest percentage since the foundation of the festival. Approx. 49,400 tickets were taken up for the 2013 productions. A further 23,000 visitors saw the installation test pattern by Ryoji Ikeda, some 12,000 the video installation by Douglas Gordon in the Mischanlage of the Kokerei Zollverein and altogether (the piece is still running until 6th October) around 8,300 spectators the Unguided Tour by Stifters Dinge in the Kraftzentrale Duisburg. These audience numbers do not include the many visitors to the installations Tower / Instant Structure for Schacht XII by the group of artists rAndom International, produced by Urbane Künste Ruhr, Agora/Arena by Mischa Kuball and the wall window workshop 2013 by Dan Perjovschi in and around the Jahrhunderthalle Bochum.

Discussion forum with Marietta Piekenbrock, Ruhrtriennale
Barbara Granderath, Erich-Kästner-Realschule in Gladbeck
Winfried Kneip, Mercator Foundation
und Holger Noltze, University Dortmund

Date of emission: October 6th, 7.05 p.m. - 8 p.m.

More information

Ryoji Ikeda: testpattern [100m version], Foto: Wonge Bergmann

The Performance of Levée des conflits today, sunday august 25 takes place at Lichthof des Berufskollegs der Stadt Bottrop instead of Halde Haniel. Due to heavy rain last night the security for audience and artists can not be guaranteed on Halde Haniel.

There are Shuttlebusses from the parking space at Bergwerks Prosper Haniel (Fernewaldstraße, Navi: Birkhahnweg, Bottrop) to Lichthof and back. Please pay attention that there is very limited parking space around Lichthof and use the shuttle service from Bergwerk Prosper Haniel.

Adress of the new venue: Lichthof des Berufskolleg der Stadt Bottrop, An der Berufsschule 20, 46236 Bottrop

The busshuttle from Essen mainstation and Jahrhunderthalle Bochum takes place as planned.

Instead, the 100 piece orchestra MusicAeterna from Perm under conductor Teodor Currentzis will present a special concert. The Ruhrtriennale 2013's closing production Le Sacre de Printemps has to take place without the Italian director Romeo Castellucci. Despite the strenuous efforts of all the partners involved, the project cannot be realised in the form in which it was announced. The production, which should have premiered last weekend as part of the Manchester International Festival, was definitively cancelled there.

The current issue of K.West magazine includes a special about the Ruhrtriennale. Learn more about various productions of the Ruhrtriennale, such as Rimini Protokoll: Situation Rooms , Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker/Boris Charmatz: Partita 2 and Harry Partch: Delusion of the Fury. The free online version is available here (only in German).

German weekly paper Die Zeit is offering a voyage to Ruhrtriennale. On one weekend you can experience highlights of the festival. There are a few slots still bookable here.

Heiner Goebbels music theatre Stifters Dinge will be shown in the Center for Arts and Media, Yamaguchi (Japan) in July. From September the internationally acclaimed performance will be part of the Ruhrtriennale program. In the Kraftzentrale placed in the Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord the visitor has complete freedom to explore the huge machine with its stones, metal, pianos, water reservoirs, rain, fog, ice and hidden voices. Stifters Dinge has been staged 300 times world-wide, in Taipeh, New York, Moscow and Avignon, France among others.

13/14/15 July 2013 Center for Arts and Media, Yamaguchi/Japan

For more information and tickets about the performance at Ruhrtriennale click here.

The Jérôme Bel/Theater Hora production Disabled Theaterwas coproduced by Ruhrtriennale and premiered 2012 in Essen.

The Alfred Kerr Acting Prize has existed since 1991. It was initiated by Judith und Michael Kerr, the Tagespiegel press foundation and the Berliner Festspiele / Theatertreffen. Bernhard Minetti, Marianne Hoppe, Ulrich Mühe, Ulrich Matthes, Martin Wuttke, Martina Gedeck, Eva Mattes and Nina Hoss are among its illustrious circle of jurors.

The prize, which is endowed with € 5,000, elects the most outstanding Theatertreffen actor / actress. Former award-winners include Johanna Wokalek, Fritzi Haberlandt, Lina Beckmann, August Diehl, Devid Striesow and Fabian Hinrichs.

The second season of the Ruhrtriennale under the artistic direction of Heiner Goebbels will open on August 23, 2013 at Bochum’s Jahrhunderthalle with Harry Partch’s masterpiece Delusion of the Fury (1965/66). The opening premiere will also be the European premiere of the opera. Two additional large-scale productions will take place during the Ruhrtriennale at the Kraftzentrale in Duisburg’s Landschaftspark:

Harry Partch: Delusion of the Fury
Massive Attack V Adam Curtis
Ryoji Ikeda: testpattern [100 m version]

Presale and announcement of the programme 2013: 17 april 2013
If you want to be informed about the start of our ticket-presale and news, please register for our newsletter and the mailing of our printed programme.

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

A Film by Christoph Hübner and Gabriele Voss. Germany 2012 - 70 Min

Dates and venues:
Bochum Casablanca, 20.1., 27.1., 2.3.2013
Köln Filmpalette, 26.01.2013
Düsseldorf Metropol, 2.2. + 3.2.2013
Duisburg Filmforum, 6.2.2013
Dortmund Sweetsixteen, 8.2.2013

A Film by Christoph Hübner and Gabriele Voss
Germany 2012 - 70 Min

With: Lopen Ugyen Dorgji, Lopen Namgay Wangchuk, Lopen Sonam Tobgay, Lopen Phurba, Lopen Jamyang, Lopen Gembo Dorgji

Dates and venues:
Bochum Casablanca, 13.1.2013, Premiere
Bochum Casablanca, 20.1., 27.1., 2.3.2013
Köln Filmpalette, 26.01.2013
Düsseldorf Metropol, 2.2. + 3.2.2013
Duisburg Filmforum, 6.2.2013
Dortmund Sweetsixteen, 8.2.2013

Further information
www.realfictionfilme.de/filme/mandala/index.php
www.casablanca-bochum.de/
http://archiv.ruhrtriennale.de/archiv/2011

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

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

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 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: