Stages

One of the most adventurous theatres in Westphalia is the Pumpenhaus in Münster. One of its focal points is modern dance.

Redbrick, half-timber, turrets: Münster’s theatre in the Pumpenhaus may look rather homely. Yet it was never actually a place of repose. 100 years ago, the building accommodated a wastewater pump station. In 1985, North-Rhine Westphalia’s first free theatre was founded here. Stars of contemporary dance such as Sasha Waltz, Meg Stuart and Helena Waldmann whirled across the stage at a time when they were still unknown. The Pumpenhaus became their launching pad, their trailblazer.

The unpretentious façade conceals one of the most experimental theatres in the state of Westphalia. Theatre, dance, opera, new media: the city’s free scene can let off steam here, guest performances are invited, and national and international artists also find ideal production conditions in the adjoining rehearsal centre with dance studios and guest apartments. All things artistic are permitted, just no mainstream.

With idealism to success

It was 15 idealists from the Theaterinitiative Münster (TIM) who joined forces at the beginning of the 1980s to perform free theatre. A bunch of graduates from the humanities and social sciences; Ludger Schnieder, now director of the Pumpenhaus, was one of them. “We were an appendix of the expiring students’ movement,” he says. The city allowed them to use the building, they renovated it, hauled bricks and stones, dismantled the pumps, a task that even professionals had found too daunting. They put heart and soul into the project. The TIM and its theatre ensemble did not disband until 1999 when the Pumpenhaus became a limited liability corporation with Ludger Schnieder as its theatre director. Since then a curatorship decides which productions from the free scene are to receive municipal funding, 170,000 is a vailable each year. There is additional funding for guest performances. Here Schnieder, like a theatre manager, has freedom of choice.

In the early years they focused only on theatre, not until the 1990s did they venture into dance. The condition: no tutus, no tiptoeing. The audience liked the experiments. The first performances of Neuer Tanz took place here. Wanda Golonka performed here in 1997, in the same year there was the very first work exhibition of Jérôme Bel, the people of Münster saw the first important works of Alain Platel. Schnieder brought the great Japanese dance and art collective Dumb Type to Germany, a mixture of dance, performance and visual arts.

“We programme not only dance, but we go beyond the genres, we look at what is going on in the ‘border areas’”, says Schnieder. The Danish ideas laboratory “Hotel Pro Forma” with its electro-pop operas is one such ‘border area’. Schnieder was the first to show Operation: Orfeo outside Denmark. At present they are working on a manga opera.

Regional and international networks

Fortunately the city always allowed Schneider a free rein. “I was always able to work freely,” he says. He spent much time in the USA, in Asia, found new dances in Flanders and Belgium, above all in Campo/Victoria. To the present day, Schnieder benefits from these well-established structures. An early networker, operating internationally, who dared to bring unknown artists and works into the city.

From mid-2000, he extended his view eastwards. Olga Pona came to the Pumpenhaus. At present Schnieder is opening up to Africa, seeking co-operation partners in Mali, in the Congo, in Senegal.

The future prospects are good. Since 2010, the state of North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW) has been supporting the Pumpenhaus with an annual sum of € ,000. Half of this comes from the budget for the funding of free theatre, the other half from the fund for dance promotion in medium-sized centres. With this the state subsidy for the Pumpenhaus was increased from € 105,000 t o € 185,000. This payment is initially limited to three years. However, at the end of October 2011, Ute Schäfer, Minister of Cultural Affairs in NRW, promised an additional € 1.6 million for the free theatre scene, The Pumpenhaus is one of five production venues that will benefit from this: from 2012 its budget will be increased by € 100,000.

Schnieder relies on both new and established regional and international networks. And on the close connection of artists to the Pumpenhaus - two in particular, Samir Akika und Raimund Hoghe, the wild one and the quiet one. For Hoghe the Pumpenhaus has been an anchor point for over ten years. Samir Akika, who has received the ‘promotion of excellence’ dance sponsorship from the state NRW since 2009, calls the Pumpenhaus “my professional home”. He produces here, creates his own projects with his new production label Unusual Symptoms. A third devotee could well be Mark Sieczkarek, who recently enjoyed great success in tanz nrw 2011 - where the Pumpenhaus was a partner for the first time. His current work Symfonia was co-produced by the Pumpenhaus.

“I’m interested in artist’s styles that are at odds with the mainstream,” says Schnieder. “If I see something and then can’t get to sleep afterwards, I know I have to show it.” Schnieder is no follower of trends. “Stars for two and a half months” passes him by. “I want to show people things they don’t know, I want to bring the best visual experiences one can possibly make into the city.” The audience is grateful. And if the Pumpenhaus often works with unknown names, then people are willing to take the risk. The Pumpenhaus enjoys a confidence bonus. In spite of the experiments - or because of them.