Rimini Protokoll
The Belgian premiere of Konferenz der Abwesenden (Conference of the Absent) by the Rimini Protokoll theatre group will be held on 8 December at the Kaaitheater in Brussels. None of the international conference guests will have to travel to see it, but each of them will be physically present. The Goethe-Institut, the co-production partner, is enabling ‘non-travelling performances’ of this remarkably eco-friendly production to be held in seven European cities – Brussels, Dresden, Lisbon, Luxembourg, Madrid, Paris and Rome – as well as at the Venice Biennale of Architecture.
In
Konferenz der Abwesenden, the experts invited do not appear physically, but are instead represented by people in situ who only receive their scripts at the start of their presentations. The entire performance revolves around people whose role is to convey ideas and theatrically take on the biographies of experts and adopt their ways of thinking. This turns absence into something positive as it creates space for fresh contributions and unexpected perspectives. Ghost writers, speech writers, co-authors and directors all at once, in
Konferenz der Abwesenden the Rimini Protokoll turn documentary co-authorship into a remotely staged production which can take place all over the world.
About Rimini Protokoll:
The members the stage direction team – Helgard Haug, Stefan Kaegi and Daniel Wetzel – met in the 1990s through the applied theatre studies course at the University of Gießen and work (in various combinations) under the name of the Rimini Protokoll. The Rimini Protokoll performed its first projects at independent theatres, but have also long been welcome guests at municipal and city theatres. They have also worked abroad for many years – including in collaboration with the Goethe Institut. In 2015, for example, they appeared in many Brussels living rooms with
Home Visit Europe on the Kaaitheater programme on location.
The Konferenz der Abwesenden is a production by Rimini Protokoll.
Concept/text/direction: Helgard Haug, Stefan Kaegi, Daniel Wetzel
Stage/video and lighting design: Marc Jungreithmeier
Music: Daniel Dorsch
Research/dramatic composition: Imanuel Schipper, Lüder Pit Wilcke
With the voice of: Nadja Stübiger
and prompting by: Henriette Hölzel, David Kosel, Hans-Werner Leupelt and Karina Plachetka
Collaboration on political/cultural education: Dr Werner Friedrichs
Production management: Epona Hamdan
Dramatic composition assistant: Sebastian Klauke
Assistant directors: Lisa Homburger and Maximilian Pellert
Stage design assistant: Maksim Chernykh
Production assistant: Federico Schwindt
A production by: Rimini Apparat
A co-production with: Staatsschauspiel Dresden, Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen, HAU Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin) and the Goethe-Institut.
The conception was supported by the German Federal Agency for Civic Education.
Cooperation partners of the non-travelling performances and academies in south-west Europe: Centre Pompidou Paris, Kaaitheater (Brussels), Matadero Madrid, Romaeuropa Festival (Rome), Teatro do Bairro Alto (Lisbon), Théâtre National du Luxembourg, and Master PACS - Performing Arts and Community Spaces (Rome). Performing Architecture is a programme series of the Goethe-Institut as part of the 17th Biennale di Venezia, an international exhibition of architecture, in cooperation with the Deutscher Pavillon and the Künstlerhaus Mousonturm.
Back
