“It is the story of a couple who have been married for years. They have two teenage children. And one morning, in one of the first songs, the woman simply leaves the house. She closes the door with a single word: ‘Goodbye’. No explanation, no argument, no conflict, no affair. She leaves because she is no longer happy there. And that was my starting point.” – Ivo Van Hove. Frank Sinatra’s concept album Watertown tells the story of a separation in an American small town and the end of a small happiness from the man’s perspective. In Ivo Van Hove’s creation I Did It My Way, the woman has a voice. She speaks through the songs of Nina Simone. Because the reason for the separation is not so much due to personal differences, but to social and political imbalances. The man stays in the shared house and gets lost in the pain of separation. The woman goes out into the big world and faces the political dimensions of her identity and social position as a Black woman. While she learns to navigate her new life, the man lives in the past. The songs of Frank Sinatra and Nina Simone provide insight into the emotional process of the two characters and their relationship, which they gradually fight to regain.
Alan Turing made a significant contribution to ending the Second World War by cracking the Enigma Code. Oracle picks up here and traces the reverberations into a present shaped by AI, shifting realities and the question of what draws us to machines. In nested time levels, Turing appears in snapshots – building machines, remembering his friend Christopher – while in another strand Blake Lemoine, a Google engineer, claims that an AI has developed a consciousness. The first part leads to cracking the code; in the second, the world changes – walls disappear, time distorts, strange figures emerge. In Oracle, history and speculation combine to create a space in which technology and memory meet in unexpected ways.
Guernica re
interpreted: About
art, war and
watching
The FC Bergman members Stef Aerts, Marie Vinck and Thomas Verstraeten reflect on their play inspired by Pablo Picasso’s Guernica. They examine how artists can react to war and consider the changing roles of perpetrators and victims, as well as the uneasy gaze of those who watch
In a place called the future, Cassandra sits somewhere between command center and remnants of a civilization. A ‘Lost Place’ in the midst of souvenir photos, objects from the past – a time that once was. The silent guardian of the machines looks outside. Scattered everywhere, barely visible in the dense fog, lie rubble, garbage and overgrown remains. New life blossoms from them, new colors. There is something abandoned about this place, there is no normality here, not anymore. Cassandra, mocked as insane because her visions and perception of reality are of no use to people, mourns. She mourns in an endless loop of the past and longings for Yashar, whom she once knew. Cassandra’s memories and visions of the future merge and awaken the attention of nine young people who are part of this world. Cassandra’s grief for Yashar triggers the group’s anger. They find their voice, rebel against the state of the world, accuse. They mourn a future they will never have. Do they cry? They cry. They cry! And find themselves somewhere between collective resentment and the hope for change in a world that has come off the rails. They defend their dreams – the last property they have left. Nothing is over, pragmatism pushes forward. Space and time begin anew.
LEGEND tells of the world of the film director Sergey Paradjanov, who is as famous as he is virtually unknown in the West. His works, cited by Lady Gaga, among others, are of a fascinating artistic variety. In his films, he brings narratives and legends of various origins to new life. LEGEND is not another biography of an important artist. Serebrennikov’s text works with Paradjanov’s visual language and shows his world as a projection surface for our longings. Their poetic interweaving speaks of worlds of colors and images and of the struggle for the uniqueness of people and different cultures. They are eternal stories of freedom and the fight for it, of beauty and of the victory of life over death.
A woman. Her path. Her decisions. Sandra Hüller (Oscar nomination for Anatomy of a Fall) sings and plays the leading role and embarks on a journey through extreme emotional and mental landscapes. She is accompanied by the dance-revolutionary artist trio (LA)HORDE, Marine Brutti, Jonathan Debrouwer and Arthur Harel and his dancers, who also co-choreographed Madonna’s Celebration tour. We follow the protagonist’s attempts to realize herself and transcend social roles and expectations. In every encounter, every relationship, every city, she reinvents herself. With I Want Absolute Beauty, Ivo Van Hove opens the Ruhrtriennale 2024. This haunting music theater production shows how to overcome obstacles, grow from them, and finally accept that you can only take life as it comes. And that it can feel really good!
“Who could ever forget the blissful place!” Bruckner saw nature, in the spirit of Romanticism, as a pure spiritual source of renewal. It was a way out of the fumes of the growing industrial centers. But what does the state of nature say about people in the age of radical climate change and natural disasters? Will the next generations remember this delightful place that nature once was? Abendzauber is an immersive installation in the Mischanlage Essen. Director Krystian Lada and Chorwerk Ruhr bring together two different styles of music to explore the pressing questions of our time. How does human influence affect nature? The rarely performed secular choral works of Anton Bruckner are combined with songs by Björk. The Icelandic artist effortlessly manages to combine avant-garde and pop music elements. Caroline Shaw and Marc Schmolling have arranged Björk’s songs especially for Chorwerk Ruhr. A production of Ruhrtriennale and Chorwerk Ruhr. With the kind support of the Friends and Sponsors of the Ruhrtriennale e. V.
WHAT IS “D • I • E” ABOUT? ABOUT A WOMAN? ABOUT DYING? ABOUT GRAMMAR? ABOUT LINES, POINTS, AND CHARACTERS? ALL ANSWERS ARE CORRECT – AND ALL QUESTIONS ARE OBSOLETE.
IN A FANTASTICALLY SURREAL ORGY AT THE CHRISTMAS FEAST, THE BOUNDARIES BETWEEN PRESENT AND PAST, LIVING AND DEAD, HUMAN AND ANIMAL, DESIRE AND REALITY BLUR.
As a renowned expert on nocturnal plants and homeless creatures of captivated fears, Barbara Frey, at the opening of her tenure as artistic director, delves into the thought cosmos of Edgar Allan Poe together with an eight-member, multilingual ensemble.
I work closely with directors, costume designers, producers, and actors/singers/dancers to conceptualize and define the desired look for each character.
Based on this, my team and I must be able to apply various makeup and hair techniques to achieve the desired look.
I handle the budget and personnel management of the makeup artist team.
In doing so, I ensure that resources and budget are used effectively and I monitor the team’s quality and working hours.
Additionally, I ensure compliance with safety regulations and hygiene standards for the use of makeup products.
Makeup artists and performers must have good personal chemistry. The right team composition enhances the preparation and application of makeup and hair.
From the artistic concept to the final implementation, I create masks and prosthetic pieces, perfectly tailored to the respective requirements.
I design and create makeup and hairstyle designs that emphasize the character’s personality and features and achieve the best possible effect, especially on stage.
With extensive knowledge of styles and implementation methods, I design and create perfectly matched wigs and hairpieces.
Ivo van Hove has been the artistic director of the Ruhrtriennale since November 1, 2023 and is responsible for the festival cycle from 2024 to 2026. With the motto “Longing for Tomorrow,” he focuses on a world in transition and asks questions about identity, violence, war and hope. It is a central concern for him that the artistic examination does not remain in dystopia, but always conveys hope. In his programmatic orientation, van Hove emphasizes the importance of connectedness in a time of increasing tensions and sees the theater as a medium to make social change tangible. Especially in the field of music theater, he strives for a new form in which music is not only an accompanying element, but a narrative core. With around 140 events at venues in Bochum, Essen and Duisburg, the Ruhrtriennale 2024 was successfully implemented as the prelude to his directorship. Van Hove himself describes the concept of understanding the festival more strongly as a community event as a complete success. His artistic signature combines a clear substantive attitude with an openness to hybrid forms of theater, dance, music theater and installation – always with the aim of revitalizing the traditional venues of the Ruhr region and using them in a meaningful way.
