Teachers in the degree programme (selection)
VA Wölfl (D) - fine artist and choreographer, NEUER TANZ Düsseldorf
VA Wölfl is a fine artist and has been directing the company NEUER TANZ in Düsseldorf since the mid 80s. His chor(e)ographies are complex compositions with elements of dance and fine arts and resist categorisation.
Viviane de Muynck (B) - actress, Needcompany (Belgium)
Viviane de Muynck has been a member of the legendary Belgian group “Needcompany“ for many years. She studied acting at the conservatory in Brussels. From 1980 onwards, she was part of various Belgian and Dutch ensembles and theatre companies. Her film work includes Robert Altman`s “Vincent and Theo“ (1990). Viviane De Muynck directed the “Vagina Monologues” by Eve Ensler (2000) and “Als ich im Sterben lag“ after William Faulkner (2003) at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg.
Kate McIntosh (NZ) - performance, dance, video
Kate McIntosh`s work combines performance and video. Originally from New Zealand and trained as a dancer, she has been living and working in Brussels since 2000. Alongside her own performance projects, she has collaborated with Tim Etchells, Eva Meyer-Keller, Jo Randerson, Lilia Mestre, Charo Calvo and Diederik Peeters, among others. Kate MacIntosh is one of the founders of the Belgian performance collective and punk-rock band Poni.
Caden Manson / Jemma Nelson (USA) – director and video artist / music and media artist, BIG ART GROUP, New York
The performance company Big Art Group from New York was founded by Caden Manson and Jemma Nelson in 1999. The group radically attacks the formal boundaries of theatre and film, by experimenting with their structures, media and processes.
Together, Manson and Nelson developed the Big Art Group label. It stands for “real-time films”, the live creation of which is the core of the performances. Through this technique, the happenings on stage are invested with a new dimension: The stage turns into a multi-layered projection space, with cameras transmitting what the performers do to various projectors and screens - a clever, artistic game.
Hans-Thies Lehmann (D) - Professor for Theatre Studies
Hans-Thies Lehmann, known for coining the phrase “postdramatisches Theater” (post-dramatic theatre), is a professor of Theatre Studies at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität in Frankfurt. He has helped set up the degree programmes “Angewandte Theaterwissenschaft” (Applied Theatre Studies) at the University of Giessen (1981-1987), “Theater-, Film- und Medienwissenschaft“ (Theatre, Film and Media Studies) in Frankfurt, as well as the post-graduate programme in Dramaturgy in Frankfurt. He also works as a guest lecturer in Amsterdam, Vienna, Paris, Tokyo, Krakow, Kaunas, Charlottesville and developed scenic projects and dramaturgic works of his own at various theatres.
Volker Gerling (D) – thumb cinematographer
Volker Gerling was born in 1968, 100 years after thumb cinema was invented in England. He studied at the “Konrad Wolf” film school in Potsdam-Babelsberg, near Berlin. He has been working with the intersection of photography and film since 1998. Since 2001, he has been doing exhibitions, shows and lectures nationwide and internationally.
Frank Chartier (B) - choreographer and dancer, PEEPING TOM, Brussels
Peeping Tom has toured extensively throughout Europe and beyond with their trilogy 'Le Jardin' - 'Le Salon' - 'Le Sous Sol'. With over 350 performances around the world and several important awards, amongst which “Le Prix du meilleur spectacle de danse de liannée 2005“ in France, the “Young Directors Award 2007“ at the festival of Salzburg 2007, a nomination for the Flemish/Dutch Theater Festival 2007 and the 'Partron's Circle Award' of the Melbourne Arts Festival in 2009, Peeping Tom has consolidated its unique position in today's performing arts scene.
Ivo Dimchev (Bulgaria) - choreographer and dancer
Ivo Dimchev`s work is an extreme and colorful mixture of performance art, dance, theatre, music, drawings and photography. Dimchev is author of more than 30 performances. He has received numerous international awards for dance and theatre and has presented his work all over Europe and North America. Besides his artistic work, Ivo Dimchev has given master classes at the National theater academy in Budapest/Hungary, the Royal dance conservatorium of Belgium in Antwerp, DanceWeb/Vienna etc. He is founder and director of Humarts foundation in Bulgaria and organizes a national competition for contemporary choreography every year. Since Oct 2009, after his Master studies on performing arts at Dasarts academy/Amsterdam, Ivo Dimchev moved to Brussels where he opened his own performance space Volksroom.
Felix Kubin (D) - experimental musician, radio play producer, animated film maker
The Canadian radio channel CBC called Felix Kubin "Hamburg's purveyor of dadatronic experimentalist pop music". Since 1992, he has published numerous audio works, ranging from socialist sing-a-longs to futuristic noise to sci-fi pop.
Mark Coniglio (USA) – inventor of the interactive programme ISADORA, director of the dance company Troika Ranch
Mark Coniglio invented the computer programme ISADORA. This interactive software can recognise performers` positions on stage and react to the sounds and movements they make. Mark Coniglio trained as a composer and studied under Morton Subotnick, a pioneer of electronic music, amongst others. He is the director of the dance company “Troika Ranch“, which uses that computer programme.
Penelope Wehrli (CH) - director, set designer
Penelope Wehrli is a director and set designer. She worked in New York as a performer and film maker from 1980-1996. As a set designer, she worked with the choreographer Johann Kresnik, as well as with directors such as Jossi Wieler, Robert Schuster and Barbara Frey. Next to her work as a set designer, she also creates her own artistic and scenic projects. From 2004 – 2009, she was a professor for set design at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Karlsruhe.
Prof. Dr. Gerald Siegmund (D) - theatre and dance theoretician
Prof. Dr. Gerald Siegmund is a luminary in the field of theatre and dance studies. His work focuses on contemporary theatre and dance, theatre theories, performance, intermediality and the manifold intersections between theatre and other art forms.
Lukas Bangerter (CH) - director, artistic director of PLASMA
Lukas Bangerter founded the company PLASMA in 2000. As director, author and set designer, he created twelve projects with this group to date. From 1993 - 1997 Bangerter studied at the Hochschule für Theater und Musik in Bern. His projects with PLASMA are regularly invited to various international festivals (such as: Wiener Festwochen, Impulse, Baltic Circle Helsinki, Reminiscencje Teatralne Krakow, Seoul Performig Arts Festival, Fadjir-Festival Teheran).
Niels Ewerbeck (D) - artistic director of the Theaterhaus Gessnerallee, Zurich
Niels Ewerbeck has been the successful artistic director and manager of the Theaterhaus Gessnerallee in Zurich since 2004. Bevor that, he directed the Forum Freies Theater (FFT, Düsseldorf), which he founded in 1999. Under his direction, it established itself as an important centre for the freelance theatre scene and for interdisciplinary projects.
Jan Ritsema (NL) - director, performer, teacher at P.A.R.T.S
Jan Ritsema is a director, performer and teaches at various academies in the Netherlands and at the international school of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, P.A.R.T.S (Performing Arts Research and Training Studios) in Brussels.
Onno Faller (D) – director of the “Gesellschaft für Kochen als Kunstgattung“
Onno Faller studied “Film und Kochen als Kunstgattung“ under Peter Kubelka at the “Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste – Städelschule“ in Frankfurt. From 1999 – 2002, she directed the cooking studio there. In 2002, she founded the “Gesellschaft für Kochen als Kunstgattung“, together with Dorothee Becker. She has been invited to teach at various academies and universities (FH Mainz, Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst Zürich, Jan van Eyck Akademie Maastricht), held lectures, done pedagogic projects at schools and museums, as well as public cooking and studio projects, organised exhibitions, made films, carried out research projects and given seminars.
Bojana Kunst (SL) – philosopher, dramaturg, performance theoretician
Bojana Kunst is a philosopher, dramaturg and performance theoretician and works as a researcher at the Art Faculty of the University of Ljubljana, in the Sociology Department. She is also an assistant professor at the University of Primorska and teaches Visual Culture there.
Ralf Samens (D) – fine artist
Prof. Dr. Hanns Ruder (D) - astro-physician
Prof. Dr. Hanns Ruder was a professor of theoretical Astro-Physics at the University of Tübingen until his retirement in 1996. Hanns Ruder is an excellent teacher, able to demonstrate the effects of the relativity theory with the help of his graphic lectures and computer simulations.
Mikael Krogerus (FIN) – free-lance journalist and author
Mikael Krogerus, born in 1976 in Stockholm, graduated from the Kaospilot University. Alongside his studies, he wrote texts for various advertising agencies. After that, he worked as an editor of the young people`s TV show Chat the Planet in New York, as an editorial journalist for the NZZ Folio and is now working as a freelance journalist. Together with Roman Tschäppeler, he wrote the bestseller ´50 Erfolgsmodelle` (Kein&Aber, 2008).
Roman Tschäppeler (CH) – founder of the communication kiosk guzo and author
Roman Tschäppeler, born 1978 in Bern, worked for the ideas factory BrainStore in Biel and, in this time, also founded a cultural centre. In 2003, he graduated from the Kaospilot University in Denmark. Since then, he has been working at the communication kiosk guzo, where he produces cooking books, campaigns raising awareness and music albums, amongst other things.
Prof. Dr. Peter Schneider (CH) – psycho-analyst, columnist
Prof. Dr. Peter Schneider is a psycho-analyst and has had his own practice in Zurich since 1988. He has published several books, especially about theoretical problems of psycho-analysis. For many years now, he has also had a daily satirical radio show on DRS3 and has been publishing weekly columns in the "Tages-Anzeiger" and the "Sonntags-Zeitung".
Prof. Dr. Michael Harenberg (D) – composer, media scientist, Head of Studies of the degree programme Music and Media Arts at the BUA
Prof. Dr. Michael Harenberg is a professor of musical design and media theory as well as the Head of Studies of the degree programme Music and Media Arts at the Bern University of the Arts. As a composer and as a music and media scientist, he works with instrumental, installed and improvised electro-acoustic music, both in terms of composition and theory. He is the Chairman of the “Deutsche Gesellschaft für elektroakustische Musik“ (DEGEM) and the Director of the „DEGEM WebRadio@ZKM“.
Knut Jensen (CH) – composer and sound designer
Knut Jensen is a composer, sound designer and interpreter. Until summer 2008, he taught audio-visual composition at the Bern University of the Arts (degree programme Music and Media Arts). Since 1991, he has been pursuing the band project Knut & Silvy, which released various prize-winning CDs and music videos.
Christoph Haering (CH) – cultural funding, Migros Kulturprozent
Christoph Haering is a director and the Head of the Department Performing Arts and Literature in the Direktion Kultur und Soziales of the Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund. He manages the international dance festival Steps, which takes place in all of Switzerland biannually, and is funded entirely by the Migros-Kulturprozent. He is the President of SuisseTHEATRE ITI (Internationales Theaterinstitut) and a board member of ITI worldwide.
Dominik Müller (CH) – cultural funding, Präsidialdepartement Zürich
Dominik Müller, who used to do theatre himself (Theater M.A.R.I.A. amongst others), is originally a sociologist and has been working in the field of cultural funding for 11 years. He is the director of cultural funding in the Präsidialdepartement of the city of Zurich.
Leonie Stein (CH) – Director of the Y Institute of the BUA, responsible for Tuition
Leonie Stein studied at the Royal Ballet School, London. She then worked as a soloist in Italy and Germany, before pursuing training in modern dance, tai chi and yoga. Since 1984, she has been realising her own choreographies and productions. From 1996 – 2007, she was the Director of the Theatre Department of the Bern University of the Arts, founded in 2003. In 2007, she changed to the position of Director of the Y Institute (Institute for Transdisciplinarity), where she is responsible for the area Tuition.
Christoph Siegenthaler (CH) – light designer, theatre technician
Christoph Siegenthaler studied lighting auto-didactically and began to work as a lighting designer over 20 years ago. From 1991-2001, he was employed by the Teatro Dimitri in Verscio, where he was responsible for all technical equipment, managed numerous tours and made all lighting concepts for productions of the Teatro Dimitri and the Scuola Teatro Dimitri. Furthermore, he worked for various projects in the fields of theatre, dance and circus as a freelancer, and regularly developed lighting concepts for the Zirkus Monti. He has been independent since 2001. He works at small and large theatres, does tours in Europe and overseas.
Isabel Dorn (D) - director
Isabel Dorn (mentor) has been working as a freelance director since 2006 and is a co-founder of the group ´mamouchi`, which was invited to the festival Auawirleben in 2008 with the production ´Risikoathleten`. Isabel Dorn pursued cultural studies with a focus on theatre theory and practice at the University of Hildesheim and theatre studies at the Hoogeschool voor de Kunsten in Utrecht/Netherlands.
Bjoern Mehlig (D) – director and performance artist
Bjoern Mehlig (mentor) has been realising projects under the name Bjoern Auftrag since 2001, especially together with Stefanie Lorey, but also in other artistic formations. The projects bring together performance, acting and installation art. Next to his directing activity, he also works as a sound designer or director for various dance and theatre productions, amongst them productions by Stefan Kaegi and Saburo Teshigawara.
