fachbetrieb rita grechen

fachbetrieb rita grechen is an interdisciplinary artistic collective with a changing cast. We develop music theater pieces, exhibitions, installations, durational performances, texts, films and process-oriented projects. Due to the network-like structure of the collective and the frequent collaborations with other collectives, we find space for different artistic positions depending on the project.

Many of our projects deal with the audience and the place of gathering. We examine both the acoustic qualities of the places and the possibilities of a freely moving audience. Generally, it is important to us to create hospitable events. We also try to achieve deviations from the core audience of contemporary theater stages and exhibition spaces by choosing unusual locations . We continually research to develop forms of expression that are accessible to all, without reducing complexity or ironing out inconsistencies.

In the past we have worked together with HELLERAU – European Center for the Arts (Dresden), Riesa Efau (Dresden), Schaubühne Lindenfels (Leipzig), D21 Gallery (Leipzig), Lofft Theater (Leipzig), Spielart Festival (München), Pathos Theater (München), HochX (München), DJ Bike (München), Tafelhalle (Nürnberg), Pavillon (Hannover), Hawerkamp Gallery (Münster), Frankfurt LAB (Frankfurt am Main), ARGEkultur (Salzburg) and BRUX (Innsbruck).

Team members (in alphabetical order):

Konstantin Fontaine is an audio technologist and programmer with a focus on virtual acoustics, computer music and sound art. In Berlin he studies at the Technical University, where as a research assistant he researches and implements methodologies for auralizing urban environments using virtual realities. His own work in the field of sound art primarily focuses on generative approaches and algorithmic systems, although his installation works mostly deal with the alienation of acoustic scenes and have been shown, among others, at the Humboldt Forum Berlin and the Documenta in Kassel. As part of the ZiMMT in Leipzig, he is also responsible for curatorial and technical matters in the area of 3D audio concerts and installations. He works with fachbetrieb rita grechen since 2023 and has been involved in the area of sound spatialization for Hält uns wach and Self Care Strandbefehl.

Miguel Ángel García Martín, born in Zamora (Spain), is a percussionist, performer and improviser active in a variety of contexts such as contemporary classical music, multidisciplinary performances and experimental music. Fleeing from habituation and boredom, García keeps his curiosity active as member of ensemble this | ensemble that, KvG Bottom Orchestra, fachbetrieb rita grechen, Tribal and ensemble lemniscate. He also performs regularly with Collegium Novum Zürich, Nouvel Ensemble Contemporaine and Basel Sinfonietta. In the contemporary classical music field, he has worked together with composers such as Simon Steen-Andersen, Kathy van Eck, Ondrej Adamek, Michael Maierhof, Erin Gee, Alberto Bernal, Jürg Frey, Pierluigi Billone, Oscar Bianchi, Rebecca Saunders, Eno Poppe, Andreas E. Frank, Vinko Globokar, Phillipe Manoury and Stefan Prins among others. In the experimental field, he has worked in the realization of multidisciplinary projects alongside with Lê Quan Ninh, Julian Sartorius, Strotter Inst., Zimoun or Myriam Bleau.

Urs Cornelius Humpenöder lives and works in Leipzig. He studied cultural, literary, art and media studies as well as journalism in Dortmund, Hildesheim, Konstanz and Leipzig. After internships in the feuilleton sections of the Basler Zeitung and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, he wrote, among others, for the Südwest Presse and the Deutsche Presse-Agentur. As an author in the independent theater scene, he is particularly interested in collaborative writing processes, cultures of remembrance, digital cultures and big emotions. In 2022, he wrote the dance theater text Un Amor oder Die Erfindung meiner Mutter for the dancer and choreographer Eva Borrmann. The piece was invited to the festival Bayrische Theatertage 2024. In addition, he often writes together with Hannes Köpke. This is how, among others, the road trip story about the German Autobahn Esra und Heit (2022) was created for the exhibition Symposium Raststätte (Kunsthalle Baden-Baden) or the play Self Care Strandbefehl (2024).

Laura Immler lives in Leipzig and works as a stage, costume and sound designer for projects at the threshold of theatre and visual arts. She studied stage and costume design in Dresden (2012 – 2013) and environmental engineering in Konstanz (B.Eng.: 2017). At Schauspiel Frankfurt and Schauspielhaus Bochum she joined several productions as an assistant. In various collaborations, she contributed her designs to projects such as Nipple Jesus, Äther, Die Paul Voëll Show, Il Farnace and Our Everlatest Bodies. Since 2018 she creates works collective with fachbetrieb rita grechen, i.a. piece of silence, ARBEITENDE and Was ist mehr zu viel als alles. Moreover she wrote the piece Hält uns wach, which deals with the cum-ex tax fraud, together with Hannes Köpke. Her artistic work is currently driven by an interest in posthumanism, similitude theory, resource flows and economic systems. She is eager to find new methods for creating music/sound and 3-D-modellation/animation.

Hannes Köpke comes from Hanover. With others he founded the interdisciplinary theater collective fachbetrieb rita grechen in 2018, with which he develops most of his projects. Important works included Was ist mehr zu viel als alles, Viecher, Hält uns wach and Vertigo Years. Also the educational theater film projects Schlittski 13 and Salon were created in collaboration with FEELINGS (Berlin). Hannes Köpke also writes. With Laura Immler he wrote the piece Hält uns wach, which won a prize by studio naxos in 2019. With Urs Humpenöder he wrote, among other things, the love novella Esra und Heit for the Kunsthalle Baden-Baden and the piece Self Care Strandbefehl about the seaside resort of Prora, which premiered as a project by fachbetrieb rita grechen at the Festspielhaus Hellerau in 2024.

Sinaida Michalskaja, born in Moscow (Russia) in 1985, is an artist who lives and works in Berlin. In her transmedial practice, she deals with opposites as possible misconstructions of cultural conventions. Her recent exhibitions include: Tagesschau (duo with Andrey Bogush) at Mountains, Berlin (2022); Von der schenkenden Tugend at Zarinbal Khoshbakht, Cologne (2021); Tell me I belong at Misc, Athens (2021), Zwei Schwestern (duo with Andrey Bogush) at Zarinbal Khoshbakht, Cologne (2020), Ici et là-bas at the Goethe-Institut, Paris (2019), and Soft Hits at Kunstraum Ortloff, Leipzig (2019). She was a master student of Peter Piller and Heidi Specker at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig and studied at the Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design, London (MA) and at the University of Applied Sciences, Düsseldorf (BA).

Ferdinand Nowitzky was born in Dresden. In the season 2013/2014 he was part of the Junge Burg Theaterjahr at the Burgtheater in Vienna. There he played i.a. in Michael Kohlhaas, Don Quixote and Mendy – das Wusical. 2015 he started his acting studies at the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien. Meanwhile he was involved in the projects Ein Porträt des Künstlers als junger Mann at the Theaterakademie August Everding München, in Radetzkymarsch by Joseph Roth (director: Johan Simons) and Zelt by Herbert Fritsch at the Burgtheater in Vienna. In the last years he was part of many projects of fachbetrieb rita grechen, i.a.: piece of silence at the HfBK Dresden, Vertigo Years at Spielart Festival in Munich and Was ist mehr zu viel als alles at HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts in Dresden.

Laura Pföhler studied sociology at the Universität Mannheim and culture and arts mediation with a focus on theater at the Universität Hildesheim. Her area of research is (participatory) contemporary theater as well as political theory and philosophy. Apart from her work in the field of cultural mediation she interned and assisted at the Kinder- und Jugendtheater Mannheim (Schnawwl), Deutsche Oper Berlin, Sasha Waltz&Guests, Goethe-Institut Paris and Festival Theaterformen. With her Bochum based performance collective STERNA | PAU produktionen she created the performance a porn a day in 2018, the performance Körperschaften der Vernetzung in 2019 and a web-app for writing alternative stories collectively in the research project call me by any name in 2020. With fachbetrieb rita grechen she worked together on the public research project Rita represents and Hält uns wach. 

Jasmina Rezig is working as a freelance theater maker, performer and in the field of sound/composition since 2016. Zhe is artistically interested in interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary experimental arrangements to artistically express queer and diverse perspectives. Also zhe is constantly looking for new work constellations and positions: in addition to projects that were created in groups such as fachbetrieb rita grechen, Hauptaktion or Das Schaubüro, zhe also initiated participatory formats such as anti.go.ne.volk or the performance Jugend ohne Gott by Horváth, which zhe developed together with pupils from the Rupprecht-Gymnasium in Munich. zhe also participated in various productions in an institutional setting, i.a. at the Staatstheater Nürnberg, Marstall/Residenztheater in Munich and the Münchner Kammerspiele. Zhe is also enthusiastic about 3D audio and realizes concerts/installations for multi-channel systems.

Olivia Rosendorfer works as a scenographer, costume designer and performer. She develops site specific stage designs with a focus on the interaction of architecture and sound to create atmospheres that surround the audience. Her costume designs intertwine contemporary haute couture and pop culture with historical fashion trends. Considering the representation of bodies on stage she finds it important to play with gender and break with normative body images. In 2018 she founded the interdisciplinary music theater collective fachbetrieb rita grechen with her colleagues. She is involved in the concept and format development of the projects, as well as in the performative, stage and costume design realization. As a set and costume designer, she also has a long-standing collaboration with the directors Franziska Angerer and Julia Prechsl.

Julia Scholz studied stage and costume design at the Dresden University of Fine Arts and the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. She works as a freelance stage and costume designer and performance artist. In addition to projects in the independent scene, Julia is also active as a traditional scenographer and, for example, designed the costumes for Wie es euch gefällt at the Dresden State Theater (2022). For the work Self Care Strandbefehl, Julia worked with fachbetrieb rita grechen for the first time. In addition to her work as a set and costume designer, she is committed to a sustainable urban community and has been active on a voluntary basis at the Materialvermittlung Zündstoffe in Dresden and at the Konglomerat e.V. since 2020. In 2021 she was a founding member of the community and neighborhood garden nebenan.

Konstantin Sieghart works as a guitarist, singer, performer and radio presenter. In 2013/14 he completed the Junge Burg theater year at the Burgtheater Vienna. From 2016 to 2022 he studied jazz guitar and singing in Vienna and Linz (among others, his teachers were Miroslav Mirosavljev, Peter O'Mara, Martin Koller and Agnes Heginger). In 2013, 2014 and from 2016 to 2019 he moderated and developed the VorstellBar, an open stage as part of the Burgtheater Vienna. Since 2018 he has been developing music theater projects collectively with the group fachbetrieb rita grechen, including piece of silence, Vertigo Years, Was ist mehr zu viel als alles, Rita represents and Rita represents Mutter Courage. In 2021/22, he worked as stage musician and performer at the Staatstheater Darmstadt. With Sebastian Radon he appeared in the jointly developed cabaret program Heute: Leopold III.. He currently works as a moderator at Radio 88.6 and regularly appears as a jazz guitarist and singer as part of the Ernst & Schmäh concert series.

Swantje Silber is a stage and costume designer and performance artist. She realizes productions between theater, film, (music) performance and visual art. On the one hand, she enjoys working on classic stage and costume designs, on the other hand, she works in collective structures in the independent scene. Her works are always experimental explorations of materials and techniques, with the focus being on social (role) images, socio-cultural phenomena and the relationship between audience and performers, as well as its activist potential. Her works have been shown, among others, at the Prague Quadriennal 2019, at the Staatstheater Braunschweig, Societaetstheater Dresden, in Hellerau - European Center for the Arts Dresden, at the cammmerspiele Leipzig, at the Theaterakademie August Everding Munich, the schwere reiter Munich and the Theater Winkelwiese in Zurich.

Yannik Stöbener works as an actor, choreographer and choir leader. He has been appearing regularly in Ulrich Rasche's productions since 2016. He was most recently seen in Iphigenie auf Tauris at the Vienna Burgtheater, Leonce und Lena at the Deutsches Theater Berlin and Nathan der Weise at the Salzburger Festspiele, among others. In 2021 he worked as a choreographer for the first time at the Geneva Opera together with Ulrich Rasche on the production Elektra. Directed by Antigone Akgün he played at the Gostner Hoftheater in Nuremberg in Nora and No Doll's House, based on Ibsen. In December 2023 he was seen in the production Der einigermaßen tröstliche Gesang der Chöre by David Mooser and Nathalie Baudy at the HochX Theater in Munich. Since 2021, he worked with fachbetrieb rita grechen on the pieces abschlafen, Viecher, Hält uns wach and Self Care Strandbefehl.

Paul Voell, born in Mönchengladbach in 1996, gained his first theater experiences as an actor in student productions and as an intern at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg and the Salzburger Festspielen. After completing his bachelor's degree in literature in Konstanz and Warwick, he worked for two seasons in press and public relations at the Theater Erlangen. He also represented the organizational management of the Rossini Opera Festival in Wildbad in 2019 and worked as a set runner on television productions. He has been working with the fachbetrieb rita grechen since 2018 on concept development, video and lighting design and as a performer. In the summer of 2023 he will complete his M.A. in staging of the arts and media at the University of Hildesheim. As part of his studies, he devoted himself more to the medium of film, which has fascinated him since childhood.

Maria Wang Kvalheim works within the field of acoustic scenography. She holds a BA from the Norwegian theater academy. Her work seeks to draw out the sound/acoustic potential of architectural space. She is interested in the relationship between movement and space, and how sensorial work can affect the movement of an audience. She regularly develops projects with the music theater collective fachbetrieb rita grechen; most recently, the durational performance Hält uns wach at the Pathos Theater in Munich (2021). In 2020 she was also part of the residency Climata by PRAKSIS Oslo and the Goethe-Institut with a focus on sound art. In 2021 she was invited to participate in the SCI-FLY residency at Øy Theater, making the video works NOK 11 284 729 702 690 as part of the Mattering: Oil exhibition at the Teknisk Museum in Oslo.

Nicole Marianna Wytyczak born in Katowice (Poland), Libra with ascendant Libra, moon in Scorpio. In 2011 she graduated from T. Kantor Art High School with a diploma in design and fine art (focus on graphics), then she studied stage and costume design at HfBK Dresden (diploma: 2017). Afterwards she was hired at the Münchner Kammerspiele from 2017 to 2020 as best girl, where she worked with artists like Philippe Quesne, Trajal Harrell, Florentina Holzinger, Susanne Kennedy, Marta Górnicka, Alexander Giesche and Henrike Iglesias. Since 2020 she works freelance as visual designer at the theater and in film, i.a. at theaters like Münchner Kammerspiele, Schauspiel Dortmund, Staatsschauspiel Dresden, Theater Braunschweig, Theater Augsburg, TJG Dresden and Festspielhaus Hellerau. She feels most confident at the interface between fine art and technical implementation.

Julius Zimmermann was born in Dresden and, after completing his culinary training, studied stage and costume design at the University of Fine Arts in Dresden (diploma: 2017). The main focus of his work is to include given rooms and architectures as staging suggestions and to modify the spatial and atmospheric qualities together with video projections, focusing on 3D simulated content. Since 2019 he has also been working in the field of dance and theater photography, among others, for Tanzwoche Dresden. He is continuously working with fachbetrieb rita grechen. He was, among others, part of the projects Vertigo Years, Was ist mehr zu viel als alles, Rita represents, Viecher and Hält uns wach. For the educational theater film projects Schlittski 13 and Salon in collaboration with FEELINGS he was responsible for camera and editing.