Networks

The Alliance of International Production Houses is among the foremost associations within Germany. FFT Düsseldorf (Forum Freies Theater), HAU Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin), HELLERAU – Europäisches Zentrum der Künste (Dresden), Kampnagel (Hamburg), Künstlerhaus Mousonturm (Frankfurt am Main), PACT Zollverein (Essen) and tanzhaus nrw (Düsseldorf) all channel their abilities and experiences as central stakeholders in culture and sociopolitics, bringing international perspectives into a continuous, open and diverse exchange with local artists, local groups of audiences, as well as with diverse urban societies. The Office of the Federal Commissioner for Culture and Media has been supporting the Bündnis internationaler Produktionshäuser with a sum of 12 million since the 2016/17 season, for a total duration of three years.

Exploring the future

This support enables the production venues to realise special artistic endeavours together as well as on their respective sites, sometimes spanning several years, and going beyond their customary programmes and practices. They deal with the economic, social, cultural and ecological urban and global changes in the 21st century, playfully exploring the future of society, theatre, dance and art, exemplarily trying out scenarios of communal living. Furthermore, the venues connect their competency in the ongoing development of advanced means of production in the field of performative art and their far-reaching local and international networks more closely than before.

Set up of academies

Tried practices can be further developed and expanded, with an eye towards the future, in this decentralised co-operational model; among them, for example, the possibility of artistic residencies, commissioned works, co-productions and site-specific project development as well as the consolidation, the artistic agency for and strengthening of artistic positions on a trans-regional and international scale and for local contexts. So, the Bündnis has set up, among other things, an academy for freelancing producers, and it is accordingly significantly involved in an occupational area that is gaining in importance.

HERE you can learn more about the committment to non-discrimination of the Alliance of International Production Houses.

With a joint travel policy - which can be found HERE - we and the other members of the Alliance of International Production Houses are taking a further step towards climate-friendly production and presentation of the arts with a focus on low-emission mobility. From 2024, we will be guided by this travel policy and implement it step by step in the best possible way.

The European Dance House Network (EDN) was constituted in 2009 and is since 2014 funded by the EU Commission. More than 30 European dance houses, among others tanzhaus nrw, Mercat de les Flors Barcelona, Tanzquartier Wien and Maison de la Danse Lyon, cooperate in securing a sustainable future for the dance sector and to improve relevance for diverse dance among society.

A lobby for Contemporary Dance

EDN is actively behind many projects that stem from the work analysis carried out by working groups with focuse on the idea and identity of the institution dance house. The development of cooperation projects is one of the current focal points of the work carried out by the association. One of the projects was modul-dance, which had been promoting between 2010 to 2014 a selection of artists. Annother one was LÉIM, led by Dance Ireland in partnership with tanzhaus nrw, CSC Dance House, Bassano del Grappa, Mercat de les Flors Barcelona, and Dance House Lemesos. In June 2017 the artists congress INVENTUR took place, where tanzhaus nrw and EDN ask questions about the relevance in today’s society from the perspective of dance among others and about the task of cultural institutions in the 21. Century or about strategies of empowerment of the genre. Since 2019 EDN is situated in Brussels.

take-off: Junger Tanz Düsseldorf, until 2010 one of nine Tanzplan-Deutschland projects, introduces children and youths aged zero to 18 to the aesthetics and techniques of contemporary dance. Since 2006, a multitude of partners from Düsseldorf’s cultural and educational sectors and from science and politics have been working out new sustainable structures for young dance art under the direction of tanzhaus nrw. As competence network, Take.off: Junger Tanz firmly establishes the art of dance in theatres, schools and youth centres, where regular dance productions for children and youths are created. The project was accompanied by a scientific evaluation by Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf to 2010. 

Düsseldorf is networking

Supported by the city of Düsseldorf and the state of NRW, tanzhaus nrw was able to guarantee the continuation of the project beyond the end of Tanzplan Deutschland in 2010 and has since brought forward new ideas such as the residency programmes and other acitivities, which assisted choreographers with the development of productions for young target groups.

Due to newly developed sensory technology, innovative technological interfaces have emerged, and they can be used by a steadily increasing target group. This “democratisation of technology” permits interaction with the body as a whole, gaining importance in more and more areas of life. It becomes ever more widely available, and areas of application in the arts, culture, technology and science become confronted with the challenge to employ those technologies in a useful and innovative manner within creative projects. Creativity often means a transformation between disjunct contexts.

Beyond the scope

Therefore, a perspective is needed that goes beyond the scope of one’s own field, as this is a decisive factor in the innovative performance of a cultural or commercial enterprise. The development of sustainable creative solutions becomes viable on eye level through trans-disciplinary cooperation in a partnership and within a shared structure fostering bi-directional intervention during a creative process. Within this process, the continuous exchange between arts and culture, technology and science play a pivotal role. MOCCA is our approach to a solution to sustainably establish trans-disciplinary projects around the topic of motion-based user interfaces in the areas of application of dance arts, healthcare technology, as well as human-technology interaction. 

Mixed Reality in the Arts

This, so far unique, co-operation of partners from the fields of research (Hochschule Düsseldorf), media-centered creative economy (LAVAlabs), healthcare technology (Velamed) and dance arts (tanzhaus nrw) aims for innovative networking between different approaches to achieve swap-over effects for all partners, broadening their respective viewpoints. Newest developments such as motion capturing or bio-sensory technology stand at the disposal and may be applied, among other things, to experiments in the areas of human-machine interactions, healthcare or media design. The results of this three-year (2016 – 2019) undertaking will be made public at mixed reality performances or interactive dance installations, at sites such as the tanzhaus nrw or at trade shows and conferences on digitality, as well as during other events.