Rimini Protokoll Explained

Rimini Protokoll is a German theatre group founded after 2000 by Helgard Haug, Stefan Kaegi, and Daniel Wetzel. They create stage plays, interventions, scenic installations, and radio plays. Many of their works are characterized by interactivity and a playful use of technology.^[1]

Background and Methods

Rimini Protokoll is also known as the “label” for the works that have emerged from the collaboration between the three artists Haug, Kaegi and Wetzel.^{[2] [3]} The three met while attending the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies at University of Giessen, Hesse, Germany.^[4] They are a team of authors, directors, and designers of sound, stage, and videos, who have been working together since 1999.^[5] They develop their works in different constellations, sometimes all of them work together, sometimes only one or two, sometimes they cooperate with 'outsiders'.^[6] Typical for their work is that they rarely work with trained actors. Rather they bring people into play which they call 'experts of the everyday'.^[7] Their expertise lies in the specific knowledge and experience they convey at the stage based on their social role in 'real life' rather than in acting skills.^[8] Often, the works of Rimini Protokoll use media technology to transport "life outside of theatre onto the stage".^[9] In a similar vein, Rimini Protokoll also uses public spaces or spaces with certain representative function, such as a court room or a defunct parliamentary building (in 'Deutschland 2') to demonstrate the theatrical qualities of "real world settings".^[10] Their work is therefore often labelled 'documentary theatre'^[11] and Rimini Protokoll is internationally considered one of the most prominent participatory theatre companies that employs digital technologies.^[12]

Awards and recognition

• 2007 — Mülheimer Dramatikerpreis award, for their staging of Karl Marx's Das Kapital, Volume I^[13]
• 2007 — Der Faust award in the "Sonderpreis" category^[14]
• 2008 — Europe Theatre Prize – Thessaloniki^[15]
• 2008 — Hörspielpreis der Kriegsblinden prize, for their radio play Karl Marx: The Capital, Vol.1^[16]
• 2013 – Japan Media Arts Festival Excellence Award for Situation Rooms^[17]
• 2015 — Hans-Reinhart-Ring^[18]

Literature and video

Literature

• Schipper, Imanuel and Helgard Haug, Stefan Kaegi, Daniel Wetzel. Rimini Protokoll 2000–2020. English, hardcover, 2,000 photographs, excertps from more than 80 works. Cologne: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walter und Franz Koenig, 2021.
• Rimini Protokoll: Situation Rooms Program book in English (PDF download)
• Gomila, Andreu: Rimini Protokoll, escultors del temps / Sculptors of Time, Barcelona, Editions CCCB vol.105, 2021
• Malzacher, Florian and Miriam Dreysse. Experts of the Everyday: The Theatre of Rimini Protokoll. Alexander Verlag, Berlin 2008.
• Deiters, Franz-Josef. Vielleicht 'Ins Licht rücken? Oder 'Türen öffnen. Rimini Protokolls Theater des Alltags. In: Franz-Josef Deiters: Neues Welttheater?: Zur Mediologie des Theaters der Neo-Avantgarden. Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 2022, pp. 21–54. ISBN 978-3-503-20998-9 (print); ISBN 978-3-503-20999-6 (ebook)

Video portraits

• John Paul Tansey: The Making of 100% Melbourne, Melbourne 2012
• Imanuel Schipper in conversation with Rimini Protokoll, reART:theURBAN by ARCH+, Zurich, Gessnerallee, 25–27 October 2012
• Oktavian Saiu in dialogue with Rimini Protokoll on the occasion of the Romanian version of The Walks, Teatrelli online, 2021
• Rimini Protokoll, Dominik Huber, Andreu Gomila: Theatre Beyond Its Boundaries. A conversation coinciding with the opening of Rimini Protokoll's Urban Nature, Barcelona, CCCB, 1 July 2021.
• Andreu Gomila: There is not such a big difference between the audience and us, A portrait of Rimini Protokoll, Barcelona 2021

External links

• • Rimini Protokoll channel on vimeo.com

Notes and References

1. Web site: Wunder, wirklich wahr . tagesspiegel.de . 24 November 2006 . 24 April 2020 . de . A Real Miracle.
2. Frederik Le Roy: Rimini Protokoll’s Theatricalization of Reality, in: Vanderbeeken et al (eds), Bastard of Playmate. Adapting Theatre, Mutating Media and Contemporary Performing Arts, Amsterdam University Press 2012, pp. 153 - 160, at 153.
3. Web site: Rimini Protokoll . cccb.org . 7 April 2021 . 24 April 2020 . en . Rimini Protokoll.
4. News: In dieser Schule lernt man, mit der Wirklichkeit zu spielen . faz.net . 26 February 2013 . 24 April 2020 . de . In This School, You Learn to Play with Reality . Jantschek . Thorsten .
5. News: Wir alle sind Spezialisten . Neue Zürcher Zeitung . 17 February 2004 . 24 April 2020 . de . We Are All Specialists.
6. Frederik Le Roy: Rimini Protokoll’s Theatricalization of Reality, in: Vanderbeeken et al (eds), Bastard of Playmate. Adapting Theatre, Mutating Media and Contemporary Performing Arts, Amsterdam University Press 2012, pp. 153 - 160, at 153.
7. Frederik Le Roy: Rimini Protokoll’s Theatricalization of Reality, in: Vanderbeeken et al (eds), Bastard of Playmate. Adapting Theatre, Mutating Media and Contemporary Performing Arts, Amsterdam University Press 2012, pp. 153 - 160, at 154.
8. Frederik Le Roy: Rimini Protokoll’s Theatricalization of Reality, in: Vanderbeeken et al (eds), Bastard of Playmate. Adapting Theatre, Mutating Media and Contemporary Performing Arts, Amsterdam University Press 2012, pp. 153 - 160, at 154.
9. Quote by Helgard Haug in Frederik Le Roy: Rimini Protokoll’s Theatricalization of Reality, in: Vanderbeeken et al (eds), Bastard of Playmate. Adapting Theatre, Mutating Media and Contemporary Performing Arts, Amsterdam University Press 2012, pp. 153 - 160, at 154.
10. See e.g. Daniela Hahn: Performing Public Spaces, Staging Collective Memory in:TDR: The Drama Review (MIT Press). Fall 2014, Vol. 58 Issue 3, p. 27-38.
11. Frederik Le Roy: Rimini Protokoll’s Theatricalization of Reality, in: Vanderbeeken et al (eds), Bastard of Playmate. Adapting Theatre, Mutating Media and Contemporary Performing Arts, Amsterdam University Press 2012, pp. 153 - 160, at 154.
12. Zofia Smolarska: Towards New Forms of Participatory Theatre. in: Theatre Forum. 2018, Issue 53, p. 84-91, at 84.
13. Web site: Rimini Protokoll: Karl Marx: Capital, Vol.1 .
14. Web site: Nachtkritik . 13 June 2023 .
15. Web site: Europe Theatre Prize – XII Edition – XII Edition Europe Theatre Prize . 2 January 2023 . archivio.premioeuropa.org.
16. Web site: Marx on the Petersberg .
17. Web site: 17th Art Division Excellence Award (Interactive art) .
18. Web site: Schweizer Grand Prix Theater / Hans-Reinhart-Ring 2015 .