RESONANZRAUM 40
„Here, the archive is not displayed — it is experienced.“
from Saturday, 10 October 2026
The Rehearsal Studio in Düsseldorf-Pempelfort Becomes a Living Organism
In 2026, THEATER DER KLÄNGE celebrates its 40th anniversary — four decades of experimental theatre art, the vast majority of which took shape in one particular space: the rehearsal studio in Düsseldorf-Pempelfort. This place, where nearly every production first found its form, becomes the centrepiece of an extraordinary retrospective that reaches far beyond a conventional retrospective.
„RESONANZRAUM 40“ transforms the familiar rehearsal studio into a breathing, living organism in which past, present and future merge symbiotically. Innovative video-mapping technology turns the walls and ceiling into projection surfaces on which 40 years of theatre history become re-experienceable as light, movement and memory. An all-encompassing loudspeaker installation creates a three-dimensional soundscape in which archival recordings fuse with sound design to form new compositions.
The Dual Concept
Two to three days a week the space opens as an immersive installation that visitors can navigate freely — sitting on the specially constructed tribune, lying on the dance carpet or wandering through the room while 40 years of artistic work unfold around them in an hour-long audiovisual cycle.
On selected weekends the space awakens to new life: live performances arise in dialogue with the projected memories, and the audience does not merely attend finished productions but witnesses the entire creative process — from the donning of historical costumes through the performance itself to the subsequent reflection.
Programme
2026 / 2027
23–25 Oct 2026
The Mechanical Ballet
06–07 Nov 2026
The Silver Prince
01–03 Jan 2027
LUDUS DANIELIS & Gregorius
14–17 Jan 2027
TRIAS – The Triadic Ballet
19–20 Feb 2027
Figure and Sound in Space & SUITE intermediale
19–21 Mar 2027
The Lacquer Ballet
12–18 Apr 2027
Heinrich Heine’s Le Grand
28–30 May 2027
West-Land Dances
24–27 Jun 2027
Coastal Souls
A Project of Sustainability
The symbiotic strength of the project is particularly evident in its sustainability: exclusively existing costumes and props are used, each performance adds new layers to the overall installation, and the audience shifts — at times — from passive spectators to active co-creators of a constantly evolving artwork.
Over the course of the year, what emerges is not merely a documentation of past work but a model for a possible future of theatre — one that unites tradition and innovation, analogue and digital, performer and audience in genuine symbiosis. „RESONANZRAUM 40“ makes Theater der Klänge a pioneer of a new form of participatory culture of remembrance and establishes a space that can persist beyond 2026 as a living archive of German music-theatre history.
Programme Overview 2026 / 2027
| Period | Production | Format & Focus |
|---|---|---|
| 23–25 Oct 2026 | The Mechanical Ballet | Duets, trios. The origins of intermedial work (Bauhaus reference). |
| 06–07 Nov 2026 | The Silver Prince | Full performance. 6 performers plus audio-vision. A dialogue between Walter Gropius and contemporary aesthetics. |
| 01–03 Jan 2027 | LUDUS DANIELIS & Gregorius | Concert-staged performance with the music ensemble ESTAMPIE and acting solos. |
| 14–17 Jan 2027 | TRIAS – The Triadic Ballet | Dance solos, duets, trios. Live music. The triad as structural principle. |
| 19–20 Feb 2027 | Figure and Sound in Space & SUITE intermediale | Duets, live composer, interactive video design. Sensor control and real-time transformation. One dancer — and the audience as performers! |
| 19–21 Mar 2027 | The Lacquer Ballet | Duets, live composer, live video design. Materiality and surface on a digitally paintable canvas. |
| 12–18 Apr 2027 | Heinrich Heine’s Le Grand | Full performance. 2 actors, 2 musicians. Text, music and visual projections. |
| 28–30 May 2027 | West-Land Dances | Duets, bal modern, live music. Spatial dynamics and cultural hybridity. |
| 24–27 Jun 2027 | Coastal Souls | Full performance. 4 dancers, 1 musician. The most recent creation in the context of the company’s history. |
Digital Media Expertise of Theater der Klänge
Theater der Klänge possesses an exceptional depth of expertise — grown over nearly four decades — in integrating digital media technologies into the performative space. This continuous pioneering work makes the company one of Germany’s leading independent music and dance theatre groups in the field of intermedial, interactive stage art.
Historical Development
From its very first production in 1987, the Mechanical Bauhaus Stage, Theater der Klänge placed new technologies at the centre: an electronic score controlled the lighting of two slide projectors via timecode, supplemented by video back-projection for the first realisation of László Moholy-Nagy’s Mechanical Eccentric. In 1993, the production Figure and Sound in Space extended these approaches through a gestural control system for a solo dancer and light barriers for sound triggering.
Research-Based Development
From 2001 onwards, research work intensified through two landmark projects at Dortmund University of Applied Sciences: Performer Computer Interaction (PCI) led to the productions Megalopolis and Modulator, in which music parameters and video transformations were controlled via Max/MSP and Jitter through live camera images of the dancers. The follow-up project Interactive Integrative Performance (IIP) resulted in the dance piece HÖReographien. This research line found its completion in the large-scale production SUITE intermediale (2010–11).
In 2023, Theater der Klänge realised a Virtual Total Theatre, accessible online and based on the now three-dimensionally realised, never-built architectural plans of Walter Gropius.
Expertise for „Resonanzraum 40“
For the planned project, the affiliated institute kiU at the Dortmunder U is available as a cooperation partner. Its director Harald Opel has established himself as a specialist in façade mapping and brings his expertise to bear on the immersive interior design. (page 21)
The project builds on a solid, proven technological and artistic foundation that deploys video mapping, immersive sound-space design and interactive elements not as isolated effects, but as integral components of a coherent artistic vision — one that transforms 40 years of experience into a forward-looking space of reflection.
RESONANZRAUM 40
from Saturday, 10 October 2026
Rehearsal Studio of THEATER DER KLÄNGE, Düsseldorf-Pempelfort
