Rimini Protokoll Explained

Rimini Protokoll
Formed:	2000
Genre:	Theatre
Location:	Berlin
Members:	Helgard Haug Stefan Kaegi Daniel Wetzel

Rimini Protokoll is a German theatre group founded in 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]

Methods and organization

Rimini Protokoll is a collaboration between the artists Helgard Haug, Stefan Kaegi, and Daniel Wetzel.^[2] The three met while attending the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies at the University of Giessen in Germany.^[3] They are a team of authors, directors, and designers of sound, stage, and videos, who have been working together since 1999.^[4]

A few characteristics typically apply to Rimini Protokoll productions:

• the group works as an artist collective,^{[5] [6]} sometimes including all of them, sometimes only one or two, sometimes collaborating with "outsiders".^[7] They use the name Rimini Protokoll as a common and recognizable label for their productions.^{[8] [9]}
• organization around a protocol rather than a dramatic text, meaning a script that has been developed in rehearsals cooperatively and sets a loose framework for the performance^[10]
• Rimini Protokoll usually work with people they call "experts of the everyday".^[11] This expertise is not associated with theatre, such as acting skills, but rather with a 'real life' competence or a profession that has shaped them^[12] Examples include truckers, secret service agents, model train enthusiasts, police officers, etc. These people convey their experiences, stories, clothes, accents, and even specific habitual movements onstage. This is seen as a key element of Rimini Protokoll's "new documentary theatre".
• use of media technology
• staging productions in representative locations or extending the stage to public spaces^[13]

Awards and recognition

• 2007 — Mülheimer Dramatikerpreis award, for their stage play Karl Marx: Das Kapital, Erster Band^{[14] [15]}
• 2007 — Der Faust award in the "Sonderpreis" category^[16]
• 2008 — Europe Theatre Prize – Thessaloniki^[17]
• 2008 — Hörspielpreis der Kriegsblinden prize, for their radio play Karl Marx: Das Kapital, Erster Band^[18]
• 2011 — Silver Lion at the 2011 Theatre Biennale in Venice^[19]
• 2013 — Japan Media Arts Festival Excellence Award for Situation Rooms^[20]
• 2015 — Hans-Reinhart-Ring^[21]

Rimini Protokoll have several times been invited to the "10 best" of the theatre festival Berliner Theatertreffen, most recently with "All right. Good night." (2022)^[22] and "Chinchilla Arsehole, eyeye" (2020).^[23]

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. Web site: Rimini Protokoll . cccb.org . 7 April 2021 . 24 April 2020.
3. 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 .
4. News: Wir alle sind Spezialisten . Neue Zürcher Zeitung . 17 February 2004 . 24 August 2020 . de . We Are All Specialists.
5. News: Smee . Jess . 9 November 2006. Collective puts Marx's Das Kapital on stage. The Guardian . London, UK . 24 August 2024.
6. Web site: Interview with Rimini Protokoll . www.goethe.de . 24 August 2020.
7. Book: Malzacher, Florian . 2007 . Dreysse . Miriam and Florian Malzacher . Experts of the Everyday. The Theatre of Rimini Protokoll . Alexander Verlag Berlin . 17–43 at 21 . Dramaturgies of care and insecurity: The story of Rimini Protokoll . 978-3-89581-181-4.
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 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334552364_Rimini_Protokoll's_Theatricalization_of_Reality, pp. 153 – 160, at 153.
9. Web site: Agenda: Türen öffnen . der-theaterverlag.de . 3 October 2024 . de . Agenda: Opening Doors.
10. Book: Malzacher, Florian . 2007 . Dreysse . Miriam and Florian Malzacher . Experts of the Everyday. The Theatre of Rimini Protokoll . Alexander Verlag Berlin . 17–43 at 20 f. . Dramaturgies of care and insecurity: The story of Rimini Protokoll . 978-3-89581-181-4.
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. Boenisch . PM . 2008 . Other people live: Rimini protokoll and their 'theatre of experts' . Contemporary Theatre Review . 18 . 1 . 107–113. 10.1080/10486800701741543 . 24 August 2024.
13. Web site: Species of Spaces in the theatre of Rimini Protokoll: a conversation with Helgard Haug [The City as Stage in Rimini Protokoll: a conversation with Helgard Haug] ]. Aloy . Guillem . 2018 . upcommons.upc.edu . 24 August 2024 .
14. Web site: Deutschlandfunk: Der Mülheimer Dramatikerpreis für "Das Kapital" . de . 16 June 2007 . 12 October 2024.
15. Web site: Rimini Protokoll: Karl Marx: Capital, Vol. 1.
16. Web site: Nachtkritik . 13 June 2023.
17. Web site: Europe Theatre Prize – XII Edition – XII Edition Europe Theatre Prize . 2 January 2023 . archivio.premioeuropa.org.
18. Web site: Marx on the Petersberg .
19. Web site: La Biennale .
20. Web site: 17th Art Division Excellence Award (Interactive art) .
21. Web site: Schweizer Grand Prix Theater / Hans-Reinhart-Ring 2015 .
22. Web site: Berliner Festspiele: Theatertreffen 2022. The 10 selected productions .
23. Web site: Berliner Festspiele: Theatertreffen 2020. The 10 selected productions .