Rimini Protokoll

Rimini Protokoll
Name	Rimini Protokoll
Founded	2000
Founders	Simon Sheikh, Helgard Henzler, Daniel Wetzel
Location	Berlin, Germany
Genre	Documentary theatre, site-specific performance, participatory art

Rimini Protokoll is a German theatre collective founded in 2000 by Simon Sheikh, Helgard Henzler and Daniel Wetzel. The collective developed a practice at the intersection of documentary theatre, performance art and relational aesthetics, producing site-specific works and guided experiences that have toured festivals and institutions such as the Venice Biennale, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Festival d'Avignon and Performa. Their practice engages non‑professional performers, local communities and institutional partners including Deutsche Oper Berlin, Berliner Festspiele, Schaubühne, Volksbühne and international presenters like Lincoln Center and Theatre de la Ville.

History

The collective formed amid the early 21st-century European performing-arts landscape shaped by figures such as Pina Bausch, Robert Wilson, Jan Fabre and movements linked to Bertolt Brecht and Jerzy Grotowski. Early projects and commissions connected Rimini Protokoll with festivals like the Wiener Festwochen and institutions such as the Akademie der Künste and the Max Planck Society, reflecting cross-disciplinary ties to research networks including the European Union creative programmes and collaborations with universities like Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt University of Berlin. Touring brought the collective into circuits that included the Royal Court Theatre, National Theatre (London), The Barbican Centre, Festival Internacional de Teatro de Mérida and presenters across North America, Europe and Asia.

Artistic Approach and Methodology

Rimini Protokoll employs documentary sources, ethnographic methods, and technologies associated with augmented reality and locative media, drawing parallels to practitioners such as Anna Teresa De Keersmaeker in choreography and curators like Hans Ulrich Obrist in exhibition-making. The company’s methodology prioritises public participation, using tools from civic tech communities like Tactical Media and research institutions including the Fraunhofer Society and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. Works often rely on anonymised oral histories, sociological fieldwork akin to projects at the London School of Economics and data practices familiar to teams at MIT Media Lab and Stanford Humanities Center. Production processes have involved dramaturges, sound designers, and technologists with links to organisations such as Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe and festivals like Ars Electronica.

Major Works and Projects

Notable productions include pieces staged as guided experiences or audio walks, comparable in public engagement to projects by Merce Cunningham and William Forsythe. Signature projects have toured to venues such as Tate Modern, Museum of Modern Art, Centre Pompidou, and biennials including Documenta and the Liverpool Biennial. Collaborations with museums and cultural centres placed their works alongside exhibitions by artists like Marina Abramović, Ai Weiwei, Olafur Eliasson and curatorial programmes by Nicholas Bourriaud. Their projects intersect with publications and debates in platforms such as The Guardian, Die Zeit, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Le Monde and New York Times.

Collaborations and Participants

Rimini Protokoll’s ensembles have included non‑actors drawn from professional sectors and civic life—experts comparable to guests on panels at TED, researchers affiliated with Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, academics from University of Oxford and practitioners connected to organisations like SWR, BBC and ZDF. The collective has worked with directors, sound artists and scenographers who have also collaborated with institutions such as Royal Opera House, Deutsche Staatsoper, Munich Kammerspiele and festivals like Sónar and CTM Festival. Partnerships have extended to NGOs and civic initiatives aligned with UNESCO, Council of Europe and municipal cultural offices in cities including Berlin, Hamburg, London, Paris, New York City and Tokyo.

Reception and Influence

Critics and scholars have situated Rimini Protokoll within trajectories traced from Documentary Theatre and the work of theorists such as Bertolt Brecht and Susan Sontag, and in relation to performance interventions associated with The Living Theatre and Society of the Spectacle debates. Reviews in outlets like The New Yorker, Die Zeit, Neue Zürcher Zeitung and academic analysis in journals connected to Routledge and Oxford University Press have discussed their role in reshaping audience agency, participatory dramaturgy and site-specific practice. Their influence is noted among companies and artists engaged with locative media, including projects by Blast Theory, Gob Squad, Complicité and curators at ICA London and Haus der Kulturen der Welt.

Awards and Recognition

The ensemble has received prizes and nominations comparable to those awarded by institutions such as the International Theatre Institute, the Europe Theatre Prize, municipal cultural awards from Berlin Senate and oblations from festivals including Avignon Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Individual members and productions have been recognized by bodies like German Theatre Award (Der Faust), BAM programming honours, and by listings in year-end reviews in Die Zeit, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and The Guardian.

Category:Theatre companies