Residencies
The residencies have so far taken place at all eight production houses in various forms. During the residencies at one or more partner venues, the artists received dramaturgical and organizational advice. This gave the houses the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the working processes of the artists and groups. We intend to continue with the residency concept after the FREISCHWIMMEN transformation process.
to the current & previous residences
Performances
Workshop showings in the early stages of the FREISCHWIMMEN projects were subsequently presented at residencies, as well as at festivals, labs or in other contexts. Guest performances enabled the artists and groups to present the productions they had developed as part of FREISCHWIMMEN at various venues and transnationally expanded audiences. Unfortunately, FREISCHWIMMEN is currently unable to facilitate workshop showings and guest performances. However, we hope to be able to realize a similar or modified offer again in the future and are working on concepts for this.
to the current & previous performances
Labs & Festivals
The labs were designed as intensive work and exchange formats. They enabled all artists and partner venues of the platform to come together. Over several days, the artists, dramaturges and guests were able to exchange ideas about projects and working methods, present their projects and work together on unifying themes. Since FREISCHWIMMEN no longer took place as an annual touring festival, there have been biennial freely curated FREISCHWIMMEN festivals at the partner venues instead. FREISCHWIMMEN productions were linked to festivals and thematic focuses at various stages of development. Unfortunately, no further FREISCHWIMMEN festivals are currently planned. However, we are working on reviving the festivals in the future.
Live-Lab / 30.3. – 03.4.2023 / Gessnerallee Zurich
From 30.3. to 3.4.2024 the FREISCHWIMMEN Lab took place at Gessnerallee Zurich. The network continued its program of encounters and exchanges between the participating artists and venues. In workshops, open space formats and one-to-one discussions, working methods and aesthetic approaches were shared, perspectives on a successful working culture were exchanged and collaboration was intensified. The program was flanked by excursions and visits to concerts and performances in the city. Special guests were the alumni Criptonite with an input on accessibility and aesthetics of access.
Live-Lab / 2. – 6.4.2022 / FFT Düsseldorf
The first FREISCHWIMMEN Live Lab after the Covid-19 lockdowns took place at the FFT in Düsseldorf and was all about transformation. Against the backdrop of the experience(s) of a global pandemic, the aim was to reassess one’s own role as an artist or institution: What (social) responsibility do we bear and what does it take to initiate change? What transformations do we have no influence on? In an intensive exchange, the LABS participants at the FFT looked back at the past and what we can learn from it, as well as looking to the future and asking how sustainable change is possible in our own structures.
Online Lab / 16. – 17.11.2020 / hosted by RAMPE Stuttgart and Schwankhalle Bremen
For two full days, we were able to exchange ideas in virtual presentations and discussions about the respective projects, working methods and plans in various online formats. The participants were not only taken into rehearsal processes and onto theater stages, but were also taken via Googlemaps to concrete development areas in Leipzig and Cologne, were shown a short live concert and could almost smell fragrance experiences through visual impressions and detailed descriptions. In 15-minute break-out sessions, there were also introductory talks between the houses and artists. Input was provided from the previous FREISCHWIMMEN artists by Caroline Creutzburg, Till Korfhage (Mobile Albania) and Cilgia Gadola (former project coordinator of FREISCHWIMMEN).
Live-Lab / 27.8. – 01.9.2019 / Gessnerallee Zurich
Embedded in the Zürcher Theaterspektakel (15.8. to 01.9.2019), the first Lab, hosted by Gessnerallee Zurich, offered artists the opportunity to collaborate intensively over seven days. They also had the opportunity to get to know the Zurich theater and performance landscape (better) and introduce themselves to a wider local audience of professionals.
Festivals
10 tage freischwimmen / 25. April – 05. Mai 2024
RAMPE organized a double festival of the independent scene in Stuttgart from 25.04. – 05.05.2024: FREISCHWIMMEN meets 6 tage frei.
For the 20th anniversary of the production platform, the FREISCHWIMMEN festival meets 6 TAGE FREI, the festival of Baden-Württemberg’s independent scene. They combine to form a unique festival double, this time with 10 instead of 6 days full of theater, performance, dance and music from Baden-Württemberg, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, plus a sparkling urban space project, an academy of aging, parties, talks, encounters and workshops. Young talent meets all-stars, local meets international – 10 days of free swimming is a brilliant spring festival that celebrates the contemporary performing arts and asks in very different ways: How can we age together both wildly and with dignity on a planet whose lifespan is becoming increasingly uncertain? Because one thing is clear: we won’t get back together this young.
FREISCHWIMMEN meets RODEO / 07. – 15. Oktober 2022
HochX organized a double festival of the independent scene in Munich from 7 – 15.10.2022: Freischwimmen meets Rodeo. The festival is organized by Theater und Live Art München e.V., with Antonia Beermann and Ute Gröbel as artistic directors.
The Rodeo Festival has been the most important platform for the independent performing arts in Munich since 2010. It provides insights into the diversity of Munich’s dance and theater scene, serves to network artists locally and nationally and provides new artistic impetus.
The Freischwimmen-Festival is the biennial festival of the Freischwimmen network; an international exchange, residency and production platform for young groups and artists, in which eight independent production houses from German-speaking countries are organized: brut Vienna, FFT Düsseldorf, Gessnerallee Zurich, Schwankhalle Bremen, Sophiensæle Berlin, Theater Rampe Stuttgart, LOFFT – DAS THEATER Leipzig and HochX Munich.
Freischwimmerinnen. The Future is Female* / 29. November bis 08. Dezember 2019 / Sophiensæle
The first festival with a FREISCHWIMMEN connection took place from 29.11.-8.12.2019 at Sophiensæle, which combined the FREISCHWIMMEN promotion of young talent with its feminist program work. With the inclusion of further international guest performances and theorists, the focus was on strategic knowledge exchange and concrete and solidary possibilities for action.
The festival Freischwimmerinnen – The future is female at Sophiensæle was funded by the Senate Department for Culture and Europe – Promotion of festivals relevant to urban policy 2018/19 and the Capital Cultural Fund.
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