The Volkstheater guerrilla group Nesterval, winner of the Nestroy Prize, transforms historical material into immersive theater experiences where audiences move through scenes and spaces in small groups. At the last summer festival, Nesterval’s "DIE NAMENLOSEN" at the cocoa warehouse in the harbor was among the fastest-selling shows, with long waiting lists.

For their latest project, "A DIRTY FAUST," the Viennese group now weaves Goethe’s classic with dance films from the 80s into a piece that explores the question of bodily autonomy in the context of abortion. In Hamburg, the former Seilerstraße public school will be transformed into Hotel Nesterval for three weeks, where audiences encounter 47 rooms, a melon, eccentric guests, and a washed-up hotelier who wagers nothing less than the soul of each guest against an illusionist. The three-hour piece can take a different course each night, presenting a highly topical issue as an intense theater experience.

Artistic Direction: Martin Finnland | Book: Teresa Löfberg, Eva Deutsch, Martin Finnland 

Dramaturgy: Tove Grün | Setdesign: Andrea Konrad | Costumedesign: Dritan Kosovrasti | Choreography: Marcelo Doño | Sounddesign: Alkis Vlassakakis | Composition: Julian Muldoon | Technische Leitung, Produktion Nesterval: Lukas Saller | Produktionsleitung Nesterval: Gioia Morgan | Concept, Funding, Archiv: Martin Walanka | Graphic: Rita Brandneulinger | Communication: Christopher Wurmdobler | Redaction: Gisa Fellerer | Trailer: Alkis Vlassakakis | Directionsassistance: Laura Athanasiadis

Photography: Kati Vertigo - @Vertigohyeah

.METAXIS is a multimedia dance installation by Argentinian choreographer Marcelo Doño that explores bodies in a state of digital merging. In METAXIS, he explores the nostalgia of the virtual age and seeks a physical expression of the metamodern concept of the in- between, also known as "metaxis". Oscillating between modern enthusiasm and postmodern irony, hope and melancholy, totality and fragmentation, METAXIS transforms the stage into a digital-immersive arena where the audience can immerse themselves and experience intimacy between digital beings, space and performers.

Blurring the boundaries between bodięs, reality and fantasy. METAXIS explores themes of identity and authenticity in the age of endless content, inviting audiences to reflect on their assumptions and perceptions about the complexity of the present.

Artistic Direction, Choreography, Dance: Marcelo Doño | Creative Coding & Video Art: Baris Pekcagliyan | Dance & Creation: Larissa Potapov, Ann-Leonie Niss | Music & Sound Design: Matthias Schubbert | Set & Costumedesign: Hanna Naske & Leonard Schulz | Directions Assistance & Dramaturgical Support: Agnetha Jaunisch | Lightdesign: Doria Worden | Creative Producing: Guy Marsan | Graphic Design: Sena Oh | Photography: Öncü Gültekin, Hanna Naske | Video Documentation & Editing: Leonard Schulz

METAXIS is a Production from Marcelo Doño, in coproduction with Kampnagel Hamburg and the Digitales Koproduktionslabor in Dortmund.

Funded by:  Behörde für Kultur & Medien Hamburg, Hamburgische Kulturstiftung, Mara & Holger Cassens Stiftung.

Photography: Öncü Gültekin

In one of the halls on the extensive grounds is the warehouse of the Nesterval porcelain factory and its canteen, where members of the family, workers and residents meet. Martha Nesterval, outwardly loyal National Socialist, is on site for the company and is supposed to take her nephew under her wing. Her husband, a doctor loyal to the system, is supposed to cure the young man of his "dreamy nature". But the environment into which the aunt introduces the nephew opens up a whole new world for him. For at night, it is said, the company cafeteria becomes an unofficial, secret dive - and a refuge for "the nameless," whose lives by day are so often defined by self-denial, fear and threat. 

The audience gets closer to the characters than ever before in this Nesterval production, because they embody the thoughts of the characters. Thoughts that constantly accompany them throughout the story.

Artistic Direction: Martin Finnland | Book: Teresa Löfberg | Co-Authors: Martin Finnland, Gisa Fellerer, Lorenz Tröbinger | Co-Conzept, Funding & Archive: Martin Walanka | Co-Direction: Lorenz Tröbinger | Dramaturgy: Tove Grün | Production: Sabine Anders | Set: Andrea Konrad | Props: Willy Mutzenpachner | Costume: Dritan Kosovrasti | Choreography: Marcelo Doño | Composition: Julian Muldoon | Text/Singing: Sarah Muldoon | Sound Design: Lorenz Tröbinger, Alkis Vlassakakis | Music Curation/Video: Alkis Vlassakakis 

Trailer: Lorenz Tröbinger, Photography: Alexandra Thompson

Humans are becoming increasingly digital and the digital increasingly human. ALGORITHMIC BODIES invites us to engage with our relationship to technology.

In close collaboration with creative coder Gloria Schulz and using augmented reality technologies, this hybrid multimedia dance performance explores the extent to which we are already rooted in the technological spectrum and what traces our daily interaction with digital technologies and social networks leaves on us.

The bodies of two performers are scanned live and projected onto the stage set. These virtual representations are modified and distorted by augmented reality. A process that immerses us in a sensual world in which the boundaries between digital and analog realities blur, and man and machine intertwine and influence each other in an act-and-response game.

Artistic Direction, Choreography, Dance: Marcelo Doño | Creative Coding & Video Art: Gloria Schulz | Dance & Co-Choreography: Larissa Potapov | Sound Design: Maya Herrmann | Costume & Setdesign: Hanna Scherwinski & Elisa Bross | Dramaturgy: Isabelle Wapnitz | Creative Consulting: Patricia Carolin Mai | Creative Producing: Uta Engel | Social Media: Uta Engel & Lisa Kruse | Lightdesign & Tech: Sönke Herm | Fotography: Tanja Hall | Graphic: Irma Crusat | Video Documentation & Editing: Diana Sánchez

Vielen Dank an: Studio für unbegrenzte Möglichkeiten, Merle-Mischke-Klee Kollektiv, FUNDUS Theater, Dachverband freie darstellende Künste (DfdK), die WIESE e.G., Felina Levits.

Funded by:  Behörde für Kultur & Medien Hamburg, Hamburgische Kulturstiftung, Mara & Holger Cassens Stiftung..

PRESS:

Photography: Tanja Hall 

But the North German national epic is only the starting point for an immersive theater game that retells the canonical story of the downfall of the Buddenbrook merchant family: On the edge of the entertainment district, the stranded of society come together every evening at the Budd'n'brooks to find their piece of happiness under the protection of the neon light.

For a long time, the shining light of big business in the amusement industry overshadowed the dark side of the family-run establishment.The rules of the market have remained the same, but business is no longer good. Some have a lot to lose, but many have nothing left.  In this elaborate immersive theater-game production, theatergoers encounter familiar characters, sex work and rave excesses; and they themselves become protagonists who can change the fate of individuals or the entire family and this play.

Concept, Artistic Direction: Martin Finnland | Script, Dramaturgy: Teresa Löfberg | Co-Concept: Martin Walanka | Production: Emilie Kleinszig; Willy Mutzenpachner | Set: Andrea Konrad; Martin Bogisch, Ruth Grau, Willy Mutzenpachner, Chiara Seide | Choreography: Marcelo Doño | Costume: Imke Paulick

Photography: Alexandra Thompson

"Grind Me" is a multimedia immersive solo dance performance. The project is about the hyper-sexualized body in the digital world and how this affects and redefines the way it moves, presents and performs.

The performance explores a social phenomenon that mainly affects homosexual men, but also shows up in all other social groupings: "the naked selfie." The sharing of self-created pornographic material in dating apps has become mainstream. A development that brings change and a new form of intimacy.

Viewers are invited to look at the dark corners of sexuality and intimacy in the digital age and to question where the limits of the objectification of our self and the consumability of fast eroticism lie.

Concept, Artistic Direction & Performance: Marcelo Doño | Videography: Larissa Potapov | Music: MICHAELBRAILEY | Coach: Fernanda Ortíz | Mentoring: David Bloom | Costume Design: Zoé Leduey | Lighting Design: Sönke Christian Herm

Funded by:  Behörde für Kultur & Medien Hamburg, Hamburgische Kulturstiftung, Between Bridges Foundation & Rudolf Augstein Stiftung.

Photography: Tanja Hall