THE WINNERS AND LOSERS 2014

photo by Stephan Glagla

On Saturday September 27, the jury gave out the awards for this year's Ruhrtriennale. 

HERE ARE THE WINNERS (AND LOSERS) !!!!

• I Love It! - Doing Kitchen (freitagsküche)

• Sie sollten ihre Schrauben nachziehen / They Should Tighten Their Screws - Manger (Boris Charmatz)

• Die schlimmste Show, wo ich nicht schlafen konnte / The Worst Show Where I Couldn’t Sleep - 20 Pianos (Matthew Herbert)

• Die Bühne ist geil / The Stage is Awesome - Neither (Morton Feldman / Samuel Beckett and Romeo Castellucci)

• Die Nummer 1 der Tänzer / The Number 1 of the Dancers - Broken Lights (Saburo Teshigawara & Rihoko Sato)

• Die Show, wo ich danach den Regisseur umbringen wollte UND Das grausamste Stück, das ich je sah / The Show Where I Wanted to Kill the Director After AND The Most Dreadful Piece I’ve Ever Seen - Nachtkonzert (Morton Feldman: For Philip Guston)

• Das Schönste in dem Stück, war deine Stimme / The Most Beautiful Thing in the Show Was Your Voice - De Materie (Louis Andriessen/Heiner Goebbels)

• Der Darsteller hat Talent / The Performer Got Talent - Fred Frith, Concert in Maschinenhaus

• Die Show, wo Leute gearbeitet haben / The Show Where People Were Working - Eine Einstellung zur Arbeit (Antje Ehmann / Harun Farocki)

• Die tierischste Show / Most Animalistic Show - Le Sacre du Printemps (Romeo Castellucci)

• Es war so schön, dass wir eine Zugabe wollten / It Was So Good We Wanted an Encore - KUNSTMUSEUM (Gregor Schneider)

• Die langweiligste Requisite / Most Boring Prop - El Triunfo de La Libertad (La Ribot)

• Die sängerischste Show / The Most Singerish Show - Figure humaine (ChorWerk Ruhr)

• Es war so gut, dass ich es allen erzählen musste / It Was So Good I Had to Tell Everyone - Melt (cantoni crescenti)

• Die Show war so romantisch, dass ich jemanden küssen wollte / The Show Was So Romantic that I Wanted to Kiss Someone - Verklärte Nacht (Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker)

• Es war so verrückt, dass ich es nicht verstanden / It Was So Crazy That I Didn’t Get It - Neither (Morton Feldman / Samuel Beckett and Romeo Castellucci)

• Die beste Ausstattung / Best Environment - De Materie (Louis Andriessen/Heiner Goebbels)

• Es war so hiphopmäßig, dass ich es nachmachen wollte / It Was So Hiphop That I Wanted to Do it Myself - Surrogate Cities Ruhr (Mathilde Monnier/Heiner Goebbels)

• Die Show, die noch üben muss / The Show That Still Has to Rehearse - Fred Frith, Concert in Maschinenhaus

• Die unbeweglichste Show / Most Immobile Show - ZEIT Forum Kultur

• Das war die beste Kunst / It Was the Best Art - KUNSTMUSEUM (Gregor Schneider)

• Die Show aus den 80ern / The Show From the 80’s - Concert at Jahrhunderthalle (hr-Sinfonieorchester)

• Die Show, wegen der ich nie wieder Spaghetti essen werde / The Show Why I’m Never Eating Spaghetti Again - Sänger ohne Schatten (Boris Nikitin)

• Die schönste Kreidebühne / Most Beautiful Chalk Stage - Surrogate Cities Ruhr (Mathilde Monnier/Heiner Goebbels)

• Die Show mit der schönsten Hintergrundmusik / The Show with the Most Beautiful Background Music - Quatuor Ébène and Éric Le Sage

• Die Nummer 1 der Geschichten / #1 of the Stories - Le Sacre du Printemps (Romeo Castellucci)

THE BEST OF THE BEST - KUNSTMUSEUM and Surrogate Cities Ruhr (IT'S A TIE)

and after a tie-breaking vote by the jury, the winner of THE BEST OF THE BEST OF THE BEST is....... 

KUNSTMUSEUM!!!!

Congrats to Gregor Schnieder and all the other artists in the festival!

manger, OUR LAST SHOW AT THE RUHRTRIENNALE!!!!

On Tuesday the CCA jury saw it's LAST show at the Ruhrtriennale after THREE YEARS!!!!! They rode the VIP autos for the premiere of manger by choreographer Boris Chartmatz, and we had some fun en route...

Here's no head Maxi

ALLLLLL THE KIDS at SURROGATE CITIES RUHR!!!

On Saturday we did something BIG - we took ALL the kids on the jury (almost 70!) to Heiner Goebbels and Mathilde Monnier's production of Surrogate Cities Ruhr. 

And... the Gladbeck kids from last year came, AHHHHH!!! Remember this guy??!!

Heavenly Voices at Figure Humaine

On Friday the jury attended a concert by ChorWerk Ruhr, Figure Humaine. First though, time to deck out the car - inside and out - with VIP magnets.

Künstlergespräch - Konzert i.d. Jahrhunderthalle

Double Jury night at Neither

We did a DOUBLE jury trip to Romeo Castellucci's Neither on Sunday night, and predictably, it was a bit CRAZZZY. 

But first, more crazy eye pics - and yes, the eye 'pics' are their own eyes!!

"The Konzert Show"

It was Saturday night, and where did the jury spend it? The Ruhrtriennale of course! It was the Konzert in der Jahrhunderthalle, with the hr-Sinfonieorchester. Here we are before doing a few loops on the roundabout... 

When Kids Ask Artists About Art

The Children's Choice Awards jury meets with artists involved in each production they see immediately after the show - often the star performers or directors themselves. This meeting provides an opportunity for the kids to ask any questions they have about what they just saw, to help inform their final evaluations of the performance.

Over and over again, I find that kids ask the artists what many adults would like to know - but are too afraid to ask. Adults are not supposed to ask "stupid" questions about art; we are expected to understand what it's about, or come to our own conclusions, even though many adult viewers of contemporary art don't have the tools to do so.

Broken Light - Das Künstlergespräch

Broken Lights on Friday Night

We were back together with our opening week jury last night, the kids who got this year's CCA going. And they were ready to be back!!! The energy was high for Broken Lights, a dance piece by Saburo Teshigawara that involves, well, a LOT of broken glass... 

But first, we got a bit crazy in the parking lot. As soon as I pulled in Lars jumped on our car - look at that good mood smile! The car was swarmed before I even got it parked...

Neither II

Neither - Fragen an Castellucci

Back to KUNSTMUSEUM

Last week we made our third and final visit to Kunstmuseum in Bochum. 

Check out the 'boys' car...

Quatuor Ébène und Éric Le Sage - Gespräch mit Raphaël Merlin

Quatuor Ebène and some air violin

We returned to the Zeche Carl in Essen the other day for a concert by French string quartet Quatuor Ébène. But first, you gotta check out Steffen's MEAN tattoo.

TROPHIES IN HERTEN

And here we are, making the final batch of trophies in HERTEN!!! It was a wild morning.

Zeit Forum Kultur - drawings drawings drawings (and some tomato throwing)

The jury headed to Zeit Forum Kultur on Sunday morning, just hours after the premiere of Neither, back in Bochum at the Jahrhunderthalle.

Check out this magnet job on the parked cars - VIP JURY FO' SHO'.

ZEIT Forum Kultur - Ein Gespräch mit Sibylle Lewitscharoff, Gernot Böhme und Mark Terkessidis

El Triunfo de la Libertad - QnA

NEITHER - a "Premiere" Party Night

On Saturday the jury attended the premiere of Neither, a production by Castellucci to the opera created by Morton Feldman and Samuel Beckett.

Damian Rebgetz, host for the upcoming CCA Awards Ceremony, joined us from Berlin! I think this photo sets the tone for the night...

EYE SEE YOU

AHHHHHHHHHHH

TROPHIES IN OSTERFELD

So you get your fix of glitter today.... here are some photos of our trophy making in Osterfeld!

TROPHY MAKING IN ESSEN

On Friday morning, we started one of the most important pre-ceremony tasks: MAKING THE TROPHIES!!! Covered in a secret recipe of chocolate and wax, with a tonne or two of glitter, these will be given to the artists who receive awards at the year-end Awards Ceremony (Sept 27 in Duisburg!). Jenna whipped up the chocolate, while the kids got into the decorations...

El Triunfo de la Libertad at PACT

On Thursday, we went to see El Triunfo de la Libertad in Essen, a performance by La Ribot, Juan Domínguez, and Juan Loriente. We started the night in true VIP style - with GLITZER SHOES!!!

A Visit to the Kunstmuseum

On Tuesday morning we headed with the jury back to the Kunstmuseum Bochum, to see Kunstmuseum by Gregor Schneider, in the VIP autos!! 

Fred Frith - Fragen und Antworten

Autographs and Improv with Fred Frith

On Monday night the jury was back at work, riding in the party cars to Essen for an improvisation/sound art concert by Fred Frith. 

First though, we had a mini-dance party in the parking lot. Here's Maxi strutting 'like his sister' before the show - what a pose!

Party im Auto

Gespräch mit Gregor Schneider

KRAZY at the KUNSTMUSEUM

Last night, we had A LOT of fun. I think the (many) pictures below speak for themselves...

Here we are in the car en route to the Kunstmuseum Bochum to see, well, Kunstmuseum - a new installation by Gregor Schneider. The jury brought... CANDY!!!! 

Sunday in Duisburg at De Materie

Sunday afternoon, after a morning at the Museum Folkwang, we took another jury to see De Materie in Duisburg. I LOVE this group shot - here we are in the lobby before the show!

Sänger ohne Schatten - Fragen und Antworten

THE FEAR: When artists are afraid of kids

All artists are informed ahead of time of the kids' attendance at their shows, especially when they will sit in the front row of the audience. In some cases, the artists aren't too keen, and request or demand they don't sit up-front, fearing--only fearing, of course--that they might be loud, disrupt the performers, and potentially ruin the whole performance.

Recently, the jury attended a show where, well, let's just say, the artists weren't thrilled about their presence. They didn't want the kids sitting in the first row, and were averse to an announcement of their arrival. This type of situation is complicated for us, the festival and the artists to deal with, and raises a whole slew of questions in trying to solve it. Who gets what they want? Who wins? We don't want to upset anyone, but we also have our own show to run--the CCA jury is, after all, a performance within the festival itself, the artists players within it. 

Fun times at the Folkwang

On a bright and early Sunday morning, we returned to the Museum Folkwang in Essen to take another jury to critique the exhibition Eine Einstellung zur Arbeit. We had lots of fun running and jumping around the parking lot before we went in....

Jury hands

20 Pianos and a PARTY in Essen

Ladies and gents, on Saturday night we headed to Essen for 20 Pianos! Here's the jury doin' their thing outside.

Melt - Das Künstlergespräch

Sänger ohne Schatten, aka The Spaghetti Show

It's Friday night, at the end of the first week of school. We headed out to see Sänger ohne Schatten, the new piece by Boris Nikitin, but arrived early, and were stuck in the car in the rain. What else to do? Put on some tunes, turn them up loud and have an AUTO PARTY.

A Second Visit to Le Sacre Du Printemps

Thursday - and we're back at it. A new group of kids headed to Duisburg to see Castellucci's Le Sacre Du Printemps and judge it for the second time. Here are the girls from Herten!

 

Verklärte Nacht - Gespräch mit Samantha Van Wissen

A ROMANTIC Evening with Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker

On Sunday, we closed the opening weekend by attending a performance of Verklärte Nacht, a dance-piece by choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. Set to beautiful music by Schönberg and a poem about a woman finding true love (while pregnant with another man's child!), there was romance in the air of the Jahrhunderthalle.

The girls from Osterfeld!

Künstlergespräch - De Materie

Melt

Q&A mit Romeo Castellucci

Late nights out: 11pm Nachtkonzert

On Saturday night, to top off an epic day of THREE shows, the jury headed out LATE for an 11pm concert with Ensemble Morton, performing For Philip Guston by Morton Feldman.

Here is the jury, walking and ROCKING the red carpet!

Le Sacre du Printemps - an afternoon with Castellucci

On Saturday afternoon, after the Folkwang Museum, some french fries and a run around the Landschaftspark, we walked the red carpet at Le Sacre du Printemps, a new performance by Italian director Romeo Castellucci.

Folkwang Museum, POMMES and a tower climb!

Saturday morning we had a date with Museum Folkwang to see the exhibition Eine Einstellung zur Arbeit. First we had to put magnets on the cars - here's Ken getting creative

A Friday Night Premiere - De Materie

After spending the afternoon at Melt, the jury made an appearance at one of the Ruhrtriennale's biggest shows this year: De Materie. To kick it off, they walked the red carpet in front of dozens of people!

A selfie with Castellucci

There are more photos to come, but here's a great one from yesterday: Ken taking a selfie with Romeo Castellucci, director of Le Sacre du Printemps.

MELT-ing, in the rain

On Friday, we got the premiere day underway with a visit to Urbane Künste's installation at Duisburg's Landschaftspark, Melt. Unfortunately, the installation is outside--and it was pouring rain. Nonetheless, we made the most of it, and the jury were the first members of the public to test it out!

Melt is made of 49 (not 50, we were told!) aluminum plates with nearly 2000 steel springs underneath that make it bounce-y and fun to walk, jump and run on. Here are our tentative first steps - what the photos don't reveal is how LOUD this piece is.... (stay tuned for videos to see!)

VIP'S AT THE FESTIVAL OPENING PARTY

After the premiere of De Materie on Friday, we went with the kinder jury to the Ruhrtriennale's opening party, where we met the people, got to know each other a little better and kicked back a LOT of sugary drinks.

The man taking cool to a whole new level - 

WELCOME TO THE RUHRTRIENNALE 2014: Starting with.... "Doing Kitchen"

We're back in the Ruhr for year three of the Children's Choice Awards! Look out for the cars on the autobahn, as we'll be ALLLL over the region the next 7 weeks chauffeuring the VIP's around.

For our first jury visit of 2014, we headed to Duisburg for the frietagsküche's "Doing Kitchen," a performance/meal where artists, performers and kids get to hang out and eat together ahead of the festival's official start. With a full meal included, we were feeling pretty optimistic that this performance would go over well from the start.

Here are 2 VIP's from Essen, posing with their VIP wheels to get the show started!

Und Workshop #2 in der Parkschule Essen!

Die Show, die noch üben muss. Ein super Preis, finden wir!

Rosa Parks Schule - Workshop #2

Auch in der Schule in Osterfeld war die Tafel schnell mit zahlreichen Preiskategorien beschrieben. Danach wurden die VIP-Schilder für die Jury-Autos gestaltet - natürlich mit Glitzer, Glitzer, Glitzer.

Max hat den Workshop mit einer Panoramaaufnahme festgehalten. 

Preiskategorien-VIP-Schilder-Glitzer-Workshop in Herten

Workshop, Workshop, Workshops

Die Ruhrtriennale 2014 beginnt in 44 Tagen!!!

 Ihr kennt das Spiel, eine neue Festivaljury wird gewählt und bereitet sich intensiv für ihre künftige Arbeit vor. Sie wählt Preise, diskutiert und bastelt VIP-Schilder. Diese Jahr sind Schüler und Schülerinnen der Rosa Parks Schule in Herten, Parkschule Essen und Gesamtschule Osterfeld in der Jury der Children's Choice Awards.

Workshop #1 - Soziale Kunst