Impulse Festival 2025

For more than 30 years, the NRW KULTURsekretariat's Impulse has been one of the most important festivals for the independent theatre scene in the German-speaking world. Impulse has often reinvented itself and thus also reflects developments in the independent performing arts. What remains constant: The festival presents noteworthy productions of the year from Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DACH region) and thus gives visibility to the outstanding works of the independent theatre scene. It invites a broad audience to encounter innovative and transdisciplinary working methods and aesthetics in performance, theatre and dance and thus reflects contemporary developments.

In September 2024, dramaturge and curator Franziska Werner took over as festival director. The festival name has been changed: From 2025, Impulse will operate under the name Impulse Festival for Performance, Theatre & Dance, thus taking into account the close connection and often blurred boundaries between the artistic genres in works by the independent scene.

With the first festival edition in 2025 under new artistic direction, the Impulse Festival for Performance, Theatre & Dance will also undergo a restructuring of its programme architecture: between 18 June and 6 July 2025, each of the three Impulse cities of Mülheim an der Ruhr, Cologne and Düsseldorf will host a dense programme of productions selected by a jury for the Showcase and the Post-West programme focus, alternating on a weekly basis. Post-West focusses on the exchange between East and West and creates spaces for encounters between the independent scenes and artists of the host region NRW and East Germany. A third programme area Impulse meets... includes discursive formats, workshops and parties in collaboration with local partners and friends of the festival.

Impulse Festival 2025 in Mülheim

Showcase

ERÖFFNUNG:
Joana Tischkau
Ich nehm dir alles weg – Ein Schlagerballett
Tanz/Performance
18. Juni, 20:30–21:40
19. Juni, 18:30–19:40 + Gespräch
Ringlokschuppen Ruhr, Mülheim an der Ruhr

Victoria Halper & Kai Krösche (DARUM)
[EOL]. End of Life - Eine virtuelle Ruinenlandschaft
Performative Installation in Virtual Reality
18. Juni, 16:00–20:00
19. Juni, 17:00–23:00
20. Juni, 15:00–23:00
21. Juni, 17:00–23:00

Filmstudio Ruhr | Delle 25 | 45468 Mülheim

Hendrik Quast
Hairkunft
Performance/Stand-up
19. Juni, 21:00–22:30
20. Juni, 19:00–20:30
21. Juni, 21:00–22:30 + Gespräch
Ringlokschuppen Ruhr, Mülheim an der Ruhr

Jaha Koo / CAMPO
Haribo Kimchi
Food-Performance
20. Juni, 21:00–22:10
21. Juni, 21:00–22:10 + Gespräch
Ringlokschuppen Ruhr, Mülheim an der Ruhr

Lina Majdalanie & Rabih Mroué
Four Walls and a Roof
Performance
21.6., 18:00 + Gespräch
Ringlokschuppen Ruhr, Mülheim an der Ruhr

Post-West-Schwerpunk

Hannsjana
Tyrannosaurus Regina
Audiowalk mit performativen Interventionen
19. Juni, 14:30–15:30, 17:30–15:30
20. Juni, 19:00–20:00
MüGa-Park am Ringlokschuppen Ruhr

fachbetrieb rita grechen
NO SPEED NO LIMIT – Via Regia
Interaktive Radtour im Livestream und Ankunft-Performances in Mülheim an der Ruhr (21. Juni) und Köln

Das Impulse Festival 2025 wird veranstaltet und gefördert vom NRW KULTURsekretariat, gemeinsam mit den Städten Düsseldorf, Köln und Mülheim an der Ruhr in Kooperation mit dem FFT Düsseldorf, der studiobühneköln und dem Ringlokschuppen Ruhr. Das Festival wird maßgeblich gefördert durch das Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, die Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien und die Kunststiftung NRW.