ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE

Who composes? Who plays? On what? For SWEAT Rimini Protokoll pose these questions in a humorous new way. Fitness machines – taken from the world of physical self-optimization – now become music machines on the concert stage, and training muscles now means making music. 

 SWEAT. Songs of Push and Pull. The concert  

The concert SWEAT. Songs of Push and Pull was composed by multidisciplinary musicians such as AIGEL, Brigitta Muntendorf, Güner Künier, Sophia Wind, Schneider TM, Fabian Tombers, Bush.ida, Black Mirror Park and Wooly Aziz as an entire concert evening for this unique and innovative group of instruments. But who can play these instruments? People who have been unknowingly rehearsing for a long time by exercising on the original machines. People who may never have played a concert before, but whose regular training has given them a precise feel for their tendons and muscles. The Songs are a work-out and an evening of music at the same time, with a soundscape between gym, pop and contemporary compositions. 

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Daniel Wetzel was born in Constance in 1969, studied Applied Theater Studies in Giessen and now lives in Athens and Berlin. 

Since 2000 he forms an author and director-team with Helgard Haug and Stefan Kaegi, running under the name Rimini Protokoll. Their projects in duo or trio-constellations as well as solo works cover the fields of theatre, audio play, film and installation. 

Central to their work is the further development of the respective art fields to allow for unconventional views on our reality. For example, Haug / Kaegi / Wetzel declared an annual meeting of the Daimler company a theater piece and made their audience temporary share holders (“Annual Shareholders Meeting“, Berlin 2009) and they staged “100% City“ in more than 25 cities around the world with 100 local inhabitants statistically representating their city. In Berlin and Dresden they developed interactive Stasi-audio plays (“50 kilometers of files”, 2011 or “10 kilometers of files”, 2013). Since the 90s their work with “experts of the everydaylife” is described as groundbreaking and leading the path to new forms of documentary theater. 

Their work “Shooting Bourbaki (2003) was awarded the NRW-Impulse-Prize, “Deadline” (2004), “Wallenstein – a documentary-play” (2006) and “Situation Rooms” (2013) were invited to the Berliner Theatertreffen. The Mülheimer Dramatikerpreis awarded “Karl Marx: Capital, Volume One” (2007) both with the audience award as well as the award for dramaturgy, “Quality Control” (2014) also won the audience award. 

Further awards for Rimini Protokoll: German Theater Award Der Faust (2007), European Theater Award in the category New Realities (2008), War Blinded Audio Play Prize for “Karl Marx: Capital, Volume One” (2008), Silver Lion at the 41st Theaterbiennale in Venice (2011),  Hörspielpreis der ARD (ARD’s audio drama award) (2014), Hörbuchpreis der ARD (ARD audio book prize) (2015), Swiss Grand Prix Theater / Hans-Reinhardt-Ring (2015). 

TOASTER PERFORMANCE BIENNALE

In April 2026, Toaster presents Denmark’s first international performance biennale, taking place across Den Frie and Husets Teater.

The biennale offers a current portrait of the performance field within both visual art and performing arts – and the many intersections between them – which are rapidly evolving nationally as well as internationally. The focus is state of the art: taking the temperature of the field right now.

Experience more than 20 performances, including 10 entirely new works created specifically for the biennial. The artists range from established performance practitioners to emerging talents – sometimes within the same work.

The programme encompasses works rooted in dance, text, costume, sound, light, music, and space. Performance is here and now – it is the time we live in, and the time we choose to spend together.