Marietta Piekenbrock

Marietta Piekenbrock (born 1964 in Westfalen) is a German art curator, dramaturge, author and a cultural manager.
Her projects combine theatre, dance, performances and music with cultural history, architecture and everyday life. As an artistic manager of the Cultural Capital of Europe RUHR.2010 and Istanbul.2010, and for the Ruhrtriennale 2012-14, she invited international artists and curators to collaborate with the local cultural participants and players on developing new artistic projects in areas of radical social change. Her programmes of events and initiatives made a strong case for sustainable cultural practice. Her 2012 series of events "No Education" promoted a new discourse on the relationship between art, children and education.
Life.
Piekenbrock studied Theatre, Philosophy and Art history in Aix-en-Provence, Munich and Paris with Julia Kristeva
where she first worked as an author, curator and translator. In subsequent years she collaborated closely working theatres, museums, galleries, archives and publishers generating exhibitions, installations and artist's book. From 2000 she was active as an independent journalist for various newspapers and periodicals, from 2003–2003 as drama critic for the daily 'Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'. 2004–2007 she worked for the RuhrTriennale as a dramaturg under general director Jürgen Flimm. 2007 she joined the administration of the European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010 as a head of music, theatre, dance and performance programming. The composer and intendant Heiner Goebbels invited her to become leading dramaturg for the Ruhrtriennale 2012-2014. Marietta Piekenbrock lives in Essen, and is mother to three children.
European Capital of Culture Ruhr.2010/ European Capital of Culture Istanbul.2010.
She worked intensively with many important artists such as Hans Werner Henze, who wrote his last opera, Gisela! For the RUHR.2010 (an opera for and about youth, premiered at the RuhrTriennale)., the Pottfiction festival, the Odyssee Europa project which involved six theaters of the Ruhrgebiet area performing modern versions of Homer's Odyssey in two days. and artist groups like Rimini Protokoll and raumlaborberlin.
Ruhrtriennale.
Patti Smith, Michel Houellebecq, Harun Farocki, Tarek Atoui, Jérôme Bel, Boris Charmatz, Tino Sehgal, Laurent Chétouane, Nature Theater of Oklahoma, Mammalian Diving Reflex, Rimini Protokoll, Köbberling & Kaltwasser, Mischa Kuball and Dan Perjovschi are some of the international artists and artist groups Piekenbrock invited to the Ruhr area, in whose artistic work Piekenbrock sees "The deeply poignant reflection of change, that society and individuals experience in modern times".
Jury Memberships.
Piekenbrock is a member of various specialist juries, including