Spacelab is a research and co-working space in Essen. It is open to freelance groups, choreographers, dancers and performance artists from Essen and the surrounding area. The space is also the office and headquarters of Polymer DMT / Fang Yun Lo.

© by Lennart Speer
© by Lennart Speer
© by Lennart Speer
© by Lennart Speer
© by Lennart Speer
© by Lennart Speer
© by André Schallenberg
© by Lennart Speer
© by Lennart Speer

Address: Kreuzeskirchstr. 25, 45127 Essen, Germany
Contact / Info: Kati Masami Menze, Marlene Helling, spacelab@polymerdmt.com

In addition to work facilities, Spacelab offers a regular programme of workshops and lectures for members of IG Tanz Essen and interested artists from the region - the Spacelab encounters (2021), The flow work (2022) and space|lab is running (2022/23). We also organise festivals and other events and help coordinate the activities of IG Tanz Essen.

© by Jakob Kielgass
© by Jakob Kielgass
© by Jakob Kielgass
© by Jakob Kielgass

"space|lab is running 23 - one theme, two perspectives".

In this series of talks in space|lab and in our immediate neighbourhood, we want to talk to artists and specialists from teaching, research and science about their expertise and socially relevant topics. Which parallels exist in art and science, how and what can we learn from each other?

FRI, 10 FEBRUARY 2023, 19:00 [Start in Kunstraum jETZT, Weberstraße 8, Essen]
Archives - A task for eternity? - with Foteini Papadopoulou, freelance choreographer & Dr. Claudia Kauertz, head of Haus der Essener Geschichte/ Stadtarchiv

WED, 05 APRIL 2023, 19:00
AI - About Cyborgs, Chatbots and Chthuluzän - with Till Bödeker, visual artist & Anne Küper, Researcher in the DFG post-graduate programme “The Documentary. Excess and Withdrawal”, Ruhr-University Bochum

WED, 03 MAY, 2023, 19:00
Sounds of Our City - Noise or Signal? With Anna-Luella Zahner, dramaturge and translator & Frank Niehusmann, composer

Fri, 02 JUNE, 2023, 19:00
Assembly - How do we want to live together?

  • We invite you to a dinner where different perspectives on a future life in the city will have space. How do we want to live? How do we imagine the city and urban society in the future?
  • Admission free, pre-registration requested: spacelab@polymerdmt.com

© by Dominik Antoni Krolikowski
© by Dominik Antoni Krolikowski
© by Dominik Antoni Krolikowski
© by Dominik Antoni Krolikowski
© by Dominik Antoni Krolikowski
© by Dominik Antoni Krolikowski
© by Dominik Antoni Krolikowski
© by Dominik Antoni Krolikowski
© by Dominik Antoni Krolikowski
© by Dominik Antoni Krolikowski
© by Dominik Antoni Krolikowski
© by Dominik Antoni Krolikowski
© by Dominik Antoni Krolikowski
© by Dominik Antoni Krolikowski
© by Dominik Antoni Krolikowski
© by Dominik Antoni Krolikowski

space | lab is running 2022

The summer festival of IG Tanz Essen

DAY 1: JULY 29, 2022 - to start.

  • 11:00 - 16:00, space | lab [not public] – Internal Sharing of the IG Tanz artists and the space | lab residents with representatives of the art and culture scene NRW. With: Alberto Curci, Marlene Helling, Marie-Lena Kaiser, Josephine Kalies, Gustavo Leite, Fang Yun Lo, Kati Masami Menze, Foteini Papadopoulou, Robert Schulz, Giovanni Zazzera Z Art Dance Company mit Enora Gemin
  • 18:00, Gitterraum – Opening space | lab is running, drinks and food
  • 19:00 - 21:00, Gitterraum – DJ Set

DAY 2: JULY 30, 2022 - we are running.

A tour through Essen's City Nord, transformed through dance, performance, music, film and exhibitions by dance and performance artists from IG Tanz.

  • 14:00 START (in the order of the tour)
    • space | lab: “Octupus.” by Pin-Chen Hsu, “Salz ||: im Blut” by Camila Scholtbach, “STAND BY” by Lara Pilloni/ music by Alvaro Severino (video works)
    • Gitterraum: “now we're talking” by Josephine Kalies in collaboration with Kati Masami Menze, Paloma García de Juan, Elisa Spina and Tristan Berger (performative tryout / photo work)
    • Weberplatz: “Frauen.Frieden.Flügel” by Anca Huma (dance performance)
    • Konsumforum 2nd floor: “Untouch” by Alexandra Krutikova and Jan Chris Pollert (dance performance)
    • Gitterraum: experimental concert by Marco Girardin
    • Kopstadtplatz: “Zwei alte Damen” by Claudia Mauerer and Mariela Rossi (street performance)
    • Kunstraum jETZT: “MOVEMENT JOURNALS/MOVING JOURNALS” by Foteini Papadopoulou and Christian Clarke (photo work)
    • former Restaurant Mayflower: “Asia Restaurant” by Polymer DMT/Fang Yun Lo (video installation)
  • 16:45 Picnic at the Weberplatz

DAY 3: JULY 31, 2022 - to finish.

Film screenings and discussions about choreographers' and dancers' engagement with film

  • 11:00 - 14:00, space | lab
    • Talk about the video installation "Asia Restaurant" with the artists of Polymer DMT/Fang Yun Lo
    • Film screening "Die Erde ist gewaltig schön, doch sicher ist sie nicht" by SKORONEL RELOADED
    • Film screening "Vale of shadow" by Annalisa Palmieri and Stsiapan Hurski
© by Jakob Kielgass
© by Jakob Kielgass
© by Jakob Kielgass
© by Kati Masami Menze
© by Kati Masami Menze
© by Kati Masami Menze
© by Kati Masami Menze

Spacelab partner:

Polymer DMT

Sabina Stücker

IG Tanz Essen

© by Jakob Kielgass
© by Jakob Kielgass
© by Jakob Kielgass

space | lab Events

  • Jun 2 2023

    Assembly - How do we wish to live together?
    space | lab is running 23
    SpacelabEssen, DE
  • May 3 2023

    Sounds of Our City - Noise or Signal? With Anna-Luella Zahner & Frank Niehusmann
    space | lab is running 23
    SpacelabEssen, DE
  • Apr 5 2023

    AI - About Cyborgs, Chatbots and Chthuluzän. With Anne Küper & Till Bödeker
    space | lab is running 23
    SpacelabEssen, DE
  • Feb 10 2023

    Archives - A task for eternity? With Foteini Papadopoulou & Claudia Kauertz
    space | lab is running 23
    SpacelabEssen, DE
  • Nov 4 2022

    The flow work - dance & writing - workshop with Judith Ayuso
    SpacelabEssen, DE
  • Sep 16 2022

    The flow work - There is always a way: a workshop on freelancing as an artist - with Robert Schulz
    SpacelabEssen, DE
  • Aug 31 2022 - Sep 3 2022

    space | lab @ Agora
    Internationale TanzmesseDüsseldorf, DE
    NRW-ForumDüsseldorf, DE
  • Jul 29 2022 - Jul 31 2022

    space | lab is running - summer festival
    SpacelabEssen, DE
  • Jul 4 2022 - Jul 10 2022

    Residency - Foteini Papadopoulou
  • Jun 20 2022 - Jul 3 2022

    Residency - Bianca Sere Pulungan
  • Jun 10 2022

    The flow work - Improvisation with principles of Feldenkrais method - with Mu-Yi Kuo
    SpacelabEssen, DE
  • May 23 2022 - Jun 5 2022

    Residency - Josephine Kalies
  • May 9 2022 - May 21 2022

    Residency - Marco Girardin
  • Apr 18 2022 - May 1 2022

    Residency - Kati Masami Menze
  • Apr 2 2022

    The flow work - Documentary theatre research workshop - with Fang Yun Lo
    SpacelabEssen, DE
  • Mar 2 2022 - Mar 6 2022

    Residency - Marlene Helling
  • Feb 7 2022 - Feb 17 2022

    Residency - Marlene Helling
  • Jan 24 2022 - Feb 6 2022

    Residency - Hsiao-Ting Lee
  • Jan 17 2022 - Jan 23 2022

    Residency - Foteini Papadopoulou
  • Oct 28 2021

    Encounter #6 - Methods of Inclusion for Dance/Performance Art, with Elisa Kneisel
    Online
  • Aug 20 2021 - Aug 22 2021

    the flow work - workshops with Marie-Lena Kaiser, Verena Hahn, Samandhyana Company, Magdalena Öttl and Foteini Papadopoulou
    Maschinenhaus EssenEssen, DE
  • Jul 5 2021 - Jul 11 2021

    Folkwang RUNDGANG 2021
    SpacelabEssen, DE
  • Jul 4 2021

    Encounter #5 - Mobile audio recording techniques for choreographers, with Marius Kirch, Dipl. Audio Engineer
    Online
  • Jun 25 2021

    Encounter #4 - Turning reality into art - techniques of research and interviewing, with Khuê Phạm, ZEITmagazin
    Online
  • May 17 2021

    Encounter #3 - The Art Sector and Sustainability, with Iris Ping-Chi Hung, Taipei
    Online
  • Apr 29 2021

    Encounter #2 - Precarious Art, with Prof. Dr. Bojana Kunst, Frankfurt/M., Gießen
    Online
  • Apr 9 2021

    Meeting on cultural policy - with Muchtar Al-Ghusain, Margrit Lichtschlag
    SpacelabEssen, DE
  • Mar 22 2021

    Encounter #1 - Building a regional artists' network, with Cindy Hammer, Magdalena Weniger / TanzNetzDresden e.V.
    Online
  • Mar 12 2021

    Opening ceremony
    SpacelabEssen, DE

Spacelab is an initiative by Polymer DMT / Fang Yun Lo, in cooperation with IG Tanz Essen and Sabina Stücker Kulturproduktion, supported by BUREAU RITTER/TANZPAKT RECONNECT, which is funded by the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media as part of the NEUSTART KULTUR initiative, and by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia - Spitzenförderung Tanz
.