Fri 30.1.2026 // 19.30
Photo: Michael Akstaller
Fri 30.1.2026 // 19.30
Work-in-progress showing // Bräuhausgasse 40, 1050 Wien // pay as you wish/can // drinks & food
Coaching: Krassimira Kruschkova
In cooperation with WEST/FASSFABRIK, Lena Schattenberg and Michael Akstaller are offering a workshop on the topic on 19.2.2026, as well as another showing on 21.2.2026. More here.
In their collaboration, Lena Schattenberg and Michael Akstaller explore the relationship between repetition and apparent stasis, how internal loops manifest themselves physically and sonically, and how new impulses can arise from this. In an age of constant stimuli, STILLSTAND deliberately focuses on the small, the easily overlooked – repetition becomes a means of shifting perception, an act of reusing, a political gesture.
The two artists pursue their individual artistic research but remain in dialogue with each other and with the space. Akstaller explores the architecture with sound, Schattenberg with the body – they meet in searching, in friction, in subtle shifts. STILLSTAND consciously rejects linear narration, opening fields of associations and individual perspectives instead, in which viewers and performers alike may lose, observe, and reorient themselves.
Photos: Franzi Kreis/Im_flieger
Krassimira Kruschkova (BG/AT) is a theater, dance, and performance theorist, dramaturge, and curator. She studied at the Academy for Theatre and Film in Sofia. Since 1995, she has taught at the University of Applied Arts and the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. She received her doctorate in 1994 and her habilitation in 2002 from the University of Vienna. From 2003 to 2017, she was director of the Theory Center at Tanzquartier Wien. She has held several visiting professorships at the Free University of Berlin and the Universities of Frankfurt, Vienna and Salzburg. She has curated numerous lecture and performance series. Publications include „Ob?scene: Zur Präsenz der Absenz im zeitgenössischen Tanz, Theater und Film“ (Editor, 2005), „Tanz anderswo“ (Co-editor, 2004), „It takes place when it doesn’t. On dance and performance since 1989“ (2006), „Dies ist kein Spiel“ (2008), „Uncalled. Dance and performance of the future“ (2009), 8 booklets SCORES #0-#7 (2010-2017).
Krassimira Kruschkova (BG/AT) is a theater, dance, and performance theorist, dramaturge, and curator. She studied at the Academy for Theatre and Film in Sofia. Since 1995, she has taught at the University of Applied Arts and the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. She received her doctorate in 1994 and her habilitation in 2002 from the University of Vienna. From 2003 to 2017, she was director of the Theory Center at Tanzquartier Wien. She has held several visiting professorships at the Free University of Berlin and the Universities of Frankfurt, Vienna and Salzburg. She has curated numerous lecture and performance series. Publications include „Ob?scene: Zur Präsenz der Absenz im zeitgenössischen Tanz, Theater und Film“ (Editor, 2005), „Tanz anderswo“ (Co-editor, 2004), „It takes place when it doesn’t. On dance and performance since 1989“ (2006), „Dies ist kein Spiel“ (2008), „Uncalled. Dance and performance of the future“ (2009), 8 booklets SCORES #0-#7 (2010-2017).
Lena Schattenberg (AT) is a contemporary dancer and choreographer based in Vienna. Her work unfolds between somatic practice, conceptual research and relational movement, with a focus on inner multiplicities and the shifting dialogues between the many parts of the self. She explores how these inner constellations manifest through movement, voice, spatial states and embodied transformation. Lena has collaborated with artists such as Claudia Bosse, Theo Clinkard, Samuel Feldhandler, Eva Borrmann and Rosas / Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, and has performed across Europe and beyond, including Beirut and Moscow. Recent works include The Many Piece (2022) and I lived in the cracks and moved in the shadows (2023). www.lenaschattenberg.com
Michael Akstaller (DE) is a visual artist and musician. His artistic, academic, and curatorial practice focuses on flow research, (hydro-)acoustics, and the relationships between sound and space. His interdisciplinary and often collaborative projects have been presented at venues including Silent Green Berlin (2023), Lenbachhaus Munich (2022, 2021), Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (2022, 2021), the 6th Ural Industrial Biennale (2021), and HKW Berlin (2021). In 2024, he represented the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, and in 2025 he will present a sound installation there as part of the Architecture Biennale. He has worked with institutions such as the Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute in Karlsruhe, the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg, and the Federal Institute of Hydrology in Koblenz. He currently teaches at the Folkwang University of the Arts. As co-curator, he has realized festivals at Künstlerhaus Nuremberg and HKW Berlin. He lives and works in Nuremberg. www.michaelakstaller.de