Angie Hiesl + Roland Kaiser

About

Angie Hiesl

Grown up in Venezuela, Perú and Germany, Angie Hiesl has been living and working in Cologne since 1975. Since the 1980s she has been working as director, choreographer, and performance and installation artist. In Germany she was one of the first artists to develop projects for dance and theater in site-specific only settings. Throughout various teaching activities at international academies and universities Angie Hiesl passes on her artistic approach.

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Roland Kaiser

Born in the Black Forest Roland Kaiser has been living in Cologne since 1987. Since 1997 the director, choreographer and fine artist has been  realizing artistic projects together with Angie Hiesl that have been shown at numerous national and international festivals and guest performances. He furthermore documents all productions photographically.

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Concept

Awards

Angie Hiesl + Roland Kaiser
© Foto: Roland Kaiser 2019

Exhibitions

Publications

DRESSING THE CITY AND MY HEAD IS MY SHIRT

Kettler Publishing 2026

A photo book by Angie Hiesl and Roland Kaiser, featuring an essay by Dr. Ann-Katrin Günzel.

In public squares and at street intersections, the performers become entangled with traffic signs via their sweaters and dresses, wrap sleeves and trouser legs around bollards and railings, or merge with trash cans and mailboxes. They weave themselves into the location and physically inscribe themselves into the urban space—a transparent "intertwining" of people, architecture, and everyday life.

Angie Hiesl and Roland Kaiser first realized DRESSING THE CITY UND MEIN KOPF IST EIN HEMD in Cologne in 2011. This was followed in 2024 by a restaging DRESSING THE CITY UND MEIN KOPF IST EIN HEMD #02, also in Cologne—featuring a cast consisting exclusively of performers aged 60 to 87. With this project, the artists expanded their work to include an explicit exploration of the themes of age and aging within the performing arts.

This publication documents the performative urban interventions carried out in public spaces to date. The book brings together photographs by Roland Kaiser and showcases 25 performers who participated in various versions and casts of the project across Cologne, Viersen, Arnhem, and São Paulo over the years.

2021 - WAR SCHÖN. KANN WEG ... Alter(n) in der Darstellenden Kunst
(WAS BEAUTIFUL. CAN GO ... Age(ing) in the Performing Arts)

The anthology refers to the symposium under the same title that we organised in 2021 and that met with great interest. The book is at the same time an extension of the discussion that was started then.

How do the performing arts deal with age(ing)? This is the question Angie Hiesl + Roland Kaiser explored. Together with kubia* director Almuth Fricke, they have published the results of their artistic and discursive investigation in this anthology.

People in Germany and many other industrialised nations are getting older and often stay in work longer. Artists, too, are increasingly working into old age. Many do this of their own accord; after all, their creativity does not end when they reach retirement age. The truth is, however, that for financial reasons some people "keep working until we fall off the stage", as performer Lisa Lucassen puts it. But not everyone has this option either: it is still a great exception when professional dancers can continue to work in their "old age", in other words, beyond the age of 40.

The cultural and socio-political challenges of age(ing) in the performing arts, e.g. with regard to old-age provisions and appropriate funding concepts, are explored in depth in personal, academic and cultural-political texts.

WAR SCHÖN. KANN WEG ... Alter(n) in der Darstellenden Kunst 
edited by Angie Hiesl + Roland Kaiser
in collaboration with Almuth Fricke (kubia*)
Published by Theater der Zeit, December 2022

You can order the book online: tdz.de

*kubia = Centre for Creative Ageing and Inclusive Arts

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Team

Studio