2x241 titles twice as good as Martin Kippenberger

Scene photo from »2x241 Titel doppelt so gut wie Martin Kippenberger«: Four performers in dynamic dance movement, wearing shiny silver, sweeping dresses that they move with both hands. Their red tracksuit pants and white T-shirts are visible underneath the dresses. — Esra Schreier, Lisa Förster, Katharina Kessler, Steffen Gangloff; Photo: Susanne Reichardt

Scene photo from »2x241 titles twice as good as Martin Kippenberger«: One performer can be seen alone in the otherwise empty stage space, her arms spread out from her body and wrapped in pink plastic wrap, her body disappearing in a kind of sculpture. — Esra Schreier; Photo: Susanne Reichardt

Scene photo from »2x241 titles twice as good as Martin Kippenberger«: The four performers Steffen Gangloff, Lisa Förster, Esra Schreier and Katharina Kessler sit on black folding chairs at a beer bench, two to a side, wearing red tracksuit bottoms and loose white T-shirts. They look attentively or even critically towards the audience. — Steffen Gangloff, Lisa Förster, Esra Schreier, Katharina Kessler; Photo: Susanne Reichardt

Scene photo from »2x241 titles twice as good as Martin Kippenberger«: The four performers in dynamic dance movements, three of them with their backs to the audience, wearing training clothes, Katharina Kessler carrying a large flag of Germany as a throw-over. A loaf of plastic bread lies on the stage floor in front. In the background, a projection fills the back wall of the stage. It shows the oversized head of a green, lambent snake. — Katharina Kessler, Steffen Gangloff, Lisa Förster, Esra Schreier; Photo: Susanne Reichardt

Scene photo from »2x241 titles twice as good as Martin Kippenberger«: A close-up; the picture is almost filled by a yellow warning sign, on which the word CAUTION is legible in black capital letters. In the upper part of the sign there is a horizontal gap a hand's width wide. The top half of Lisa Förster´s head is visible through this gap, she is looking wide-eyed into the camera. — Lisa Förster; Photo: Susanne Reichardt

Scene photo from »2x241 Titel doppelt so gut wie Martin Kippenberger«: The stage is dimly lit and empty. The light is reddish and dark. A dark gray wall can be seen in the background, on which the sentence »Why don't you slip into something more comfortable? For example, a pair of wooden pyjamas« can be read in red writing. Katharina Kessler and a loaf of bread can be seen. Katharina Kessler wears an oversized German flag as a cover and presses her ear to the wall. — Katharina Kessler; Photo: Susanne Reichardt

Scene photo from »2x241 Titel doppelt so gut wie Martin Kippenberger«: Four performers and a loaf of bread can be seen. Behind it is a large cardboard box, behind which Steffen Gangloff is hiding. Esra Schreier, Lisa Förster and Katharina Kessler can be seen to the right. The three performers are standing or sitting around a set of benches. Esra Schreier is wrapped in pink plastic wrap. Lisa Förster wears an oversized yellow sign and Katharina Kessler wears a large flag of Germany. — Steffen Gangloff, Esra Schreier, Lisa Förster, Katharina Kessler; Photo: Susanne Reichardt

Scene photo from »2x241 Titel doppelt so gut wie Martin Kippenberger«: Four performers in dynamic dance movements. They are wearing red tracksuit pants and loose, white T-shirts as well as colorful sneakers, and the four players are facing each other in pairs of two. All four swing their arms and left leg upwards. Their gaze is directed upwards. The stage is empty. A dark gray wall can be seen in the background and the floor consists of wooden panels with markings. — Esra Schreier, Katharina Kessler, Steffen Gangloff, Lisa Förster; Photo: Susanne Reichardt

by Frankfurter Hauptschule

World premiere

Theatre
Zwinger 1

Autor*innenpreis des Heidelberger Stückemarkts 2024 / in German

In 1986, the painter and sculptor Martin Kippenberger published a scarcely known book entitled »241 Bildtitel zum Ausleihen für Künstler« (241 titles for paintings to borrow for artists). Based on this idea, the collective Frankfurter Hauptschule has created their own collection of titles for non-existent works of art and arranged them with a text. High culture and pop culture references are blurred, overlap, overwhelm and turn into confusions in dialogue form, sarcastic evocations of the Nazi-era or just pure slapstick. The dramatic title reveals its relevance when we look at it as a type of text currently often found in memes, tweets and captions and published on platforms like Instagram, Bluesky and X.

With »2x241 titles twice as good as Martin Kippenberger« Frankfurter Hauptschule has cooked up a sinisterly glittering potpourri of the cultural industry that was rewarded the Autor*innenpreis des Heidelberger Stückemarkts in 2024.

Content notes

Direction

FX Mayr

Stage Design

Anna Wohlgemuth

Costumes

Korbinian Schmidt

Music / Sound Design

Martina Berther

Lighting Design

Jonah Fellhauer

Video Design

Cyrill Oberholzer Anna Wohlgemuth

Dramaturgy

Paul Berg Maria Schneider

Mit

Lisa Förster Steffen Gangloff Katharina Kessler Esra Schreier

Assistant Direction

Helen Metzger

Soufflage

Sara Eichhorn

The production of the decorative parts is carried out in the workshops of the Theater und Orchester Heidelberg.

A complete list of all employees of the technical departments involved can be found here.

Listen to an introduction by Paul Berg (in German) here.

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Trailer by Siegersbuschfilm

Der Abend sei »schräg, provokant, manchmal anstrengend und häufig ziemlich lustig« schreibt Michael Abschlag in der Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung (28. April 2025). Zwischen »buntem Zettelkasten« und »besonders abgedrehtem Drogentrip«, verkörpere das Stück »vielleicht so gut wie kein anderes Werk die Reizüberflutung und unterhaltsame Überforderung des digitalen Zeitalters«, denn in ihrer Form erinnerten die Titel mit ihren »Anspielungen und Querverweisen tatsächlich an Memes, Tweets, Posts«.

Mit »gehöriger Verve und Spiellust« würden die vier Darsteller*innen die Titel »deklamieren, rezitieren, singen«, berichtet Martin Vögele im Mannheimer Morgen (28. April 2025). »Erstaunlich stimmig« sei diese »anarchistische, manchmal alberne, oft amüsante Collage«, die »zwischen Dada, absurdem Theater, und Karl-Valentiniade« changiere, bei einzelnen Themenkomplexen – gerade auf den »stachelbewehrten Abfahrten auf der Rechts-Rutsche« auch durchaus »in die Tiefe« gehe.

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2x241 titles twice as good as Martin Kippenberger

by Frankfurter Hauptschule

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