TransPoP – TranReal Politics of Perception
Premiere/Opening: 21 November 2026 @ 6pm
with Mannheim’s Deputy Mayor for Culture Thorsten Riehle
Dates Live Performances: 22 November 2026 @ 6pm
Title: TransPop – TransReal Politics of Perception
Venue/Location: Atelier Manfred Binzer, Hafenateliers Mannheim, Mühlenstrasse 1
Event description:
What do we see – and what meaning do we give to what we see?
The Mannheim-based artist Franz Schömbs (1909–1967) explored the interplay of colour, form, movement and time in his abstract art. With his walk-in Inbild (1955 – Galerie Probst, Mannheim Palace), he extended painting into three-dimensional space; in his films, he transformed images and bodies into moving compositions.
TransPoP draws on these approaches, combining dance, projections and sound to create an immersive environment. Through abstraction, familiar forms are removed from their original contexts and take on meanings of their own. What we perceive within them is shaped by our experiences, memories and beliefs.
Schömbs’ visual worlds encounter a contemporary reality in which popular culture shapes how we see the world and position ourselves within it. Amid media-driven seduction, polarisation and populist narratives, perception becomes a political space: Which images gain popularity, why do they spread – and whose perspectives remain invisible? The performance invites audiences to question their habitual ways of seeing and discover alternative perspectives.
The starting point and inspiration for this dance project are Schömbs’ films Transreale Strukturen (Transreal Structures, 1962) and Geburt des Lichts (Birth of Light, 1957), as well as his paintings – a dance homage marking the 50th anniversary of his death.
Cooperation and funding partners: Stiftung Künstlernachlässe Mannheim (KNMA), Theater Felina-Areal, Kulturbüro Chamäleon, Hafenateliers / Manfred Binzer and Kulturamt Mannheim.
Choreography: Darja Reznikova, in collaboration with the dancers
Dancers: Miriam Markl and Gleb Bondarev
Music: Steffen Dix
Dramaturgy: Angela Wendt
Outside Eye: Catherine Guerin
Artists & Collaborators
Miriam Markl
Dancer
Miriam Markl is a freelance movement artist, dancer and choreographer based in Nuremberg and Berlin. She studied contemporary dance from 2013 to 2017 in Nuremberg and Mannheim. In 2023, she completed further training in Expressive Arts and Therapy: Art/Life Process at the Tamalpa Institute (USA), followed by training in Body-Mind Centering® at the Somatic Academy Berlin (2024–2025). As a dancer, she has worked with SoBo Productions (Darja Reznikova) on numerous productions since 2017. She has also worked with La_Trottier Dance, Lillian Stillwell, Sharon Fridman and Catherine Guerin, among others. Guest engagements have taken her to Theater und Orchester Heidelberg and Stuttgart State Opera. She has presented her own choreographic works at venues including Reykjavík Art Museum Hafnarhús (Iceland), Alte Münze and KitKatClub (Berlin), FatCat (formerly Gasteig Munich), Nelimarkka Museo (Finland), the “Lonely in the Rain Dance Festival” (Joensuu, Finland), EinTanzHaus and the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums (Mannheim), as well as Zwinger and Heiliggeistkirche (Heidelberg). Miriam Markl is a co-founder and former board member of Flux e.V., the network of independent dance artists in the Rhine-Neckar region, and is an active member of Tanzzentrale der Region Nürnberg e.V.
Gleb Bondarev
Dance Perforamance
Gleb Bondarev is an artist whose main instruments are dance and video. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from the Faculty of Romance and German Studies in Krasnodar, Russia. 2018-2023 he was part of the contemporary dance company ‘Zhest’. 2020-2023 he was part of the art community ‘Street Physics’. 2023-2024 he studied at the Media Faculty of Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences, Motion Pictures. Gleb is experienced in urban and contemporary dance and videography.
Steffen Dix
Music/Sound Design
Angela Wendt
Dramarturgy & Communications
Dr. Angela Wendt studied German, Media and Communication Studies and French and earned her doctorate in German Studies (Modern German Literature) at the University of Mannheim. She has been a lecturer there since 2000 and offers seminars focusing on theater and theater practice. At the National Theater Mannheim, she has worked on the International Schiller Days and the Mozart Summer, among others, and was responsible for the cooperation between the university and the National Theater.
Since 2015 she has been a freelance dramaturg in drama, and since 2018 also in dance. At Theater Felina-Areal Mannheim, she collaborates in drama with the Neues Ensemble and Rainer Escher, most recently on Wilhelm Reich’s “Rede an den Kleinen Mann” (2019), Alain Badiou’s “Ahmed der Philosoph” (2019), Anni Ernaux’s “Leben. Writing” (2020), Ferdinando Camon’s “The Horror of Therapists. The disease of man” (premiere 2021).
In dance, she collaborates with various choreographers including Stefano Giannetti: “The Power of Art” (2019), Amelia Eisen and Kirill Berezovski: “Project Warrior” (2019), Darja Reznikova and Katja Visschers: RAII 2020 Racism – Integration – Identity, a digital dance project as well as SoBo Productions most recent work “I Am…” (2020).
Together with Jan Roelof Wolthuis, she has been organizing various song projects since 2019, most recently “Traurigfroh, wie das Herz. Friedrich Hölderlin – Songs and Words” (2020) and Johannes Brahms: “Die schöne Magelone” (2021). With the cultural office Chamäleon she has started her own business in 2019: www.kultur-wendt.de
Catherine Guerin
Outside Eye
Impressions
Günter Krämer