Structure

Mariëtte Rissenbeek was born in the Netherlands in 1956 and studied German language and literature, theatre studies, and sociology at the Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht and the Freie Universität Berlin. After completing her Master’s degree, she settled permanently in Berlin and initially worked at the Löhlein & Schonert advertising agency. From 1986 she worked for the distribution and sales company Tobis Film and was responsible for both the acquisition and exploitation of German-language ancillary rights. In 1995 she moved to film production, working as a producer at Ziegler Film, where she realised several television films as well as some short and medium-length feature films. In 1998 she founded her own production company in Hamburg and collaborated with Mika Kaurismäki before joining the Munich production company Hofmann & Voges in 2000.

In 2003 Mariëtte Rissenbeek took over responsibility for international festival relations and public relations at German Films, the German institution for the international promotion of German cinema. In 2006 she was appointed deputy managing director of German Films and in 2011 managing director.

Prof. Dr. Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, born 1977 in Yaoundé, Cameroon, is a curator, author, and biotechnologist. He is the founder and was artistic director of SAVVY Contemporary Berlin. He was artistic director of sonsbeek 20→24, a quadrennial contemporary art exhibition in Arnhem, the Netherlands, and artistic director of the 14^th Rencontres de Bamako in 2022, a biennial of African photography in Mali. He was curator-at-large of documenta 14 in Athens and Kassel, artistic director of the 12^th Rencontres de Bamako in 2019, and guest curator of the Dak’Art Biennale 2018 in Dakar, Senegal. Together with the Miracle Workers Collective, he curated the Finnish Pavilion at the 2019 Venice Biennale. Ndikung was visiting professor of Curatorial Studies and Sound Art at the Städelschule in Frankfurt and was the recipient of the first OCAD University International Curators Residency Fellowship in Toronto in 2020. He is professor of the Master’s course in Spatial Strategies at the Kunsthochschule Weissensee, Berlin.

In October 2020, Ndikung was awarded the Order of Merit of the State of Berlin in recognition of SAVVY Contemporary’s work over the previous ten years. In June 2021, a jury led by former Minister of State for Culture and Media Monika Grütters appointed Bonaventure Ndikung as the new artistic director of HKW from 1 January 2023.

Matthias Pees, born 1970 in Georgsmarienhütte, has worked as artistic and managing director of the international production house Künstlerhaus Mousonturm in Frankfurt am Main (2013-2022), head dramaturge of the Wiener Festwochen (2010-2013), founder and co-managing director of the international production office PROD.ART.BR in São Paulo (2004-2010), programme dramaturge at the Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen (2003-2004), theatre dramaturge at Schauspiel Hannover (2000-2003), and at the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz (1995-2000). He previously gained experience as a cultural journalist and theatre critic in various fields and on several sides of the performing arts. Changes of perspective, cooperative work, and “transformative practices” were avowedly at the centre of his interest; themes such as global solidarity and postcolonialism, the context and future of internationality and diversity shaped his playbills and projects. In Frankfurt and the Rhine-Main region, he initiated or collaborated in large interdisciplinary festivals and cooperation projects with, among others, the Ensemble Modern, the Jewish Museum Frankfurt, the Hessian State Ballet and, most recently, with Schauspiel Frankfurt, the Museum Angewandte Kunst, and the Frankfurt independent scene for the organisation of the festivals Politik im freien Theater by the Federal Agency for Civic Education/bpb and Theater der Welt by the International Theatre Institute (ITI).

Charlotte Sieben studied law at the University of Frankfurt am Main and subsequently completed a Master of Laws at the London School of Economics and Political Science. After working at the Hamburg State Opera and the Dessau Ballet, she was head of administration at the merged Altenburg-Gera Theatre for five years. Since 2005 she has worked at the Kulturveranstaltungen des Bundes in Berlin GmbH. In 2010, she was appointed by the supervisory board as KBB’s commercial director for the first time and has since managed KBB’s institutions together with the three artistic directors. She is responsible for the administrative departments of all KBB business divisions, the technical departments as well as the ticket office, award management, and guest accommodation departments. Charlotte Sieben has been a member of the presidium of the Deutscher Bühnenverein and co-chair of the extraordinary members’ group in the Bühnenverein since 2016. She represents the interests of the members of the Bühnenverein in the Assembly of Delegates of the Themis Confidential Body against Sexual Harassment and Violence. She is involved in the Women in Culture and Media mentoring programme of the Deutscher Kulturrat. In 2010 she initiated the EMAS certification of KBB, has been responsible for it since then, and regularly gives lectures on KBB’s commitment.