ORBIT

SPARK becomes ORBIT. In 2022 we ignited the spark for a new, novel festival format in Cologne, dedicated to experimental music theatre in all its forms and colours. After this successful first launch, we are going into the second round in 2024 with a new name, new productions and, as always, a whole bunch of surprises.

ORBIT stands for a genre that unites the different disciplines – music, theatre, literature, dance and visual arts – at eye level and is characterised by collective, transdisciplinary work, experimental approaches, a willingness to take risks, radical thinking and relevance to current events. Contemporary music theatre thrives on the interconnection of fields, on borderline experiences and dealing with them, on the pooling of forces and cooperation, on the smooth interlocking of different processes on several levels at the same time. When the artistic disciplines do not work separately from each other but perform together, boundaries can be broken down and energies released.

ORBIT is a festival of encounter and exchange. The invitation to a convivial get-together and collective experience is extended just as warmly to the artists as to the audience. The festival represents the vision of a cultural future defined by the values of an open, diverse, solidary, respectful and pluralistic society. What is to be experienced on stage will be dazzling, sensual and diverse. It may touch and disturb, it may raise socially relevant issues and focus on political hotspots. Together we want to celebrate a sensual experience that goes beyond intellectual reception. No one has to be an expert in new music, contemporary dance or experimental theatre!

ORBIT has always pursued the goal of restoring contemporary music theatre to the position it enjoyed in Cologne for decades. Under the motto “cooperation instead of competition”, ORBIT pursues an intensive networking of the Cologne art scene in order to develop a supra-regional appeal. Together with high-calibre and internationally active artists of various disciplines, we provide an impetus to create sustainable production conditions for contemporary, independent music theatre and to open up new locations for the scene in the long term: adequate rehearsal rooms, storage space and stages.

ORBIT is being realised on the initiative and under the artistic direction of composer/musician Christina C. Messner and director Sandra Reitmayer. The new platform for artists of the independent scene from Cologne, Germany and other European countries is being developed in close cooperation between the two artists, the organiser and sponsor ON – Neue Musik Köln e.V. and the production office littlebit.