Farewell words by Kira Kirsch & Flori Gugger
CAN I STAY AT YOURS…?
brut nordwest as a temporary home for an institution on the move
We started eleven years ago. Not with a plan, but with a simple shift: out of the black box, into the city – brut+. The idea originated at the Künstlerhaus. It was about questioning our own conditions: the enclosed space, the clear separation between stage and outside, between art and everyday life.
Right from the opening in autumn 2015, we deliberately opened up this boundary. Theatre should not only take place in a protected space, but where friction arises – in the city, in its interstices, in various public spaces. It all began with the Autoballett by mercimax and a vacant space on Praterstraße, which was used by Marino Formenti and Ann Liv Young.
What was initially conceived as an extension became a different way of working. No longer anchoring performance in a single location, but thinking in terms of relationships: to architectures, to transitions, to social situations.
And then an artistic decision became a structural reality. brut had to leave the Künstlerhaus. The farewell in autumn 2017 was themed: ‘Can I stay at yours? It’s only for a year’. The intention was a transition. A temporary solution. A return seemed certain. Things turned out differently.
brut all over Vienna
The following years were marked by movement: from 2017 to 2021, we performed at over a hundred venues across Vienna. ‘brut all over Vienna’ was not just a motto, but reality. New Art on Stage suddenly also meant: what actually is a stage?
We worked in existing cultural venues, in temporary spaces, in vacant properties, in urban spaces – in places that often only became performance venues through their use. Each venue brought its own conditions: technical, organisational, aesthetic. There was no neutral stage, no reliable black box, no return to the familiar. Instead: constant adaptation, adjustment, movement. And: an audience that went along with it. That made the trek, discovered new things, and engaged with unfamiliar situations. Therein lay a tension of its own – in arriving, in searching, in jointly exploring what a performance venue can be. And: artists who worked precisely with this. Who did not neutralise the conditions but used them. Who read, shifted and challenged the spaces – developed new forms within this impermanence.
These years were both productive and exhausting – for the team, for the artists, for the institution. Over four years, including the pandemic, we worked in the mode of a permanent festival: producing, organising and improvising in parallel.
And yet we maintained something: continuity in our collaboration. The number of co-productions remained stable, and we specifically supported local artists and groups. Even without a dedicated space, brut remained a reliable production structure.
It became clear to us, particularly during this time: brut was never just a building. Rather, it was a practice – made possible by artists, audiences and, above all, a team that organised, sustained and held this movement together.
Never forget: If you can touch it – it can also touch you!
These years were not just about movement, but about relationships: with artists, with partners, with the audience, with spaces – and with a city that had to be reinterpreted time and again. It was precisely for this reason that many artists approached us. With ideas that would never have emerged without this openness: site-specific, willing to take risks, tied to concrete situations. The fact that there was an institution in Vienna not tied to a single venue was explicitly seen by some as an advantage. At the same time, it became increasingly clear: constant movement was not a foundation to build on. We were looking for a new permanent home – and at the same time needed an interim solution that had to be more than just a stopgap.
Stage me tonight
In the summer of 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, the City of Vienna made its decision: the former Central Bank building in Neu Marx would be brut’s future venue. The future had thus been decided, but the space was not yet ready for use.
Almost at the same time, another opportunity arose: a vacant factory building in the 20th district. 1,600 square metres on the site of the Nordwestbahnhof – an area in transition, decentralised and characterised by industry: vacant buildings, halls, fallow lands. What was intended as a temporary solution became a home. brut nordwest stayed for five years – not because of planning, but because we had learnt to work with impermanence. We didn’t simply move into the factory hall, but developed it: a black box, a grey space, rehearsal and office spaces, storage, infrastructure.
And the garage bar, born out of the necessity of the pandemic, quickly became the hub: a meeting place, a place to stay – the most visible expression of what defined brut nordwest.
Much came about in this way, not planned, but out of necessity and improvisation – and proved its worth in use. That was precisely the quality of this place: it was never complete, never final, never finished.
A place that was conducive to concentration without sacrificing the fluidity of the years before. And one that will soon disappear again.
The Nordwestbahnhof is a prime example of this interplay between visibility and disappearance – of change and a state of in-between. Industrial use, displacement, memory and impending overwriting overlap here. That is precisely what made the site so effective for brut. We worked on a site whose past was not yet concluded – and whose future had already begun.
We are hiding in the backyard of your mind
As this term of office draws to a close, we are left with an institution that has evolved under pressure – and is now in excellent shape. This is no coincidence. It is the result of a team that has worked for years under uncertain conditions – with precision, resilience and ingenuity. Without this team, brut would not exist in its current form. Nor would it exist without the artists who were willing to take risks. And without an audience that not only came along but went along with us.
What remains is an experience: performance can read places, relate to spaces – and transform them. Perhaps that is exactly what New Art on Stage always meant. This experience is not a conclusion. It continues. Perhaps we haven’t arrived where we originally wanted to go. But we have arrived where it now makes sense.
With brut’s new location, we’ve come full circle: our very first project, the Autoballett by mercimax, took place in 2015 at this very spot – in the car park on Karl-Farkas-Gasse. Back then, the audience got into cars at the Künstlerhaus and drove to the third district.
Eleven years on, we can say: a dramaturgical full-circle moment.
Bye-bye, brut (nordwest) – it was a blast!
Kira Kirsch & Flori Gugger
brut all over Vienna
brut nordwest
accessible
Nordwestbahnstraße 8-10, 1200 Vienna
Subway: U1, U2 (Praterstern), U4 (Friedensbrücke), U6 (Dresdnerstraße) Tram: 5 (Nordwestbahnstraße) Bus: 5A (Wasnergasse)
accessible
studio brut
not accessible
Zieglergasse 25, 1070 Wien
Subway: U3 (Zieglergasse), Tram: 49 (Westbahnstraße / Zieglergasse)
not accessible