Der Betrieb / Alexander Gottfarb
The Season of Narratives
The Season of Narratives is a durational dance performance that explores how stories shape identity and guide behaviour. Der Betrieb is located at a ground-floor space that used to house a shop and is easily accessible free of charge. The audience can come, stay and leave as they wish. As the dancers’ repetitive movements are woven together with spoken words, what emerges is a space for reflection, where dance and text invite everybody to reevaluate the role narratives play.
Der Betrieb, housed in a former ground-floor shop in Vienna’s 15th district, is a durational piece initiated by choreographers Alexander Gottfarb and Anna Maria Nowak. In recent years, the art space with its durational dance performances has become an integral part of the city’s cultural landscape. Now, with its eighth season, The Season of Narratives, Alexander Gottfarb and his long-term collaborators add text to their choreographic toolbox, explore how stories shape identity and guide behaviour and look at how narratives create meaning, offer models for action and influence the sense of self. Yet human actions often arise from bodily intent rather than belief or planning, and stories can oversimplify this complexity. When one narrative becomes dominant, it risks silencing others and reinforcing power structures – raising questions of who controls a story and whose voices remain unheard.
For The Season of Narratives, scriptwriter Anna Mendelssohn, together with the performers, will develop speeches that interweave personal stories with sourced material, exploring how narratives emerge and intertwine. The speeches will appear both as recorded material and as live templates, transformed during the performance through choreographic tools. The audience is also invited to join the exploration by contributing personal stories to a shared ‘Kartothek,’ reflecting on how every story can shift, multiply, and be told anew.
Der Betrieb is an art space in Vienna’s 15th district established by choreographers Alexander Gottfarb and Anna Maria Nowak. It was created out of their desire to offer an alternative to commercial spaces such as shops, cafés and beauty salons. Der Betrieb is a place of togetherness where audiences are welcome free of charge and spend their time watching, reflecting and participating in dance and artmaking.
Alexander Gottfarb is a Swedish dancer/choreographer based in Vienna. His own creations focus on repetition, transformation and duration. Together with Anna Maria Nowak, he has been running the Archipelago association since 2008 and Der Betrieb since 2022. He is a founding member of The Loose Collective and Arbeitsplatz Wien. His recent collaborators outside of Der Betrieb include Björn Säfsten, Alex Deutinger and the group toxic dreams.
Credits
Artistic direction Alexander Gottfarb Choreography & dance Stella Covi, Alexander Gottfarb, Jolyane Langlois, Raul Maia, Anna Maria Nowak, Lena Schattenberg Text Anna Mendelssohn in collaboration with the performers Music & composition Stephan Sperlich Costume design Karin Pauer Technical support Roman Harrer Production management mollusca productions Administration Takelage Graphic design Katarina Schildgen, Paul Gasser Photography Victoria Nazarova Video documentation Ulrich Reiterer, Patrick Topitschnig
A co-production by Archipelago and brut Wien
Funded by the City of Vienna’s Department of Cultural Affairs (MA 7) and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Housing, Art, Culture, Media and Sport (BMWKMS)
Dates & Tickets
April 2026
Free admission * Come and go as you like
Free admission * Come and go as you like
Free admission * Come and go as you like
Free admission * Come and go as you like
Free admission * Come and go as you like
Free admission * Come and go as you like
Free admission * Come and go as you like
Free admission * Come and go as you like
Free admission * Come and go as you like
Free admission * Come and go as you like
Free admission * Come and go as you like
Free admission * Come and go as you like
Free admission * Come and go as you like
Free admission * Come and go as you like
May 2026
Free admission * Come and go as you like
Free admission * Come and go as you like
Free admission * Come and go as you like
Free admission * Come and go as you like
Free admission * Come and go as you like
Free admission * Come and go as you like
Free admission * Come and go as you like
Free admission * Come and go as you like
Free admission * Come and go as you like
Free admission * Come and go as you like
Der Betrieb
Vogelweidplatz 13, 1150 Wien
Info
Content notes
The audience is free to move around the space but can also sit down.
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