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About MFK

»We train muscles and the ability to be guided by our own desire. We cultivate devotion. What moves us and how can we bring solidity into movement?«



»MFK Bochum« is a group composed of artists Katarína Marková, Franziska Schneeberger and Marlene Ruther. The artists came together in 2018, during the Scenic Research course at Ruhr-University Bochum. A wide range of artistic and political interests unites the three, from eco-feminist theory to somatic body techniques to transport policy developments in the Ruhr-Area. In their work practice they move between performance, theory, dance, visual art and are focusing more and more on the field of dance and art education. In 2020 the group was a Christoph-Schlingensief-Fellow of the Szenische Forschung and the Kunststiftung NRW. In 2021 they received a Flausen Research Scholarship with their project "Radical Nonverbals". In the winter semester of 2022/23, the group had a teaching assignment for theater studies at the Ruhr-University Bochum.

Foto: MFK

Katarína Marková (*1992 in Martin, SVK) moves and lives on the trajectory between Bratislava and Bochum. Her artistic work oscillates between site-specific art, installations and performance art. Feminism and New Materialism form the philosophical ground for her artistic practice. Her artistic research focuses on the following questions: how do power structures and power control tools define what is illuminated and representative? And what remains in the dark? Primary materials of her projects are site-specific environments and her (trained) body, which enter into intra-actions with each other. She works alone and in collaboration with other human and non-human bodies within temporary collectives. In addition to her artistic practice, she works in the form of educational workshops with children, young people and old adults in the field of theater and movement. She graduated from Masaryk University in Brno (Czech Republic) with a degree in Theatre Studies and in 2019, she received an MA Scenic Research at Ruhr-University Bochum.

Franziska Schneeberger, *90 in Munich, lives and works in Bochum and NRW since 2017. Since 2016 she has been creating her own scenic pieces and objects, often in exploration of text, textiles and voice. Besides her work and life with MFK Bochum, Franziska is part of different other artistic collaborations. In a dramaturgical function, she has accompanied the development of the stage performances of Kollektiv äöü since 2019. She has been on friendly terms with the group Ruhrorter and its members for several years and was involved in audio productions in 2020 and '22. In addition to her focus on performance, visual art and speaking and writing in artistic processes, Franziska has been co-directing a film project with Realschule students in Dortmund since 2017. Previously she studied cultural studies & aesthetic practice at the University of Hildesheim, dramaturgy at the Zurich University of the Arts and Scenic Research in Bochum. In spring 2023 she became a mother.

Marlene Ruther (*1989) values solo work on graphic works, audio pieces and films just as much as collective work, in which human encounters are already included in the creation of art. Her degree in scenic research (RUB Bochum), theater and political science (FAU Erlangen, Concordia University Montreal) supports her in her drive to understand comprehensively: intuitively-cognitively and sensually-analytically. When she has the choice, she prefers to be out and about - on the sides of highways, on wasteland or near glacial erratic boulders. As the duo Locu&Ruth, she has been working on the film and performance project Still Standing since 2018, which is shown in theaters, galleries and at festivals (IG: locu_ruth). Still Standing is designed as a lifelong project and is based on the simple idea of standing still for 20 minutes in different public places, setting up a camera and letting the places tell their stories. Together with Lars Blum, she collects white plastic chairs, called Monobloc . For their collection of almost 100 chairs, no trip to allotment gardens, backyards and junk collections is too good for them (IG: 100Monobloc). I am happy to receive tips. She also works in social professions as a dance and theater teacher and lecturer.