Barbara Kowa

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Barbara Kowa (born March 5, 1973 in Hanover ) is an Austrian actress and performance artist .

life and career

Having grown up in Hamburg , she began her musical studies at the "stage school of dance and drama" and then finished her university studies at the "Ernst Busch" Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin (diploma 1996).

Even during her studies she also worked with performance artists ( she met Nan Hoover in 1994 at the International Summer Academy for Fine Arts Salzburg ) and began her independent artistic work in public spaces and at various performance festivals (working for the mental internet / Bern, Transitstation / Edinburgh / Copenhagen, Month of Performance Art - Berlin), she also worked as a dancing actress in "die schweigende Landschaft", where she rehearsed and interpreted the choreographies based on Gurdjieff's Sacred Dances (1996 Hebbel-Theater Berlin), and as a manga in Peter Mussbach's production “Takemitsu-my way of life” by the Unter den Linden opera in Berlin in cooperation with the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and the Tōkyō Bunka Kaikan .

Video was initially only part of her performative work, but after she shot a poetic feature about Friedensreich Hundertwasser's gardens in New Zealand for the first time in 2001 , which was then shown at the Kunsthaus Wien , she decided to attend a production seminar at the BAF Munich. Today, long feature films accompany their cyclical performance art. Her first film "dreaming Mali" was nominated in Paris, New Jersey and Dallas and won "best feature film" at the TBFF 2010.

Therefore, she always remained a freelance actress and played mainly on German-speaking ensuite stages (mostly at the Renaissance theater in Berlin ) and summer theaters (Clingenburg / D, Villhering / A) and rarely as a guest at the German city theater - such as Helena in Adam Hanuszkiewicz 's production of "FAUST 1 + 2 serious jokes", with which the 2001 Leipzig Theater Festival was opened. Under the influence of performance art, she became more and more interested in cross-border actors like the experimental Mike Figgis (Masterclass ifs 2004) and Tom DiCillo (Masterclass 2009), who first introduced her to the Maisner Technique.

In 2013 she founded her own performance theater, which researches the interface between performance art and theater, and realizes international performances with a changing cast, which focus on topics such as co-creativity, life travel, awareness and communication.

She is the daughter of the art historian Wieland Schmied and the photographer Erika Schmied as well as the granddaughter of the Baltic writer Gertrud von den Brincken and the Austrian philosopher Walther Schmied-Kowarzik .

Education / training

  • 1989–1990: Stage School of Dance and Drama Hamburg (musical)
  • 1992–1996: Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts Berlin
  • 1994–1998: Summer Academy Salzburg performance + video-class Nan Hoover, Vallie Export, Ellen Cantor
  • 2004: Acting workshop with Mike Figgis , ifs Cologne
  • 2009: Masterclass Tom DiCillo , ifs Cologne
  • since 2009: Maisner Technique at Actors Space Berlin

Awards

  • 2010: “best feature film” for Dreaming Mali by and with Barbara Kowa TBFF Dallas

Scholarships

  • 2009: Actor training the studio LA USA

Own films

  • 2001: The Empire of Peace
  • 2009: dreaming Mali
  • 2012: Mao + Tao

Performance cycles

  • since 2006 until death do us part performances in Transitstation-Copenhagen, Cell36-Berlin, open air-Art-Museum Pédvàle-Latvia, Tachéles-Berlin, Wasserschloss Rappenau and many more
  • since 2013 Seven Seals Performances in Berlin (art.endart, Uferhallen), Preddöhl (New Healing Festival), Lithuania (Yaga gathering), New Zealand (Prana Festival), Indonesia (Gili Air)

Film / TV (selection)

  • 2010: Odessa (Marlene) Youdid Kahveci dffb
  • 2010: Alex and the lion (Carla) Yuri Garaté Vivasán
  • 2006: Black Sheep (Nadja), director: Oliver Rihs Award of the Hof Film Festival
  • 2004: Spur & Partner, director: Johannes Wille, ARD
  • 2003: Deed Poll (lead in English), director: Ingo Biermann dffb
  • 1998: Lexx - The Dark Zone- Laughtracks (Lead in Engl.) Director: Michael Keusch, TV series, Sat.1

Theater (selection)

  • since 2013: SEVEN SEALS performancetheater (international tour)
  • 2012–2013: is it a comedy - is it a tragedy, Thomas Bernhard monologues, different locations
  • 2012: Fritz Rémond Theater, all seven waves, (emmi) D: Peter Kühn
  • 2011: Fritz Rémond Theater Frankfurt, Gut gegen Nordwind, (Emmi) Director: Peter Kühn
  • 2007–2009: Renaissance Theater Berlin, Moonlight and Magnolien (Poppenguhl), D: T. Engel
  • 2007: Sommerbühne 04 Linz / Villhering, the misanthropist (Celiméne), director: Rudi Müllehner
  • 2003–2006: Renaissance Theater Berlin, Eight Women (Louise), director: Dietmar Pflegerl
  • 2004–2005: Berlin State Opera / Theater du Chatelet Paris / Tokio Opera Bunkah Kaikahn, Takemitsu - My Way of Life (Manga), director: Peter Mussbach
  • 2002: Clingenburg Festival, Die Schwarze Spinne, Christine, director: Udo Schürmer
  • 2001: Academy of Fine Arts Munich, monologue from Molloy, director: R. Steckel
  • 2000: Stadttheater Chemnitz, Faust 2000 1 & 2, director: Adam Hanuszkiewicz
  • 1999: Renaissance Theater Berlin, Das Assentat, director: T. Weber-Schallauer
  • 1998: Hebbel-Theater Berlin, Silent Landscape, director: Ronald Steckel
  • 1996: Hebbel-Theater Berlin, epitaph by Heimrad Bäcker, director: Ronald Steckel

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kowa, Barbara
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schmied-Kowarzik, Barbara
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian actress
DATE OF BIRTH March 5th 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH Hanover