Aljoscha Begrich

Co-Director of the International Forum and Dramaturg

Aljoscha Begrich grew up in a rural area of the GDR before coming to Berlin in 1989 (then capital of the GDR) and later Berlin (West). He studied ethics, concept art and media history in Berlin, Buenos Aires and Mexico City. From 2009 to 2014, he was a dramaturg and set designer at Schauspiel Hannover; from 2014 to 2019, he worked at Berlin’s Maxim Gorki Theater, where – among other projects – he was in charge of the Berliner Herbstsalon (2015/2017/2019). Between 2020 and 2022, he was a dramaturg and curator for the Ruhrtriennale-festival. He is co-founder and member of the team of artistic directors of the festival OSTEN in Bitterfeld-Wolfen (2022/24).

Aljoscha Begrich has developed projects with numerous international artists such as Mariano Pensotti, Mapa Teatro, Ersan Mondtag, Marta Górnicka and Lola Arias; these projects were presented in many different locations around the world (including New York, Santiago de Chile and Tehran). His interest in unusual forms and problems of everyday life led him to the theatre collective Rimini Protokoll and he has repeatedly worked with them in a wide range of constellations since 2010; most recently for the projects “Société Anonyme”, “All right. Good night.” or “Remote X”. These projects took him to many cities where he walked many miles (in Kyiv, Sharjah, Havana and more). 

His great interest in expanded theatre is reflected in many initiatives in the public sphere. For the Ruhrtriennale-festival’s three-year project WEGE, he developed 12 pieces between the venues per bike, bus or tram. For the festival “Kunst und gegenseitiges Interesse (Art and mutual interest)“ OSTEN, he is working on a revival of the “Bitterfelder Weg”, featuring new formats of participation and communication. This has recently led to repeated co-operation with raumlabor berlin.

From 2024, Aljoscha Begrich will be director of Berliner Theatertreffen’s International Forum along with Sima Djabar Zadegan. He was a fellow of the International Forum in 2014 and accompanied a workshop held by Akira Takayama in 2017. Besides teaching at various German universities, he was involved in the artistic research project Travers in Copenhagen and Aarhus. He has been accompanying the residence programme DocLab in Istanbul since 2023.