- Now & Now 2021–2023
- Intimate Revolution since 2022
- Death and Birth in My Life since 2019
- 21 2012–2021
- My Other Life since 2015
- Holidays 2010–2012
- Artist (working title) 2018
- Diez momentos en mi vida 2017–2018
- When Did You Stop Being a Child? 2016
- Ten Important Events In My Life 2012–2015
- The Names of Love 2012
- Bundesplatz 2012
- Metzgergasse 2011–2013
- My Grandparents 2008–2013
- 5000 Love Letters 2004–2006
Future
-
Intimate Revolution
Luzern, Kleintheater
26.–29. April 2023
-
Intimate Revolution
Basel, Kaserne
2.–5. May 2023
Past
-
Holidays
St. Gallen, Square
13. December 2022–10. February 2023
-
My Grandparents
Video-Installation in the Exhibition 'Familiensache'Rapperswil, Kunst(Zeug)Haus
21. August–23. October 2022
-
Intimate Revolution
Zurich, Zürcher Theater Spektakel
23.–30. August 2022
-
Intimate Revolution
Bochum, Ruhrtriennale
12.–20. August & 8.–17. September 2022
-
Death and Birth in My Life
Cividale del Friuli, Mittelfest
23.–31. July 2022
-
Death and Birth in My Life
Santarcangelo Festival9.–17. July 2022
-
Death and Birth in My Life
Milano, Zona K
26. May–11. June 2022
-
Death and Birth in My Life
Munich, Spielart Festival11. October–6. November 2021
-
Death and Birth in My Life
Dublin, Dublin Theatre Festival
10.–15. October 2021
-
Now & Now
Bochum, Ruhrtriennale
17. August–19. September 2021
-
21
(complete edition)Bochum, Ruhrtriennale
15. August–25. September 2021
-
Death and Birth in My Life
Bern, Museum of Communication
1. April–30. May 2021
-
Death and Birth in My Life
Living room editionBasel, various living rooms
18. January–28. March 2021
-
Death and Birth in My Life
Makhanda, Monument Gallery
25. November–2. December 2020
-
Death and Birth in My Life
Chur, Theater Chur
31. October–11. November 2020
-
Death and Birth in My Life
Groningen, Noorderzomerprogramma
14.–23. August 2020
-
Death and Birth in My Life
Salzburg Museum, in the frame of '100 Years Salzburger Festspiele'
26. July 2020–31. October 2021
-
Death and Birth in My Life
Avignon, Festival d'Avignon
3.–22. July 2020 (Cancelled Edition)
-
Death and Birth in My Life
Virtual National Arts Festival Makhanda
25. June–5. July 2020
-
5000 Love Letters
online since 14. February 2020 -
Death and Birth in My Life
Basel, Kaserne
18.–20. January 2020
-
21
Dresden, Hellerau–European Centre for the Arts
10. January–9. February 2020
-
21
Strasbourg, Maillon Théâtre de Strasbourg Scène Europénne
23. November–21. December 2019
-
Death and Birth in My Life
Frankfurt, Künstlerhaus Mousonturm
20.–28. November & 12.–18. December 2019
-
21
My Other LifeMadrid, Conde Duque
15. November 2019–26. January 2020
-
Death and Birth in My Life
Munich, Spielart Festival
25. October–9. November 2019
-
21
Kinshasa, Young Congo Biennale
20. October–21. November 2019
-
21
Munich, Spielart Festival
15. October–3. November 2019
-
Death and Birth in My Life
Manchester, SICK! Festival – The Whitworth
18. September–5. October 2019
-
Death and Birth in My Life
Paris, Centre culturel suisse
14. September–5. October
-
21
My Other Life / Holidays / My GrandparentsParis, Centre culturel suisse
13. September–6. October 2019
-
21
Edinburgh Festival FringeSummerhall – part of Swiss Selection Edinburgh
2.–25. August 2019
-
Death and Birth in My Life
Perg, Festival der Regionen
28. June–7. July 2019
-
Death and Birth in My Life
Hanover, Festival Theaterformen
20.–30. June 2019
-
Death and Birth in My Life
Basel, Kaserne
6.–8. June 2019
-
21
Lubumbashi, Centre d'art Waza
21. May–10. June 2019
-
Holidays
Pfäffikon, Vögele Kultur Zentrumpart of the exhibition ‹Fascination: Face›
19. May–22. September 2019
-
21
Frankfurt, Historisches Museum
22. November 2018–14. April 2019
-
21
Mannheim, Nationaltheater Mannheim
28. September–28. October 2018
-
Artist (working title)
Johannesburg, Artivist
5. September–13. October 2018
-
21
Weimar, Kunstfest Weimar
17. August–22. September 2018
-
21
Fribourg, Festival Belluard Bollwerk International
28. June–7. July 2018
-
21
Holidays / My Other LifeLausanne, Théâtre Vidy, Festival 'programme commun'
14.–25. March 2018
-
21
Adelaide, Adelaide Festival
2.–18. March 2018
-
Artist (working title)
Basel, KaserneCrossroads–International perspectives on culture, art and society
8.–10. February 2018
-
Ten Important Events In My Life
Vienna, Weltmuseum Wienin the new Permanent Exhibition ‘World in Motion’
Since 27. October 2017
-
21
Bloemfontein, University of the Free State, South Africa
16.–27. October 2017
-
Diez momentos en mi vida
Santiago de Chile, Bienal de Artes MedialesCentro Nacional de Arte Contemporáneo Cerrillos
7. October–5. November 2017
-
Diez momentos en mi vida
Buenos Aires, Festival Internacional de Buenos Aires (FIBA)
5.–21. October 2017
-
Walks of Life (Winterthur)
Winterthur, museum schaffen
15.–17. September 2017
-
My Other Life
Alpbach, European Forum Alpbach
18. August–1. September 2017
-
21
Zurich, Zürcher Theaterspektakel
17.–21. August 2017
-
21
Johannesburg, The Market Photo Workshop Gallery
5. July–8. August 2017
-
21
Cape Town, District Six MuseumASSITEJ World Congress/Encounters – South African International Documentary Film Festival
19. May–28. June 2017
-
Ten Important Events In My Life
Dresden, Deutsches Hygienemuseumin the new Permanent Exhibition ‘The Human Adventure’
Since 15. February 2017
-
21
Basel, Universität Basel/Kaserne unterwegs
20.–28. October 2016
-
Holidays
Biel, Nacht der 1000 Fragen
22. October 2016
-
21
Groningen, Noorderzon Festival
18.–27. August 2016
-
Holidays
Zürich, Helferei
1. June–16. October 2016
-
When Did You Stop Being a Child?
Zürich, Schauspielhaus Zürich / Festival Blickfelder
February–June 2016
-
21
Freiburg, Theater Freiburg
March 2016
-
Holidays
Baden, ThiK
February–March 2016
-
Ten Important Events In My Life
FeiertageBasel, Universitätsspital/Kaserne unterwegs
October 2015
-
My Other Life
Rom, Short Theatre Festival
September 2015
-
Ten Important Events In My Life
Zehnstimmige Lesung & GesprächWeimar, Kunstfest Weimar
25. August 2015
-
My Other Life
Hannover, Festival Theaterformen
July 2015
-
My Other Life
FeiertageFribourg, Festival Belluard Bollwerk International
June 2015
-
21
Wien, Wiener Festwochen
May–June 2015
-
Ten Important Events In My Life
FeiertageStuttgart, insight
May–June 2015
-
21
Basel, Museum der Kulturen
Oktober 2014–Mai 2015
-
Holidays
Lugano, FIT Festival
Oktober 2014
-
21
Weimar, Kunstfest Weimar
August–September 2014
-
Ten Important Events In My Life
Braunschweig, Festival Theaterformen
Juni 2014
-
21
Zürich, Gessnerallee
März–Mai 2014
-
Ten Important Events In My Life
Frankfurt, Künstlerhaus Mousonturm
Februar 2014
-
21
Stuttgart, Theater Rampe
November 2013–Januar 2014
-
Ten Important Events In My Life
Chur, Theater Chur
November 2013
-
Ten Important Events In My Life
Aarau, Theater Tuchlaube
Oktober 2013
-
21
Bern, Museum für Kommunikation
August–Oktober 2013
-
Ten Important Events In My Life
Zürich, Zürcher Festspiele/Gessnerallee
Juni 2013
-
21
Hannover, Festival Theaterformen
Juni 2013
-
Metzgergasse
Bern, Schlachthaus
Juni 2013
-
Holidays
Basel, Museum der Kulturen
Mai 2013
-
Ten Important Events In My Life
Basel, Basler Dokumentartage 13
April 2013
-
Ten Important Events In My Life
Bern, Festival Auawirleben
April 2013
-
My Grandparents
Stuttgart, Stadtmuseum im Wilhelmspalais
März–April 2013
Mats Staub (*1972, Muri near Berne, Switzerland) lives and works in Berlin and at the developement places of his long term projects. He studied theater studies, journalism and religious studies in Berne, Fribourg and Berlin (lic. phil. hist). He worked as a journalist for various publications (1996–2001) and as a dramatic advisor at the Neumarkt Theater in Zurich (2002–2004). Since 2004 he develops his own art projects at the intersections between theater and exhibition, literature and science.
Mats Staub is a traveller through the realms of memory. His long term projects grow incrementally from place to place. So, for example, he has interviewed over three hundred people in fourteen cities about what they know about their grandparents. The continually expanding audio installation «My Grandparents | Memory Bureau» has been presented by a wide cross-section of institutions, including Theater Basel (2008), the Wiener Festwochen in Vienna (2009) and the Historisches Museum in Frankfurt (2012).
In the video installation «21 – Memories of Growing Up» he has created portraits of people from very different generations in the moment of recalling their experiences from when they were 21 years old. This installation also grows as it travels from city to city and is continually presented in new forms, for example at the Künstlerhaus Mousonturm in Frankfurt (2012), the Museum of Communication Berne (2013), the Wiener Festwochen in Vienna (2015), the Adelaide Festival (2018) and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (2019).
His long-term project, «Death and Birth in My Life» (since 2019), asks about existential experiences. It brings people together to talk to each other about their experiences of death and birth – until now conversations took place e.g. in Manchester, Kinshasa, Munich, Basel, Bamako and Paris. The Work was presented in Theatres and Museums (e.g. The Whitworth Manchester, Salzburg Museum, CCS Paris, Spielart Munich), since 2021 also in private Livingrooms.
In 2020 he is awarded with a Swiss Theatre Award: “Mats Staub’s artistic projects take us on a journey to the four corners of the globe, inviting us to take time to listen and watch. Without recourse to facile spectacles, Mats Staub has, over the years, developed an exceptionally coherent poetry that gives us portraits of intense humanity. With refined delicacy and meticulous formal rigour, his works explore our most intimate and personal dimension, confronting us with the multi-layered complexity of our times.” (Cristina Galbiati, jury member)
Publications
Press
"I felt there was one artistic work at the Ruhrtriennale that connected to humanity — and it wasn’t in a theater. Over the past decade, the Swiss artist Mats Staub has conducted hundreds of interviews with individuals of various ages and backgrounds for “21 — Memories of Growing Up,” which has been installed in a turbine hall in Bochum. Spread over 50 different stations, the video interviews provide varied reflections on maturity, independence and happiness. The project feels like an archive of human strivings and the possibility for rebirth."
New York Times, 27.08.2021
"Listening Faces" – in Conversation with Judith Gerstenberg about the Works at the Ruhrtriennale, 26.05.2021
"I spent four hours in the exhibition, and I could have spent four more, it’s addictive."
The Guardian, 12.03.2018
"Mats Staub has turned an aptitude for human connection into a gentle yet highly revelatory artwork."
CityMag Adelaide, 15.02.2018
"This is the transcendent aspect of the project '21': it breaks the boundaries of race, class and culture and it allows people who have grown up in disparate parts of the world and sometimes in vastly different circumstances to feel a deep connection with another human being."
Passages, Nr 64
"Astonishing moments of direct emotion conveyed through facial expressions: with his numerous projects Mats Staub is developing a form of artistic anthropology that science cannot achieve. This fabulous work is worth visiting again and again. Definitely."
Der Standard, 18.05.2015
Legal Notice
Verein zwischen_produktionen
Mats Staub
Rufacherstrasse 12
CH–4055 Basel
mail[at]matsstaub.com
Design: Krispin Heé and Pascal Storz
Implementation: Christoph Knoth and Konrad Renner
Translations: David Tushingham
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Mats Staub
Erkelenzdamm 17
10999 Berlin
mail[at]matsstaub.com
Production Management:
Elisabeth Schack
elisabeth.schack[at]matsstaub.com
Barbara Simsa
barbara.simsa[at]matsstaub.com
Booking:
Wolfgang Hoffmann– Aurora Nova
wolfgang[at]auroranova.org
Technical Production:
Hanno Sons
hanno.sons[at]matsstaub.com