Art by Stephanie Thiersch / Brigitta Muntendorf

Thiersch, a German choreographer based in Cologne, has run her dance company Mouvoir for over two decades, staging works that range from "City Dance Köln" (2016), which involved more than 600 community performers, to "Chombotrope" (2017), addressing decolonization. Muntendorf, a German-Austrian composer and professor at Cologne's HfMT, works across instrumental, choral, and audio-visual music, and won an Honorary Mention at Prix Ars Electronica for her opera "MELENCOLIA." The two collaborated on "ARCHIPEL," a 2021 music-and-dance theater piece made with architect Sou Fujimoto, blending Thiersch's choreography with Muntendorf's score in a single staged work.