PULSE!

The Ruhr area is a feeling. More than anything else. No historical document or contemporary experiment can adequately describe what constitutes the mystery of this region, which has no equal in the world. Trying to explain the Ruhr area with terms such as industrialization or economic rise and fall regularly fails because the people living here embody the essence of the Ruhr area and claim the power of interpretation in a downright disarming way. They are the ones you need to listen to understand the pulse of the Ruhr area. The coexistence of the largest European metropolitan area is a noticeable emotional framework and set of rules that the people of the region adhere to. What is more, they're proud of it.

The musician and photographer Till Brönner is an exceptional artist. As early as 2018, he spent two years searching for traces on behalf of the Essen Brost-Stiftung and, in countless forays and portrait studies, came across the same connection between a region and itself. He always heard in his interviews: "I love the Ruhr area."

The award-winning choreographer Nicole Beutler is Brönner's artistic partner. With a curious view of the world, she expands the boundaries of dance, theatre and visual arts and creates musical dance theatre for the national and international stage. She is interested in translating the human condition into a visual language that gives the viewer space to think and feel. A choreography by Beutler is an overall experience that connects, moves, and liberates.

As a brass instrument, Till Brönner's trumpet plays an important creative role, the symbolic power of which is explained by its physical operating system and the elements of air, power, and movement. Brönner and Beutler work as closely as possible in PULSE!, a work commissioned by the Brost-Stiftung, in order to approach the inner condition of the Ruhr area with music and dance, the two strongest disciplines of emotional expression.