Wolfgang Pannek

Director

Author, director, actor, producer, and curator. Director of Taanteatro Companhia and production director of the International Ecoperformance Film Festival. Professional experience in Germany, Argentina, Brazil, USA, France, and England. Master of Arts (philosophy, literature and psychology) by FernUniversität Hagen, Germany.

TRAJECTORY

Germany
Born in 1964, in Germany, Pannek began his theatrical work with stagings of his own plays – Felix, the Lucky (Dinslaken, 1987), Short Commentary of a Dead Man (Bremen, 1989), Blood-Word-I (Bremen, 1991) – and poetry recitals (Der blaue Wahnsinn, 1989; Immerfremde, 1991). He served as performing arts editor for the monthly city magazine Bremer (1990 to 92), was an intern in In the Jungle of Cities, directed by Andras Fricsay (Municipal Theater Bremen, 1992), and studied theater and dance in workshops coordinated by Zygmunt Molik (Grotovski Laboratory), the Roy Hart Theater, and Kazuo Ohno. In 1992, Pannek was admitted to the Cantabile 2 theater school in Denmark, however, in the same year and on the occasion of the Butoh and Related Arts Festival 1992, he met the Brazilian choreographer Maura Baiocchi and moved to São Paulo.

Brazil (see also Taanteatro Companhia)
In 1992, Pannek joined the São Paulo based Taanteatro Companhia, founded by Baiocchi. Under her guidance, he studied the taanteatro dynamics and, in 1994, became co-director of the company. In addition to directing the production of performances, he conceived, produced, and coordinated Taanteatro Companhia projects, such as: 95 Butoh and Research Theater Festival, Artaud 100 Years (1996), The Conquest (1996/98), Matola-Brazil Cultural Exchange (2005), Hans Thies Lehmann Brasil Tour 2010, Artaud Occcupation (2016), Deleuze Occcupation (2017), Taanteatro Occcupation (2018), and Anti-Oedipus 50 Years (2022).

In the company context, Pannek performed in and directed original plays and works based on texts by authors like George Tabori, Fernando Pessoa, Isidore Ducasse, Samuel Beckett, Robert Walser, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Antonin Artaud. Among his own creations, Hamlet Machine Fisted (2011), the cARTAUDography trilogy (2015) about the life and work of Antonin Artaud and 1001 PLATEAUX (2017) based on the work Mil Plateaux by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari deserve to be highlighted.
Between 2002 and 2004, Pannek also worked as an actor and choreographer in Os Sertões, directed by José Celso Martinez Corrêa (Teatro Oficina).

In 2020, Pannek started to develop cinema projects. He directed experimental short and feature films among which Antonin Artaud’s The Theater and the Plague (2020), Apokálypsis (2021), and Ecoperformance Expedition (2022).

In addition to his theatrical activities, Pannek acted in series, soap operas, and films: fdp, directed by Adriano Civita (HBO Brasil, 2012), Além do Horizonte directed by Ricardo Waddington (Globo TV, 2013); El Presidente II: Corruption Game, created by Armando Bó and directed by Daniela Thomas (Amazon Prime, 2022); Yellow Cake, directed by Tiago Mello, in post-production, 2023); Senna, directed by Vicente Amorim (Netflix, 2024); and Capoeira, directed by Tomás Portella (Star+, 2024). Digital Cast

PUBLICATIONS
Pannek is co-author (alongside Maura Baiocchi) of the following books:

  • Taanteatro – teatro coreográfico de tensões. Azougue Editorial, RJ, 2007.
  • Taanteatro – rito de passagem . Transcultura, SP, 2011.
  • Taanteatro: teatro coreografico de tensiones. Editorial UNC, Córdoba, Argentina, 2011.
  • Taanteatro MAE Mandala de Energia Corporal. Transcultura, SP, 2013.
  • Taanteatro: [des]construção e esquizopresença (Org.). Transcultura, SP, 2016.
  • Taanteatro: forças e formas. Transcultura, SP, 2018.
  • Choreographic Theater of Tensions: forces & forms. Transcultura, SP, 2020.

Pannek is the author and organizer of the books
Bilder der Macht. Das ikonoklastische Denken Gilles Deleuzes. Transcultura, SP, 2021.
Ecoperformance Vol. 1,Transcultura, SP, 2021.
and the curator of the magazine issues
Deleuze in the land of palm trees (Org). International Deleuze Studies, 2014.
Agulha Culture Magazine # 202 | Taanteatro Companhia and Surrealism, 2022.
Arte da Cena (Stage Arts). Thematic Dossier: Ecoperformance and Ecopolitics of the Scene, Vol.1, Federal University of Goiá, 2023 (upcoming)
Pannek published academic articles in Brazil and Argentina.
In 2023, Pannek collaborated as a translator, interviewer and author with the publication of the book SILVESTRO (1998-2023) about the work of the Argentinian painter Candelaria Silvestro.

PERFORMING ARTS

DIRECTOR
2021 – APOKÁLYPSIS – National Foundation of Arts, São Paulo.
2020 – Chissano – Rite for Mabungulane, la minima galeria, São Paulo.*
2019 – Rites-Rivers – Oficina Cultural Oswald de Andrade, São Paulo.
2018 – Messages from Mozambique – National Foundation of Arts, São Paulo.*
2017 – 1001 PLATEAUS – Teatro Aliança Francesa – São Paulo*
2016 – The human face – Teatro Aliança Francesa,São Paulo.*
2015 – cARTAUDgraphy 3: Return of Momo – Viga Scenic Space,São Paulo.*
2015- cARTAUDgraphy 2: Voyage to Mexico – Viga Espaço Cênico,São Paulo*
2015 – cARTAUDgraphy 1: A Correspondence – O Lugar, São Paulo.*
2014 – 50 drawings to assassinate the magic – Cultural Workshop Oswald de Andrade, São Paulo*
2011 – Hamlet Machine Fisted – Funarte São Paulo*
2010 – Rit.U – Olido Gallery – São Paulo
2009 – !Zarathustra! (alongside Maura Baiocchi) – Teatro da Caixa DF – Brasília
2007 – Zarathustra Machine (alongside Maura Baiocchi) – Teatro João Caetano – São Paulo
2007 – New Presences (alongside Maura Baiocchi)- Galeria Olido – São Paulo
2004 – Premonitory Performances (alongside Maura Baiocchi)- Galeria Olido – São Paulo
2001 – Downfall – National Foundation of Arts – São Paulo 
2001 Night Song – National Foundation of Arts – São Paulo
2001 – Walseriana 1 – National Foundation of Arts – São Paulo
2000 – Waiting for Godot – urban intervention – São Paulo
1999 – First Faust – Goethe Institute São Paulo
1999 – If your went to Frankfurt – Mario de Andrade Municipal Library
1998 – Whitman and Copperface – Goethe Institute São Paulo
1994 – CainAbel– Culture Center São Paulo*
1991 – Word-Blood-Me – Lagerhaus – Bremen/Germany*
1990 – Short Comment of a Dead Man – University of Bremen/Germany*
1987 – Felix, the Lucky – ND Heim – Dinslaken/Germany*

*conceived, written and directed by Wolfgang Pannek

ACTOR
2017 – 1001 PLATEAUX – French Alliance Theater – São Paulo
2009 – !Zarathustra! – Caixa DF Theater – Brasília
2006 – Zarathustra Machine – João Caetano Theater – São Paulo
2004 – Material 4. Aggregatzustand – KUBA Vegesack – Germany
2002/04 – Os Sertões – The Earth, The Man, The Transhuman
Directed by: José Celso Martinez Corrêa/Teatro Oficina
2002 – !Submerge! – Mercorsu International Festival – Córdoba, Argentina
2001 – Thus Spoke Zarathustra – 4th Part – Funarte SP Cultural Complex
2000 – MatterDeath – Sala de las Américas – Córdoba, Argentina
1999 – Chants of Maldoror – Funarte SP Cultural Complex
1996 – Artaud: where god runs with the eyes of a blind woman – Theater of the São Paulo Museum of Art/MASP
1993 – At the foot of the mountain – Memorial da América Latina
1991 – Word-Blood-I – Lagehaus – Bremen/Germany
1990 – Short Commentary by a Dead Man – University of Bremen/Germany
1987 – Felix, the lucky one – ND Heim – Dinslaken/Germany

FILM (selection)

WRITER & DIRECTOR
2022 – Ecoperformance Expedition*
2021 – Apokálypsis (with Maura Baiocchi)*
2022 – Antonin Artaud’s The Theatre and the Plague*
All films