Barbara Ehnes

Barbara Ehnes works at the intersection of set design, installation, and performative spatial art. She studied Fine Arts and Stage Design with Wilfried Minks and Marina Abramović at the University of Fine Arts Hamburg and in Amsterdam, as well as Literary Studies at the University of Hamburg. Her designs are artistic interventions in dialogue with text, direction, and contemporary social contexts.
In collaboration with, among others, Meg Stuart, Lydia Steier, Jossi Wieler/Sergio Morabito, Lars-Ole Walburg, Calixto Bieito, Schorsch Kamerun, Sebastian Baumgarten, and Thomas Köck, she has continuously developed works presented at major German-speaking and international stages. Since 2001, she has maintained an ongoing artistic collaboration with director Stefan Pucher. Many of their joint productions have been invited to the Berlin Theatertreffen.
Her work has been recognized with awards including the “Opus” Stage Prize and the theatre award “Der Faust.”
In 2023, she directed the opera Alcina at Theater Luzern.
Alongside her theatre work, she creates her own installation and performative projects, such as Istanbul, Transgelinler (Vienna Festival and HAU Berlin), Die schwarze Botin – remastered and remistressed (2013, Vienna Festival / Schauspielhaus Wien), and ΑΛΛΗΛΕΓΓΥΗ – Solidarität at Ruhrtriennale 2019 (ongoing until 2022 at Münchner Kammerspiele).
Since 2011, she has been Professor of Stage and Costume Design at the HfBK Dresden.
Together with Nadia Fistarol, she founded the platform https://www.stuffincycles.com/ (New Material Cycles for Theatre and Scenography).