Rolf C. Hemke

The curator and dramaturg Rolf C. Hemke has been artistic director of the Kunstfest Weimar since 2018/19. Hemke, born in Cologne in 1972, studied law, German and philosophy in Münster, Geneva and Paris X-Nanterre. Between 1993 and 2003, he worked first as a student and then full-time as a cultural journalist for the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Frankfurter Rundschau, Der Standard Wien, and public radio, among others. From 2006 to 2018, he was responsible for the international program at the Theater an der Ruhr in Mülheim an der Ruhr, founded by Roberto Ciulli: there he founded and programmed the event series Szene Istanbul and Klanglandschaften Mittelmeer & Afrika. He curated the strongly politically oriented festival Theaterlandschaften with changing, regional focuses. From 2014 to 2016, he also worked as a freelance artistic consultant for the Wiener Festwochen in the field of drama for the Middle East and Africa regions. As a freelance dramaturg for drama and musical theater, he has worked for the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, the Ruhrfestspiele, and theaters in Oberhausen, Freiburg, and Münster, among others.