Vita – VARUKT | INGE GAPPMAIER

INGE GAPPMAIER works as a free choreographer, dramaturge, dancer, dance teacher and dance scholar based in Vienna. Since 2019 she is the founder and artistic director of varukt.

varukt | Austrian dialect for crazy as well as shifted or dis-placed

In her work, she examines the contemporary self-conception of the human body between poetry, technology, history and socio-political structures. She is particularly interested in (connecting) lines and logics in their ambivalence, localisation, displacement and dissolution. Her artistic research articulates between the fields of dance, performance and installation.

‘For me, creating art is not only about expressing subjective aesthetics, but above all about negotiating deep-rooted social phenomena and testing social systems, forms of coexistence, working together and joint creativity.’

Artistic engagements and cooperation a.o with brut Wien, Kubus EXPORT, Plesni Teater Ljubljana, Kosmos Theater Wien, Lebendiges Tanzarchiv Wien, Junges Volkstheater Wien, Ganz Novi Zagreb, Wiener Staatsoper, Festival Pelzverkehr Klagenfurt, Tanzhafenfestival Linz, Landesmusem Linz, Galerie Raumschiff Linz, Tanzplattform Deutschland 2016

Teaching a.o. Raum für Tanz (Vienna), D-CAF Festival Cairo, MDW – Universität for Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Austrian Cultural Forum Cairo (Egypt), Tanzquartier Wien, MUK – Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien, Tanzwerkstatt Wien, Justus-Liebig University Gießen, Red Sapata Tanzfabrik Linz, Tanzstudio Dancework (interim director).

VITA

EDUCATION
MA Choreography and Performance, Institute of Applied Theatre Studies, JLU Giessen
BA Contemporary Dance Education, Konservatorium Wien Privatuniversität
Erasmus semester, Dans och Circushögskolan, Stockholm
Matura, Gymnasium der Abtei Schlierbach, Upper Austria

as well as numerous further training courses, participation in international festivals, conferences and symposia.

SCHOLARSHIPS | AWARDS
Annual Work Scholarship in the field of Performance 2023, City of Vienna Culture
Start-Scholarship for Music and Performing Arts 2020, Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport
Research Scholarship from the Cultural Department of the City of Vienna 2018, Research project: ‘Tanzsystem Rosalia Chladek’ in collaboration with the Dance Archive of the MUK Vienna
DanceWEB Scholarship 2016, Impulstanz – Vienna International Dance Festival, Vienna
School of Exception 2015, Santarcangelo Festival Internationale del Teatro in Piazza
Research Academy for Dance and Choreography 2014, Zurich University of the Arts and Institute for Theatre Studies, University of Bern
Award for Outstanding Theses 2011, Award for the bachelor’s thesis ‘Dance in Public Space’, Cultural Department of the City of Vienna

TEACHING | a.o.
Raum für Tanz, Vienna, since 2016
Lecturer at the Institute of Applied Theatre Studies, JLU Giessen, 2013
General University Sports JLU Giessen, 2012-16
Director of the Dancework dance studio (interim), Bad Hall, 2011/12

Workshops and courses a.o. at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, D-CAF Festival Cairo, Austrian Cultural Forum Cairo, Kolibri Steyr, Tanzland Association, Tanzquartier Wien, Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna, University of Education Vienna, RedSapata Tanzfabrik Linz, Rückenglück Vienna, Private University of Education of the Diocese of Linz, KinderUniKunst Wien, Turnverein Bad Hall, Union West Wien, Tanzwerkstatt Wien

ACADEMIC WORK
Freelance research assistant and project assistant, Dance Archive of the MUK Vienna for the exhibition: Alles tanzt. Kosmos Wiener Tanzmoderne (Everything Dances. Cosmos of Viennese Modern Dance) (21 March 2019–10 February 2020) at the Theatre Museum in Vienna, 2018–20

PUBLICATIONS
– Rosalia Chladek Dance System. Revisited. The Utopia of a Dancing Society
in: Alles tanzt. Kosmos Wiener Tanzmoderne, ed. Andrea Amort, Hatje Cantz Verlag, Berlin 2019
– Francesca Woodman: Grasping the in-between through photography
in: Case of Emergency: Emergent Writings on Live Art and Performance
ed. David Frankovich, Hanna Maria Gullichsen, Vili van Nissinen and Diana Soria Hernández, Helsinki University Press, 2015

LECTURES
– City without a body. Or the utopia of a dancing society
Indigo City. Die Stadt danach | Transdisciplinary keynote lectures on utopia & everyday life – body & space | WESTSpace in Vienna, 2020
– The utopia of a dancing society
Post-Utopia and Europe in the Performing Arts | University of Salzburg, 2020
– Grasping the in-between
The Young: What matters? – International Postgraduate Conference | Utrecht University, 2015
LAPSody: 5th International Conference & Festival for Live Art and Performance Studies | University of the Arts, Helsinki, 2015

Artistic PUBLICATIONS
— Kollektivkörper-Körperkollektiv. Collective Body Web Think Thank
Co-author, ed. Tanzplattform Rhein-Main, Frankfurt 2020
— How to take care?
Co-author: Paola Granato; in: How to build a manifesto for the future of a festival, curated by Daniel Blanga-Gubbay and Livia Andrea Piazza, a project by Santarcangelo Festival Internationale del Teatro in Piazza edited by Silvia Bottiroli, Marzia Dalfini, Giulia Polenta, 2015

ASSOCIATIONS AND CULTURAL POLICY ENGAGEMENT
Interessensgemeinschaft Freie Theaterarbeit, board member
Bildrecht GmbH, supervisory board for dance, choreography and performance
ttp – TanzTheaterPerformance WUK, collective/board member
Wiener Perspektive, temporary engagement in working groups
Österreichische Berufsvereinigung für Tanzpädagogik, Member
tanzland l Verein zur Förderung von künstlerischem Tanz und zeitgenössischer Performancekunst im ländlichen Raum, member

PRESS and MEDIA SPLITTER

Last Update: Okcober 2025