Leonard Grobien & Barbara Schachtner

Barbara Schachtner, a blonde woman with short hair, is sitting leaning against a piano, watching a young man in a wheelchair playing the guitar.

The first residency in winter 2023/24 went to performers Leonard Grobien and Barbara Schachtner, who explored the accessibility of classical music theatre. The approaches and ideas they developed formed the basis for the production ‘24 Hebel für die Welt – Berichte aus der Winterreise’ (24 Levers for the World – Reports from the Winter Journey), which premiered in October 2024 at the Beethovenfest in Bonn.

Artists

Black and white photo of Leonard Grobien. A young man with short curly hair. He looks straight into the camera.

Leonard Grobien
Leonard Grobien was born with brittle bone disease in 1998 and trained as a screenwriter at the International Film School Cologne (ifs). As a writer and filmmaker, he has made several short films to date. In the film Special (2021), he impressed as an actor in front of the camera, directing himself. He deepened his acting work in the lead role of Fynn in the film Was wir wollen (What We Want, 2022). Directed by Elena Weiß, the film won awards at various festivals in 2023. In 2023, Leonard appeared in front of the camera as the character Mesut in the feature film Der Wald in mir (The Forest Inside Me, directed by Sebastian Fritsch). In the same year, he made his stage debut in the play ‘Die vielen Stimmen meines Bruders’ (The Many Voices of My Brother), a co-production of Schauspielhaus Wien, Kunstfest Weimar and Kosmos Theater Wien, directed by Marie Bues. In 2019, Leonard hosted FUNK’s YouTube channel ‘100 percent me’, which was nominated for the Grimme Prize.

Black and white photo of Barbara Schachtner. She has short blonde hair, wears dark lipstick, and looks straight into the camera.

Barbara Schachtner
Barbara Schachtner (Cologne) is a classically trained singer (Cologne University of Music and Dance) and performer who works across various artistic disciplines. These currently include video works for the Kolumba Art Museum, art events such as ‘Zu Fuß über’s Land mit Musik im Gepäck’ (Walking across the country with music in your luggage) with the ensemble unterwegs (documentary in autumn 2024 on ARD, WDR) and productions for contemporary music theatre with INTERSTELLAR 2 2 7 (funded by the city, state and federal government). Festivals and collaborations (excerpts): Staatstheater Meinigen; Tonhalle, Theater der Klänge Düsseldorf; FESTIVAL OF CHANGE Cambridge; Oxford Chambers Music Festival; Deutschlandfunk, WDR, MusikTriennale and Lyrikfestival SATELLITEN Cologne; Gasteig Munich; Kammerspiele Bochum; Funkhaus Halberg, SOMMERMUSIK Saarbrücken; Moers Jazz Festival; Literature and Music Festival ‘Wege durch das Land’; Platzhirschfestival Duisburg; video works (‘Jiffy Act’), annual exhibition ‘playing by heart’ at the Kolumba Museum; Teatro 4Garoupas Cologne.
www.barbara-schachtner.de

About the Un-Label Artist Residency

Un-Label’s artist residencies offer artists with disabilities the opportunity to realise their own creative projects with targeted support. The Laboratory for Inclusive Culture (L.I.K.) in Cologne-Neuehrenfeld is creating a central location where artists with disabilities can come together, network and work in an inclusive environment. In addition to financial, personnel and logistical support, there is a focus on interdisciplinary and intersectional collaboration. Un-Label also works with network partners to anchor accessibility and the promotion of artists with disabilities in the cultural scene in a sustainable manner.

Logo of L.I.K. Three coloured circles are overlapping each other. Next to it is written: Labor für inklusive Kultur (Laboratory for inclusive culture)