‘Die Institution’ (The Institution) was founded in 2013 by Melanie Mohren and Bernhard Herbordt as a wide-ranging art facility. ‘The Institution’ works on an expanded concept of theater, in different formats and media on institutions and their modernization. Between art and research, everyday life and stage. To date, 15 internationally acclaimed performance productions as well as three publications published by Alexander Verlag Berlin have resulted from the work series. Always guided by the question: What else can an institution, a performance, an audience or a society be? The focus is on the different possibilities of institutions and how they can be thought of more permeable and solidarity-based through performative transformations. 

Melanie Mohren and Bernhard Herbordt have been jointly developing interdisciplinary work in the frontier of the performing arts for over 20 years. Since 2012, Herbordt/Mohren have been exploring and updating institutions in various formats and media. In 2022, they were awarded the prestigious “Der Faust” German Theatre Prize.

Herbordt/Mohren are mentors for direction at the ADK in Ludwigsburg, have served as guest professors at the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies in Giessen and have represented the professorship for experimental performance at the HMDK in Stuttgart.

In 2024, they will be taking the helm for the artistic direction of the KulturRegion Stuttgart Festival.