Every year, the Ruhrtriennale — the festival of the arts — invites contemporary artists* to perform in the monumental industrial architecture of the Ruhr metropolis. Halls, coking plants, machine houses, slag heaps and abandoned lots of the mining and steel industry are transformed into impressive production and performance venues that make the festival unmistakable. The Ruhrtriennale, with its centre in the Jahrhunderthalle Bochum, brings together musical theatre, drama, dance, performances, concerts, installations and visual arts and invites you to meet artists from all over the world and the region. The director of the Ruhrtriennale 2021–23 is the Swiss theatre director Barbara Frey.