The Troubadour will travel through the Ruhr Area from Dortmund to Duisburg, from performance to performance, from encounter to encounter. Ari Benjamin Meyers will present a musical experiment in which conversations, hospitality and shared experiences give rise to an ever-expanding repertoire of songs, texts and stories. What is heard, lived and exchanged in one place is carried to the next. Meyers sees the idea of continuous presence as central to the work: travelling, resting, rehearsing and performing as an uninterrupted artistic process.

The Troubadour by Ari Benjamin Meyers is an Urbane Künste Ruhr and Manifesta 16 Ruhr co-production and is part of the exhibition Uncanny Shifts by Urbane Künste Ruhr. Uncanny Shifts takes place from the 22nd of August until the 4th of October 2026 around the Dortmund main train station.

Performance The Troubadour: Riah Knight
Assistenz / The Juggler: Christian Löffel
Curated by Britta Peters (Urbane Künste Ruhr) together with Michael Kurtz (Manifesta 16 Ruhr)

Further information can be found on the Urbane Künste Ruhr website.

About Ari Benjamin Meyers

Ari Benjamin Meyers lives and works in Berlin and is an artist and composer. He develops structures and processes that redefine the performative, social and ephemeral nature of music. Meyers received his training as a conductor and composer at The Juilliard School, Yale University and the Peabody Institute. His works Unless and Forecast (LX23), both from 2023 and also presented in Gelsenkirchen as part of Urbane Künste Ruhr’s exhibition Ruhr Ding: Klima, directly address environmental and climate change. His most recent performance work, Nation of Sleep (2024), works with a new text by writer Tom McCarthy and schoolchildren who sing old and new lullabies to adults. Ari Benjamin Meyers is currently Professor of Sculpture at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.

About Riah Knight

Riah Knight (*1996) is a British-Romani artist based in Berlin whose interdisciplinary practice combines acting, music, writing and dramaturgy. She made her theatre debut as a composer and performer at the Maxim Gorki Theatre with the Faust Award-nominated production Roma Armee. As a co-author, she contributed to Yael Ronen’s theatre production Slippery Slope, which was invited to the Theatertreffen in 2022. In the same year, she was nominated by the critics of Theater heute magazine as one of the best emerging actresses. Knight is also one of the artistic directors of Glossy Pain, a collective that explores pleasure beyond oppressive structures and critically examines social norms relating to gender, race and sexuality.

Save these dates!

The Troubadour’s Welcome
Date: Wednesday, 12th of August 2026
Time: 19.00-21.00
Meeting point: Hans-Schalla-Platz at Schauspielhaus Bochum, 44789 Bochum
Organiser: Manifesta 16 Ruhr

Meet the Troubadour
Date: Sunday, 23rd of August 2026
Time: 16.30-18.30
Meeting point: Dietrich-Keuning-Haus, Leopoldstr. 50–58, 44147 Dortmund
Organiser: Urbane Künste Ruhr

The Troubadour’s Farewell
Date: Thursday, 10th of September 2026
Time: 19.00-21.00
Meeting point: Christ-König-Kirche, Steinring 32, 44789 Bochum
Organiser: Manifesta 16 Ruhr

Troubadour, The Epilogue
Date: Saturday, 19th of September 2026
Time: 19.00-21.00
Meeting point: Evangelische Stadtkirche Sankt Petri, Westenhellweg / Petrikirchhof 1, 44137 Dortmund, as part of the DEW21 Museum Night Dortmund
Organisers: Urbane Künste Ruhr and Ev. Stadtkirche Sankt Petri