Marion Tränkle

Marion Tränkle is an active lecturer at the ArtScience Interfaculty of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK), where she coaches students and develops courses on systems thinking and rule-based performance systems. She also serves as a Coach and Industrial Liaison at Eindhoven University of Technology's Department of Industrial Design since 2014, working with Professor Harm van Essen on 'social interactions with shared systems.'

Her educational background spans multiple disciplines: PhD from Brunel University London (2012), MSc in Media Technology from Leiden University (2005), BA in Contemporary Dance from Amsterdam School of the Arts (2001), and an Engineer Diploma in Architecture from Technical University Berlin (1993). She has also completed specialized training in Software Engineering (2017/18) and Stage Lighting (2016).

Tränkle's research interests center on the intersection of performance art, systems thinking, and technology. She creates work that deliberately negotiates 'the constructive tension between the carefully constructed and generative processes, between risk and responsibility, and between autonomous performance and human intervention.' Her practice integrates computational processes with live-performance, often using electronics, EEG data, and interactive systems to create immersive stage scenarios. She explores how simple rules can generate complex emergent behaviors, drawing from complexity science and computing principles.

Her recent creative works demonstrate a consistent exploration of brain-computer interfaces, interactive light systems, and collaborative performance structures. Projects like (un)focussed and BLINK...and sync use EEG data to create real-time visual and auditory experiences, while ON TRACK and TAROT investigate mechanical systems and embodied symbolism through performance.

• 2nd Prize in the competition for short dance films on Internet 'webdans' (2001)
• Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture Research/Travel Grant (2010)
• e-MobiLArt participant, funded EU CULTURE 2007 Programme (2008-09)
• Brunel University Doctoral Research Scholarship/fee waiver (2007-10)

Tränkle actively collaborates with artists, designers, and engineers through collectives like NOW (with Ivo Bol and Roos van Berkel) and previously In Serial. She is a member of the BAU Committee for Amsterdam's independent performance scene. Her teaching philosophy emphasizes that 'making, learning, and teaching are reciprocal processes that flourish best in collaborative, and project-based environments,' which she implements through workshops, seminars, and interdisciplinary courses across multiple institutions in the Netherlands, Germany, and Canada.