nina hein

is a theatre director and video artist whose work has been shown in the US, Germany and the UAE.

In the last three years, Nina was busy with productions for the Dubai Drama Group, for which she directed five short plays and three full-length productions: Pygmalion (2010), Much Ado About Nothing (2011) and The Servant of Two Masters (2011). Her other UAE productions include There is a Field (Dubai, 2010), Mozart and Salieri (Abu Dhabi, 2010) and Alice (Dubai, 2010).

Before moving to Dubai, she directed the dance/theatre production Antigona Furiosa, based on a play by Argentine playwright Griselda Gambaro, made possible by a grant from the Cultural Department of the City of Munich, Germany (Neuland, Munich, 2007).

Nina’s theatre productions were shown at various theatre festivals in the USA: Judgment, based on a short story by Franz Kafka, participated at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival (2006). Her New York credits include Icarus, a dance performance based on the Greek myth, presented at the 2005 New York International Fringe Festival, which received the Award for Outstanding Choreography; Aurolac Blues by Saviana Stanescu at The American Living Room at Here Arts Center (2005); Outside, based on works by Wolfgang Borchert at The Tank and at The American Living Room (2004); Winter by Jon Fosse at The American Living Room (2003); kaspar—or n(one), a multi-media dance piece with Elyssa Dole (dance) and Katharina Rosenberger (music), presented at WAX and Placard Festival/The Tank (2003); and Sexodus by Avra Sidiropoulou for Women Center Stage at The Culture Project (2002). 

In July 2011, Nina was invited to participate in the Summer Residency Program of the School for Visual Arts, New York. At the end of her residency, she showcased several works, among them two video installations, Impressions, inspired by French Impressionism in collaboration with Floor Grootenhuis, and transitunnel, which was the result of a month-long project on and about the New York subway.

Previously, Nina has collaborated with video artist and set designer Ana Martinez on numerous video installations, such as Puppet-Gym (2009), Two Letters From Baghdad (2005), Sand Age (2005) and Antes (2004). In 2005, Nina curated the exhibition “Consecuencias: Artists respond to war and violence” for the Grand Assembly of Doctors for Global Health. As a founding member of NYCUAC, Nina was co-organizer and videographer of the Smell New York Tours (2006). From November 2006 to February 2007, her video work Poetische Dokumentation was presented in the exhibit Ich esse Licht, curated by Berkan Karpat, in Düsseldorf, Germany. Her short films Chai and Wigzest were featured at the festival StuStaCulum (Munich, Germany, 2006). While living in Dubai, Nina has been working for Iranian artist Gita Meh as videographer and editor. Her short videos were exhibited at Tashkeel, Dubai (2008) and at the Sharjah Biennial, Sharjah, UAE (2009).

Currently Nina is collaborating with Carl-Henry Cadet on a documentary film on Metal Artists in Croix des Bouquets, Haiti (Working title: Metal Dekoupe), while preparing several grant proposals for film projects in and about Haiti.

Nina Hein studied Theater in Munich, Germany, in Bologna, Italy, and in New York, USA. She holds an M.A. from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University, New York. She is a former faculty member of Eugene Lang College/The New School, New York, of the Mohammed Bin Rashid School for Communication, American University in Dubai, UAE, and Haiti Reporters, Delmas, Haiti. In the fall she will join the faculty at Dubai's Womens College, Dubai, UAE.