Aino Laberenz (*Turku, Finland) initially studied art history before turning to theatre and film as a costume and set designer. She has worked at Schauspielhaus Zürich, Volksbühne Berlin, the Burgtheater in Vienna, Schauspiel Frankfurt, Deutsches Theater Berlin, Staatstheater Stuttgart, Thalia Theater Hamburg, Schauspielhaus Hamburg, the Opera in Manaus, Brazil, the Bayreuth Festival, Deutsche Oper Berlin and Staatsoper Berlin. She has worked with Christoph Schlingensief, René Pollesch, Nicolas Stemann, Schorsch Kamerun, Karin Henkel, Stefan Pucher and Jette Steckel, as well as with Armin Petras, Martin Laberenz and Peter Kastenmüller, Simon Stone and, in recent years, regularly with choreographer and dancer Meg Stuart.
She also designs costumes for film and television. Most recently for “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping”, which is due to premiere in November 2026.
Aino Laberenz has been a member of Christoph Schlingensief’s team since 2004 and has served as managing director of Christoph Schlingensief’s Opera Village Africa in Burkina Faso since 2010. In addition to her work in theatre, Aino Laberenz has conceived numerous exhibitions, including for KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin and MoMA PS1 in New York. Together with curator Susanne Gaensheimer, she designed the German Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011, for which she was awarded the Golden Lion. Furthermore, she is also the editor of Schlingensief’s biography “Ich weiß, ich war’s.”, published by Kiepenheuer & Witsch, and the collection of conversations “Kein falsches Wort jetzt!”