been there, done that!
2024
Interdisciplinary theater project
Contributors:
Concept, stage design, artistic direction: Lars Unger
Director: Renen Itzhaki
Artistic collaboration and performance:
Sabrina Rocha, Franziska Rieck, Moritz Brunken
Costume design: Clara Kaiser
Composition and sound design: Gunnar Sigurdsson-Brandt
Artistic production management: Mathilda Kochan
Production assistant: Marie Schlesies-Janssen
Technician: Aljoscha Lanje
Graphic design: Menso von Ehrenstein
This project takes a look at the role of art museums and how society interacts with them. After all, behavior in museums has long since gone beyond simply viewing art.
Teenagers shoot dance videos for TikTok there, activists stage protests against paintings to demand more climate protection, and hundreds of people push their way past the Mona Lisa, mainly to take photos of themselves. It seems that even after centuries of existence, art museums still serve as a stage for various forms of self-expression.
The English phrase “been there, done that!” refers to a possible “bucket list” that includes not only artworks that one supposedly must have seen, but also various other touristic sights, depending on personal interests. It suggests an interchangeability in the way we deal with experiences and formulates the initial question for this theatrical experiment: Between the retrospective of a classic museum visit, changing cultural venues, and media exploitation: how do we encounter art and what does it mean to us today? What value does it have? And how is that value determined?
In this experimental theater evening between art exhibition and dance performance, people and sculptures come together in a shared choreography that asks the question: Do we actually see what is in front of us? Or is it really always just about ourselves?
Fotos: Stephan Walzl