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Architecture and spaces for performative arts: Venues and sites for mixed use in the arts and culture - accessibility, programming and expanded scenographies

Subject Area Theatre and Media Studies
Architecture, Building and Construction History, Construction Research, Sustainable Building Technology
Term from 2016 to 2025
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 284156660
 
Final Report Year 2025

Final Report Abstract

The key objective of this project is to examine theatre construction in German-speaking countries since the 1960s in a comparative perspective, asking how, where, and when spaces and sites that do not conform to the traditional theatre type emerge and become established. In the 1960s, commentators observed that the range of contemporary performance formats far exceeded the capacity of traditional theatre, sparking an ongoing debate on the adequacy of the conventional theatre’s structure, interior spatial arrangement and situation in urban space for accommodating contemporary forms of performance. The field of inquiry that emerged and gained contours through this discussion formed the basis for our research. Our findings can be summarized in six points, on each of which we have published, or are planning to publish, studies. 1. The diversity of sites and spaces for the performing arts in our broader understanding of them goes beyond historical types of theatre building, opera house, concert hall etc. Multipurpose arts venues now exist that are designed to allow communication between players and audience, or different groups of participants, in new and different ways. 2. By, for example, adaptive reuse of existing sites, venues for contemporary performative arts bring together altered architectural modes of access (e.g., monospace) with new modes of access via innovative stage design. 3. Our inquiry focuses especially on venues and multi-purpose sites in East Germany, and on Chemnitz in particular, where developments were accelerated due to the city’s nomination as European Capital of Culture 2025. To supplement our urban topology, analysing the interplay between various kinds of performance sites, we present a case study of the Schauspielhaus playhouse, which reflects the discourse on theatre adaptability and standards, contemporary concerns of combining cultural and urban development when planning new buildings, and current negotiations across Germany on the redevelopment of existing structures. 4. The converted structures, sites and venues can be regarded as evidence of a transformation of cultural infrastructures that aims towards more internal openness (becoming ‘porous’) as well as more openness to urban society (urban praxis). 5. This development is part of the ‘urban reset’ discourse in the urban planning sphere, which we also discuss in our inquiry to contextualize and describe the relevance of conversion projects in general. 6. Lastly, we also examined examples of rural spaces in the light of the above points and considered recently funded projects and the accompanying debates. We found that civic involvement and appropriation of formerly industrial buildings for cultural and artistic uses hold key importance for a renewal of infrastructure.

Link to the final report

https://doi.org/10.33968/2025.51

Publications

 
 

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