stage design "SOLARIS", Säulenhalle, Atelierhaus der Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien (former Semperdepot)

composer: Dai Fujikura / libretto: Saburo Teshigawara

conductor: Walter Kobéra
director: Helen Malkowsky
stage design: Kathrin Kemp
costume design: Anna-Sophie Lienbacher
video design: Sophie Lux

Premiere: 06.04.2021


 

Reflecting on the questions that the planet Solaris poses about copies and originals, the spatial approach plays with architectural elements found in the venue, the Säulenhalle at Vienna's Semperdepot. An enlarged column capital and an additional column, collapsing in the course of the play, reference the character of the ocean on Solaris, as described by Stanislaw Lem: It mimics the shapes of objects and individuals who approach the planet. Extensively arranged geometric elements provide a contrast to the surrounding space through their smooth, mirrored surfaces. These elements function as reflectors for the lights as well as video projections, and generate distorted images of both the objects and the actors on stage. Mobile elements create light reflections that travel through the space, change their shape and are reminiscent of a glittering water surface.