International Festival
The Theatre

Every steirischer herbst brings a new place for artists and audiences to meet, a place for talks, discussions, parties: After redesigning the Künstlerhaus last year, the festival is taking things a few steps further in 2007 and building a whole theatre. But no normal theatre.

Is it architecture or is it a performance itself? A building or a show? The Theatre is both – a theatre and a theatre performance. And, in addition and most importantly, this year’s steirischer herbst festival centre. Not just another high-end architecture project for tourist guides in Graz, but rather a temporary intervention by International Festival (initiated by architect Tor Lindstrand and choreographer Mårten Spångberg) that, above all, illustrates the way in which we come together in the theatre. An attempt to breathe new life into conventional machine theatre that has lost much of its social effect: This is accomplished by regarding The Theatre itself as a performance and architecture not primarily as material but rather as an interaction and social structure. The spectacle is not the façade but actual use. The appearance is characterised first and foremost by the participation of Styrian companies and the material sponsors, thus reflecting the connection between art and capital. After the première at steirischer herbst, The Theatre will (as a successful performance should) embark on an international tour ... to Zagreb, London, Stockholm, Montpellier and beyond …

As such, the year-and-a-half development of The Theatre as a collaboration between some forty artists, architects and theorists from eleven European countries and several representatives of the Styrian business world was not merely a warm-up phase but an important part of the entire project – and was itself a kind of social performance in which nothing was predetermined: What is a theatre anyway? How can performance art arise outside of its conventional frame of reference? To what extent does architecture influence a performance? Misunderstandings, surprising alliances…

With a budget that is usual, i.e. comparably small, for performances (but not for architecture), The Theatre transforms everything about theatre that is not theatre into theatre – from the location and the building to the night-time party. And everyone becomes part of the performance – not as join-in theatre, but rather as part of the social structure, in which people can experience the possibilities of theatre.

We warmly invite you to engage in diverse encounters, new insights, aesthetic experiences, profound discussions and silly gossip, dancing, drinking, partying and, who knows, even love.

With: Jonathan Allen, Ivana Ivkovic, Tomislav Medak, Nikolina Pristas, Goran Sergej Pristas, Alice Chauchat, Marcus Doverud, Max Frey, Moa Hanssen, Yngve Holen, Mario Höber, INPEX, Kein.org, Kira Kirsch, Sonia Leimer, Xavier Le Roy, Tor Lindstrand, Annette Lundebye, Florian Malzacher, Liz McAlpine, Ulrike Melzwig, Yves Mettler, Martin Miljard, Moderna Dansteatern, Marlie Mul, ortlos architects, Platforma 9.81, School of Architecture Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm, Christine Sbaschnigg, Hermann Schapek, Support Structure, Celine Condorelli, Marten Spangberg, Tensta Konsthall, Testbedstudio, Anders Johansson, Erik Wingquist, UglyCute, Unfriendly Takeover, WELD, Janica Wiklander, Josefine Wikström, Siegmar Zacharias, International Festival