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THE PRESENCE OF ABSENCE

The other day I was sitting opposite the legendary Volksbühne theatre with a British friend who seemed a little puzzled by the building, asking where the entrance was – if you know the monumental façade of the theatre, a slightly absurd question. ‘Right behind the columns,’ I answered, but I had to admit there was something odd about it: there seemed to be an awful lot of columns.

It wasn’t until yesterday I found out why: for the time of the summer holidays, Volksbühne invited OSA – the Office for Subversive Architecture, a practice that seems rather like a network of ideas, meddling in as many media as they have offices across Europe – for a public installation while the theatre was closed. OSA added five replica columns to the already imposing patio, literally excluding the audience from the building, as if to say, ‘It’s summer, go outside and play, there’s no one here.’

It’s yet another beautiful gesture by a theatre that is tireless in questioning itself and its role as a public institution, in challenging its audience, in experimenting with new ideas and continuously breaking new ground in terms of what a theatre could be in the digital age. There’s a lesson to be learnt here on how an old and venerable lady can stay young at heart.

‘Eintritt Frei’ by OSA is in place until August 28, 2010, when Volksbühne starts its new season.
A recommendation on the side: Moderat will be playing on September 28, 2010.

Volksbühne
Linienstrasse 227
10178 Berlin

Photography by Ulrich Schwarz