Architecture of the Exhibit

How can one design a glimpse into the interior of a living institution?

Simply “reconstructing” the Festival’s history fails to do justice to the task. A classic exhibition mode with panels, objects and models is not an adequate rendering of the Festival’s multi-faceted artistic creativity.

“Audio tracks” and “speech amplitudes” of central documents of the Salzburg Festival’s history (important works/ performances/ artistic milestones, speeches, interviews or other recorded footage) will become generators of the exhibit surfaces; at the same time, the surfaces visualize the audio and speech tracks by representing them as spatial equivalents.

These digitally generated surfaces of quotations from the past form the framework, i.e. they form the current exhibit space for the visitor’s walk-through of the Kunsthalle. The fixed walls of the Kunsthalle are joined together, and the visitor is guided on a predetermined course.

The individual objects (images, letters, posters, objects etc.) of the exhibit are presented amidst these animated surfaces. This creates “windows” (openings) that provide a view into the 90-year history of the Salzburg Festival.

The design of the outdoor stations of the exhibit all around the city is integrated into this basic concept, but is varied according to location, content and medium.