The relationship of the contemporary critics to the International Theatre Exhibition in Amsterdam, 1922.
Research and scenario for a Virtual Exposition based on the 1922 exhbition in the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
The origins (that lay with a playwright and critic!) and organisational set up of the exhibition are described in the article by Peter G.F. Eversmann
Introduction
In 2022 it will be one hundred years ago that the International Theatre Exhibition was opened on the upper floor of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. That exhibition presented the then state-of-the-art in scenography and theatre architecture. A large number of avant-garde artists who have become world famous and have acquired a definitive place in art and theatre history exhibited their work here. The exhibition was seen as revolutionary and gained worldwide recognition. A few months later, the exhibition was shown at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, where it could also count on an enthusiastic reception.
This project aims to create a virtual reconstruction of the International Theatre Exhibition of 1922 accompanied by a reflection on the design for theatre today and the future of scenography.
The International Theater Exhibition of 1922
When the exhibition opened its doors to the public in January 1922, it was the first time that theater architecture and set and costume designs by the theater avant-garde were shown on a large, international scale. After Amsterdam, the exhibition traveled to England: London, Manchester and Bradford. It had a great influence on theater practice in the Netherlands and abroad. The catalog reads like a compendium of now very famous visual artists and innovators of scenography and theater architecture from the first decades of the twentieth century with names such as: Adolphe Appia, Léon Bakst, Hendrik Berlage, Nathalie Gontcharova, Edward Gordon Craig, Ernst Stern, Oskar Strnad, Henri van de Velde, H. Th. Wijdeveld and others. And indirectly, famous directors and theater theorists such as Copeau, Diaghilev, Jessner and Reinhardt also received a platform for their ideas.
The 4DRL contribution to the project consists of creating an interactive virtual reconstruction of the International Theatre Exhibition of 1922 – the 'visitor' can walk through the exhibition in 3D, view objects in detail and request information about object and artist. The exhibition has been extensively documented – among other things through an issue of Wendingen (Jrg. 4 no. 9-10 see: WENDINGEN, the exhibition catalogue, a bibliography of the book collection and a wide variety of reactions in the press. In 1992, a special issue of the Tijdschrift voor Theaterwetenschap was published, which was dedicated to the exhibition. This makes it possible to reconstruct the exhibition with a reasonable degree of accuracy as a virtual reality project.
Executive team
UVA theaterwetenschap
Peter Eversmann
Rob van der Zalm
UVA 4D Research lab
Tijm Lanjouw
Jitte Waagen
Rooftop Immersive Studio
Jan Maarten Groen
Souhayl Ouchene
Glenn Wustlich
ArchiveTech.net
Thaimon Vlaar
Stichting Autres Directions
Tijl Akkermans
DynamischArchief.nl
Floris Guntenaar
Jan Klatter
Jedan Tutuhatunewa
Theater collectie Allard Pierson
Hans van Keulen