TEMPLE OF ALTERNATIVE HISTORIES is this season´s final project at Staatstheater Kassel conceived to run during the time of the Documenta, the world famous art exhibition taking place at the same time.

Intended to open the theatre to a wider and broader audience, this exuberant, 4 hour lasting evening is conceived as a processual work of art of all disciplines and is at its core a collaboration of the most diverse disciplines. For this special project I conceived a spacial approach by using existing materials of the theatre that I combined with newly produced elements on stage to a new, coherent scenography. This reflects the very idea of the project and its approach of conceivable future paths of narration. In the beginning of the reherarsals there was only the musical score, the rest of the final evening was conceived during the process, what brought the necessity for the scenography to be ultimately flexible. We questioned which spaces and forms of mediation could enhance a public, artistic, and also scientific debate? Can mythological narratives make an impact in this discussion? We were able to create an incredible abundance of images that filled the whole stage by combining the existent and new elements, thus also contributing to the idea of sustainability in the process of theatre making. Many thanks to the other scenographers who have been contributing to this process with parts of their work!

Thorleiffur Örn Arnasson stunning direction by draws on Wagner's Ring and the Nordic mythology surrounding the poetry collection The Edda. Parts of the famous music from the composer Richard Wagner were combined into one score together with Sam Slater's powerful electronic music, which reflects Wagner and creates mesmerizing worlds of its own. The great costumes by Karen Briem and Andri Unnarson, which were also upcycled by 95% of existing materials in the theatre, the fascinating lighting by Marie-Luise Fieker and the monumental video images from Iceland by Frank Lamm make the evening the exuberant experience it has become. Contributing to the idea of a transdisciplinary collaboration between visual art, stage art, scientists and a wider community, an installation and an audio artwork in the foyer by Anna Rún Tryggvadóttir refer to materials the theater itself is made of. A program of interactive workshops, guided sensory experiences and interdisciplinary conversations were initiated by Cassandra Edlefsen Lasch, that complete Temple of alternative Histories as a transdiciplinary project and accompany it beyond the performance time of the theatre evening throughout the time of the Documenta that takes place in Kassel at the same time throughout summer.