Rooms / Stages

The focus is not on the performance, but on the location where it takes place. As in film, when location scouts search for suitable settings, the space in the finished work usually remains mere scenery—attention is focused on the actors and the plot. Only upon repeated viewing do details such as lighting, sound, costumes, or set design come into focus.

A similar phenomenon occurs in theater and photography: spaces are often overlooked unless they are deliberately chosen as the main subject.

The artists in the group exhibition each present a representative selection of their work. They stage portraits and dance scenes in dialogue with the space, blur figures in long exposures, or depict empty interiors—from their own studios to museums in Versailles or Dresden—that leave room for individual interpretation.

Alongside framed photographs, large-format wall murals define individual exhibition areas. On display are elaborate spatial interventions, urban subway corridors in Berlin and London, and impressive dance and theater scenes.

The work of Helmut Newton is also recontextualized. His photographs transformed places into stages—from luxurious hotel interiors in Paris, Milan, and New York to stark outdoor spaces in Monte Carlo or his own garage, where he radically staged fashion in the 1990s. Newton acted as both director and set designer.

The exhibition showcases exemplary works of his fashion-based interiors and stage photography, including shots from 1983 at Pina Bausch's studio in Wuppertal for "The New Yorker," as well as work for the Monte Carlo Ballet. These are presented as monumental wall murals, framed lifetime prints, and numerous Polaroids in display cases.

A special exhibition of the Helmut Newton Foundation at the Museum of Photography.