Kaiserfahrt

künstlerische Postion als Teil der Performance:
let me guide you - tour by an Ausländer
in und um das Wiesbadener Staatstheater
von Vera Boitcova

Wiesbaden Biennale
Hesisches Staatstehater
Wiesbaden, 2022

Performance:
Vera Boitcova

Konzept, Recherche, Regie und Sound:
Josefine Köhler

“Wollte Kaiser Wilhelm II. den Feierlichkeiten (...) des Hessischen Staatstheaters heute beiwohnen, er würde seine Kaiserdurchfahrt nicht finden. Das Tor mit den beiden Säulen auf den Seiten und dem Löwenkopf darüber, durch das seine kaiserliche Hoheit zur Eröffnung 1894 in der Kutsche einfuhr, um sich nicht unters Volk mischen zu müssen, ist heute durch einen Neubau verdeckt.” ¹Der Werkstattanbau aus den Jahren 1973/74 umschließt das Foyergebäude samt Kaiserfahrt ringsherum und erzeugt einen Leerraum dazwischen. Eine Übergangszone, produziert von dem Clash an den Stellen, an denen der brutalistische Anbau in die repräsentativen Mauern des Staatstheaters kracht. Es ist eine Geste des Zumauerns, die mit Fragen nach Kontrolle und Macht verbunden ist. Binär gedacht bildet diese Leerstelle die verkörperte Diskrepanz zwischen zwei Polen, Alt und Neu, die einen Kontinuitätsbruch markieren und transportieren. Hier manifestiert sich gleichsam die Präsenz und Absenz des Kaisers. Was in den anti monarchistischen 70ern als Kontinuitätsbruch gewertet wurde, um sich der repräsentativen Fassade entgegenzusetzen, genießt heute weitaus weniger Zustimmung. So fordern einige einen Abriss des brutalistischen Baus, um anschließend das Ursprüngliche wieder aus den Mauern herauszupellen und das Gebäude wieder vollständig in die umliegende Wilhelminische Kulisse der Kurstadt einzugliedern.

Vera Boitcova ist eine in Helsinki lebende russische Performance-Künstlerin, Regisseurin, Dramaturgin und politische Aktivistin. Für die Wiesbaden Biennale 2022 führt sie Tourist*innen abseits der repräsentativen Fassaden über diverse Stationen im öffentlichen Raum bis ins Theater. Die Tour spürt der Frage nach, welche narrativen Strukturen dem urbanen Raum und den sozialen Kontexten im und um das Theater eingeschrieben sind. Welche Methoden des Blicks auf Stadt müssen wir verlernen, um neue Sichtweisen auf öffentlichen Raum zu finden?
^{1 Madeleine Reckmann, Anbau des Wiesbadener Staatstheaters lieber abreißen als sanieren, In: Frankfurter Rundschau, 23.09.2019}

Text: Josefine Köhler

…(Vera guides the group in the backyard) “We now walk through this beautiful place, squeezed in between two massive buildings.” (she makes exaggerated gestures towards the space) “One immediately feels the very special atmosphere that is preserved here in this compact place between the old house and the new house.” (Vera walks in circles) “Particularly appealing is THIS (she points at the new house) wonderful piece of brutalist architecture which is the newest part of the theater, and was attached to the older part back then in the 70s. From the unique design language, one can clearly recognize the work of a genius, right?” (Vera seems to be very in love with the backside of the new house) “See also with what grace this building crashed right into the facade of the old house” (she points to that spot) “And imagine, the wrecking ball that was used to create a crater like that…!” (she nods and turns around) „Whatever. This door over there in this exaggerated monumental building – which, you know, gets way to much attention – (she makes some degrading gestures towards the old house) this door was the unique special entrance for his Imperial Highness Wilhelm II. himself. Yes, the crazy maniac, who spread his ego halfway around the world with his aggressive nationalism, that one. And yes, as you may already guessed, this entrance was only for him, no one else allowed, so that he would not have to deal with the lower people at the public entry.” (Vera talks about Wilhelm with a “blablabla-attitude”) “But, I mean, what this place is really all about is not that crazy old house over there (points to the old house) and also not THIS (points to the new house) wonderful brutalist piece, but the fact that this concrete wall, which is the core element of the new house, literally BLOCKS the emperor's entry in the old house and, even more, creates a space IN BETWEEN” (draws the outlines of the space with her fingers) “So to be very clear: when Wilhelm would like to jump out of his carriage right now and attend the party – HE COULDN'T, he just wouldn't find his entrance!” (Vera is very excited, but she needs to talk very loud to be heard over the noise of some construction work, that seems to start) “I mean, can you think of a greater reference to the anti-monarchist 70s? I don't think so?!?” (she nods…) “But for now i really want you to understand that THIS SPACE, (draws the outlines of the space again) this complex architectural arrangement is in danger!” (she looks very serious) “Because, you know, Wiesbaden wants to take it down!” (she shouts and nods while the construction side gets super loud) “They want the new house out of the way so they can reinstall the entrance to the old house and relive their pure, untouched castle fantasies. And you know how quick it goes when some stupid conservatives want to restore their fatherland-fairytales – as you can hear the demolition of the house has already started!” (still shouts very loud over the construction noise) “So let me do this one thing for you" (she points with her finger in the audience and walks closer to a microphone with a speaker nearby) “I don't think that anyone has the capability to talk to houses and spaces like I do. Which is why I will translate for you. If this space could talk it would tell you this:” (Vera walks to the microphone, and picks it up. Meanwhile the construction side gets even louder. Vera seems to switch characters, takes a straight position and reads out of a paper).

“I am the floor and the walls. I am the opening upwards and the closure around; a distance. I am the air. I am the negativespace in between the old house and the new house. An object, produced by the clash of the brutalist building of the 70s right into the representation of power. I am a space. Sitespecific. This space. – You can think of me as a void, a space without a use, superfluous, irritating, ugly, disturbing – but I am not without function, because I am not without relation. I am the product of a reaction to a historical heritage, of the sledgehammer, of the big hole in the side of the theater, of the anti-monarchist movements of the 70s. I am collapsing facade, a gesture of walling up the emperor's entry, a denial of his influence. I am this space. A historical reference, I embodie a question of continuity. In me manifests the presence and absence of an empire.” - -