Johannes Schütz

The photograph of a stage design model is an illusion; it creates the impression of the performance having already taken place. Models have a discrete energy that is heightened even more if one takes pictures of them. The philosopher Gaston Bachelard politely trivialized working on the miniature as “an exercise that has metaphysical freshness; it allows us to be world conscious at slight risk.” Hardly anyone else renders this more clearly visible than the stage designer Johannes Schütz. Whether at the Burgtheater in Vienna, the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, or the Schauspielhaus in Hamburg—his works are at once simple, radical, and clear. The formal austerity that Schütz conceives with extraordinary caution is an invitation into worlds in which one can both lose as well as collect oneself. Based on the photographed models, the publication permits not only immersing oneself in these stage spaces but becoming acquainted with the celebrated set designer’s approach in fascinating interviews.