From 25 to 28 June 2025, the ligeti center in Hamburg hosted the multi-day event series "Thinking through Materialities" - an interdisciplinary programme of the Sustainable Theater Lab of the Hamburg University of Music and Drama. The programme looked at materials not just as objects of usage, but as active sources of knowledge: How do materials and textures shape our thinking? What role do ecology, sustainability and design play in material-related artistic processes?
The programme consisted of several thematic days, e.g. Cycles - Cycles of Life and Things, Textiles - Fibres, Interweavings, Possibilities, Polymers - Good Plastic, Bad Plastic? and ended with Marketplace of Possibilities. Lectures, workshops, artistic interventions and performative formats alternated.
We were part of this series with the spatial design for the lectures and workshop formats during the day and the stage design for two evening productions: The music theatre performance "Specimen No.6" by Spanish multimedia artist Alicia Reyes and the lecture performance "Textile Landscapes" by Marlene Behrmann and Louisa Schiedek.
We travelled with two large bags only - with as little luggage as possible - and borrowed technical elements such as steel cables with tensioners and sockets on site. You can see from our material photo that everything that shines silver was borrowed; we were able to transport the rest easily by train.
Our design was based on a system of reversible textile panels: attached to connecting pieces permanently fixed to the ceiling, the panels could be moved quickly. This meant that the stage could be converted quickly - and with comparatively little material.
The textile used was chosen to be permeable and suitable for projection. We also deliberately utilised the softness, warmth and fluidity of the textile: during the performance, the panels moved with the performers as they walked along them, while videos of flowing water were projected onto the back - dynamically enhancing the scenes.
Reversibility was also used dramatically in the lecture performance: parts of the textiles were "torn down" scenically and reused in a new form.
Many thanks to the Sustainable Theater Lab and the ligeti centre, especially to Marlene Behrmann, for the invitation and the opportunity to contribute to this inspiring hub. We would also like to thank Alicia Reyes and her team as well as Louisa Schiedek for their great work and collaboration.
We look forward to carrying forward the impetus from these days, developing the ideas further - and to further joint projects with them.
