Artistic Exchanges

On my way to in Manila. 15+ hours of travelling ahead. I will be giving a paper about and travelling actors visiting . In 1788, it took well beyond a day to even make it across Zealand and a month to reach Paris! Check out my mobility maps on: https://artex.au.dk/journeys

What is an archive? With Anna Lawaetz, I have been on an intense trip to Ireland, exploring the Book of Kells Experience in Dublin and visiting Galway University to learn about the Abbey Theatre Archive and ongoing research. We were also lucky to experience homes of Abbey founders W. B. Yeats and Lady Gregory. One unconventional archive was Lady Gregory’s autograph tree in Coole Park.
Thank you to Patrick Lonergan, David O'Shaughnessy, Barry Houlihan and Ian Walsh for their warm welcome.

ArtEx members Ulla Kallenbach and Julia Tonsberg have just returned from the European Association for the Study of Theatre and Performance (EASTAP) Conference Theatrical Mind: Authorship, Staging and Beyond held at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan. PI Ulla Kallenbach spoke about the theatrical thinking of Johanne Luise Heiberg, PhD fellow Julia Tonsberg was elected as the new student member of the EASTAP board.

The ArtEx team Ulla Kallenbach, Annelis Kuhlmann and Julia Tonsberg were among the exclusively invited guests for the one off historically informed performance of Molière's comédie-ballet Le Malade imaginaire. This exciting and vibrant performance was based on year-long interdisciplinary research by Sorbonne Université and partners like Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles of the original scenography, costumes, pronunciation, declamation, movement, costumes, instruments etc. Amazing!

‘Artistic Exchanges: The Royal Danish Theatre of Europe’ is a 3-year international research project led by Assoc. Prof. Ulla Kallenbach.
We investigate how artists, artistic practices and aesthetic ideas traveled across borders and how spaces, topographies, cultures and ideas of nationalities were imagined and performed on the Danish stage.
The Royal Danish Theatre, founded in 1748, is considered a key site for cultivating and examining Danish national identity, but the significance of the theatre owed to a marked international outlook and artistic exchange. Artists from e.g. France, Germany and Italy were key to founding and developing the theatre, and Danish artists travelled extensively. At a time when international travelling was still rare, the theatre was a “window to the world”; an essential agent for offering the public experiences of foreign cultures and for negotiating cultural identities.
The Royal Danish Theatre comprises theatre, opera, ballet and orchestral music. Its archive is one of the oldest European national theatre archives and remarkably comprehensive and offers a valuable prospect for understanding the broader context of European theatrical practices.
We are currently working on creating a digital map tracking how artists traveled, and a repertoire database where we can explore the impact of travelling on the Danish stage.