A stage design for the play „Licht im Kasten“ by Elfriede Jelinek.
The fashion industry encourages us to follow its roadmap of trends. When we slavishly follow fashion trends and become dependent on fashion dictates by buying into a fantasy ideal and the glitter of perfec- tion, we ultimately sacrifice something of our individuality. The stage structure built into the Basel Market Hall makes our emo- tional reflections on fashion tangible. By ta- king a step through a wardrobe, the visitor enters a slightly upward spiraling tunnel. The path then follows a series of stages where the visitor feels increasingly over- whelmed by images, sounds and texts from Jelinek‘s play where the fashion industry subsumed personal identity.
The audience is ultimately led into a space where they look up at a concave vaulted ceiling. Via a ladder the visitor climbs through openings in the shining fashion cosmos. Under the Market Hall dome, visitors and actors lie
together on the concave surface of the stage ceiling. The actors ecstatically call out passages from Jelinek‘s „Licht im Kasten“ into the room. At the dome of the Market Hall, which extends over the heads of the visitors, the perfect fashion cosmos shines. The projection of a kaleidoscope captivates the audiences’ attention. The kaleidoscope slowly enlarges until their individual com- ponents become recognizable: images of miserable factory conditions and pollution caused by the production of clothing and fashion items.
