“Even just the attempt to break through a surface and to fail is, to my mind, a worthwhile adventure.”
Rolf Borzik
The exhibition, “Rolf Borzik and Pina Bausch’s Dance Theatre”, reflects the great passion and determination with which Rolf Borzik embarked on various adventures in his work as a set designer – sometimes even achieving the apparently impossible. Pina Bausch developed the exhibition concept in 2000, combining photographs, drawings, sketches, costumes and objects to give an insight into Rolf Borzik’s life and work. The exhibition was shown twice in Wuppertal – in 2000 and 2006 – and was subsequently kept in storage in the Tanztheater’s depot.
Inspection of the exhibits in spring 2010 revealed that the materials were in bad condition. The foundation immediately decided to preserve the exhibition for the future, giving particular priority to adapting it for mobile use as well. Photographer Ulli Weiss collaborated in creating a new arrangement of the private travel photographs, rehearsal and stage photos and costume sketches and small drawings. The firm Ars Servandi carried out required restoration, such as removal of adhesive residues. The exhibits were then encased in special frames with interiors that maintain a constant humidity, facilitating storage and transportation in future.
The refurbished exhibition was shown for the first time in Monaco in December 2010 during the Tanztheater Wuppertal’s guest performances there with “CafeÅL Müller/The Rite of Spring”. Princess Caroline of Hanover opened the exhibition on the night of the premiere. This enabled the visitors, who included not just theatregoers but also local school pupils and set design students from the university, to get a valuable glimpse of Rolf Borzik’s skill and versatility. The main attractions for younger pupils were the two life-size crocodiles from the piece “Legend of Chastity”. Some of the studio photos in the exhibition give an idea of how the crocodiles, and the hippopotamus from “Arias”, were made.
Malou Airaudo, who held several workshops in Monaco to coincide with the Tanztheater’s visit, answered questions from the students. She spoke about the beginning of the Tanztheater Wuppertal and the collaborative work of Rolf Borzik and Pina Bausch, who were linked together both as life partners and artists, and radically reformed dance and theatre.