STAGE Bregenz

Festspielhaus Bregenz Bühnenturm Ausschnitt mit Himmel © Dominic Kummer

At the premiere of STAGE Bregenz, a fair for contemporary art and design, 45 international galleries from 9 European countries presented works from around 100 artists to an interested public at the Festspielhaus.

"STAGE Bregenz: an art fair in a festival hall! Unique in the world. Participants, visitors and the press were unanimous in their praise for the location and the good atmosphere. The latter was already in evidence during the setting up. The Festspielhaus team were praised for their professionalism and expertise by the gallery owners and artists who were present."

Renger van den Heuvel
VAN + VAN GmbH

STAGE Bregenz

Using an event centre for an art exhibition is not so very strange – but the enormous potential of the idea wasn't clear until the four-day premiere of STAGE Bregenz.

The STAGE Bregenz fair made use of virtually the entire premises of the Festspielhaus. Visitors were led past ballet mirrors and dressing tables on their way through the foyers to the various exhibition areas. The Werkstattbühne theatre – ideal for the presentation of art works thanks to its black box character – was incorporated in the exhibition concept along with the main stage and the side stages. Cooperating closely with the Festspielhaus team, the curators were able to turn both the interior and the exterior of the venue skilfully into a display case for art.

The Seestudio had been designed as an atmospheric meeting place. With STAGE Talks on the programme of accompanying events, the studio encouraged many visitors to reflect and interact.

The organisers attached great importance to sustainability in carrying out the event, as was evident from the fair's membership of the Gallery Climate Coalition and documented by a declaration on environmental responsibility.

STAGE Bregenz

Event architecture

Art exhibition, talks, STAGE Night, VIP dinner

Organiser

VAN + VAN GMBH

No. of galleries

45

No. of visitors

5,500

No. of rooms

23

Planning Assistant