20 November 2017

Akademie der Künste opens Luc Bondy Archive
Book presentation on 28 November, Pariser Platz

Luc Bondy (17 July 1948 - 28 November 2015) was one of the most influential European theatre and opera directors since the 1970s. While still alive, he entrusted his archive to the Akademie der Künste, which he had been a member of since 1994. These include information on his work at the most important theatres and opera houses, and have now been fully opened up for use. To mark the occasion of the second anniversary of Luc Bondy's passing, a monograph has been published that relates previously unpublished texts by Bondy to numerous original contributions by his counterparts, supplemented with stage and costume designs, as well as photographs of scenes and private photographs. The book, edited by Geoffrey Layton, who worked with Bondy for many years, and published by Alexander Verlag Berlin, shows the abundance and diversity of the director’s artistic work and allows authors from many countries and creative phases to say a few words, including Isabelle Huppert and Yasmina Reza, Botho Strauss and Peter Handke, Barbara Sukowa and Libgart Schwartz, Samuel Finzi and Jürgen Flimm, along with members of Bondy's family.

Luc Bondy, who came from Zurich, put on his first production in Göttingen in 1971, after training at the pantomime school of Jacques Lecoq in Paris and a brief apprenticeship as assistant director at Hamburg's Thalia Theater. With an approach dedicated to poetry, which rooted the social function of stage art in the investigation of the social, the interpersonal and the encounter of the sexes, Bondy was an antipode in a politically charged environment. His breakthrough came early when, in 1973, he was invited to the Berliner Theatertreffen with the Munich production of Edward Bond's Die See (The Sea). In the course of time, this was followed by a further twelve invitations and a career that took Bondy to numerous major cities. He worked as a freelance director throughout Europe, particularly in Berlin, where he contributed to the profile of the Schaubühne theatre from 1976 with premières of works by Botho Strauss, and even directed the theatre in the second half of the 1980s. In 1997, he assumed the directorship of the Wiener Festwochen, which he chaired for 17 years. From 2012, he directed the Théâtre de l’Odéon in Paris, which as a "Théâtre de l'Europe" was ideally tailored to Bondy the European. In 1976, he made his début as an opera director in Hamburg, also with immediate success, to which work in Brussels, Paris, Salzburg, London, Milan and New York bear testament. Bondy had a particular love of Mozart's operas, but also enjoyed success with world premières of works by contemporary composers such as Philippe Boesmans and Marc-André Dalbavie. 
He reflected on his career as a man of the theatre in several autobiographical books.

On 28 November at 7 pm, the Akademie der Künste will present the book about its long-standing member to the public at Pariser Platz. The welcoming speech by filmmaker and Akademie president Jeanine Meerapfel will be followed by an introductory lecture by Peter Iden, outlining both the person, Luc Bondy, and his work, as well as a reading from the book, which Ilse Ritter and Jens Harzer have kindly agreed to do. Video recordings recall major productions by Bondy. Béla Korény will be accompanying the evening on the grand piano. A showcase exhibition of originals will offer insights into the Luc Bondy Archives.

Event in cooperation with Alexander Verlag Berlin.

Dates

Event
Writing in the air. Luc Bondy and his theatre
Book presentation and opening of the archive
In German language
Tuesday, 28 November 2017, 7 pm, admission €6/4 
Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz 4, 10117 Berlin 
Press tickets at presse@adk.de, Tel. 030 20057 1514

Publication
In die Luft schreiben. Luc Bondy und sein Theater 
Edited by Geoffrey Layton on behalf of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin 
Akademie der Künste/Alexander Verlag Berlin
Approx. 320 pages, approx. 200 colour and b/w illustrations, 
ISBN 978-3-89581-451-8, price €30
Review copies: Requests are to be directed to the publisher.

In case of queries:
Rudolf Mast, Performing Arts Archives, Tel. 030 200 57-32 53, mast@adk.de