WAGNER WELTWEIT- INSTALLATION

What was laye­red on stage — ope­ra­tic myth, war, social media, pro­pa­gan­da and real-time music — beco­mes a space in the muse­um. Across ele­ven sta­ti­ons, sound, moving image, voices, pro­jec­tions and new­ly com­po­sed music sur­round the visi­tor, who moves through the mate­ri­al wit­hout a fixed distance and wit­hout a sin­gle per­spec­ti­ve from which ever­y­thing resol­ves. The space can be ente­red, crossed, left and ente­red again, and every path through it pro­du­ces a dif­fe­rent ver­si­on of the work.

Bay­reuth is not a neu­tral host for this. Here the work meets Wag­ner in the place whe­re his cul­tu­ral lega­cy is still being pro­du­ced, pre­ser­ved and con­tes­ted, and whe­re fasci­na­ti­on, inhe­ri­tance, appro­pria­ti­on, resis­tance and poli­ti­cal mea­ning refu­se to sepa­ra­te. What the instal­la­ti­on keeps open is the ques­ti­on of how poli­ti­cal fee­lings are pro­du­ced, dis­tri­bu­ted, repea­ted and aes­the­ti­cal­ly sta­bi­li­sed — and what part sto­rytel­ling plays in bin­ding emo­ti­on to ideo­lo­gy, and ideo­lo­gy to vio­lence.

Wag­ner Reso­nan­ce is on view at the Richard Wag­ner Muse­um, Bay­reuth, until 4 Octo­ber 2026.