Janina Audick’s set designs are not background, but part of the performance. Actors move not only in, but also with the scenery: the actors become pictures and vice versa. Audick works closely with words, moods, emotions to produce sets that are insistent and yet subtle, loud and yet reserved, uncomfortable and yet calming. They draw inspiration from the thoughts of Hannah Arendt, Donna Haraway and Judith Butler. Audick is concerned about social pressures and unequal power relations, which she actually builds into her designs unconventionally, humorously, politically, provocatively and outside the mainstream. She opens up hitherto non-existent realms, delimiting them and expanding them.
TALENT explores Audick’s rich œuvre. It goes far beyond mere display to intimately juxtapose drafts and executed designs, elucidate developments and make thoughts and working processes visible. Leafing through the book, you feel smack in the middle of her scenery: her art becomes palpable. A pop-up set in the centerfold conveys a three-dimensional sense of Audick’s work.
This wealth of visual material is amplified in articles by the artist as well as Helene Hegemann (author, director), Valery Tscheplanowa (actress), Andreas Beck (director, dramatic advisor), Eberhard Bothe (technical director), Verena Dengler (artist, author), Karin Nissen- Rizvani (author), Constanze Ruhm (film professor), René Pollesch (director) et al. and interviews with Sibylle Berg (author) and Sacha Benedetti (media activist) as Adriano Celentano.