![]() In the end, Alexei is alone and has lost his wits (in this staging, he grows animal claws, with which he murders Polina). She does not want anything, not even from Alexei, who suddenly has a streak of luck at roulette. It turns out that this enigmatic person, just like her stepfather, has debts to a French marquis, and other disasters happen to them. Alexei, the central character in the story, is by no means unguilty: he has already lost his job as the General’s private tutor due to his slavish devotion to the General’s stepdaughter Polina, for whom his feelings are distinctly more than those appropriate to a servant. However, as the said aunt suddenly appears and loses her fortune at roulette, the result is perfect financial and amorous storm. The novel paints a terrifying picture of the depths of the human soul, but also provides much comedy in a bizarre world, especially by the time Prokofiev, who wrote his own libretto, has cut out a third of the story: in the fictional gambling metropolis of Roulettenburg, a debt-laden General is waiting impatiently for the death of a rich aunt the eagerly awaited inheritance will, amongst other things, enable him to marry a sexy Frenchwoman named Blanche. Unquestionably, Dostoyevsky is one of the great storytellers of all time, not least because he did not actually write The Gambler, his somewhat autobiographical novel, but rather, he dictated it. But you can’t buy courage, and the Viennese audience knows how to appreciate ambitious projects. Clearly, the Vienna State Opera could have made things easier for both itself and the audience than to stage Prokofiev’s The Gambler, based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novel, as the first première of the new season. And most of all: an opera that no-one below pensionable age in Vienna has ever seen live. The large-format pictures (Vienna: 176 square metres, Berlin: 90 square metres) are produced and installed using an innovative process: The images are printed on plastic-nets and they are fixed with magnets on the safety curtain.Compulsive gambling, legacy hunting and unrequited love in Russian. In 2019 the Safety Curtain "Helen & Gordon" by Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster (from 2015/16) was newly presented at the Opéra Théâtre de Metz in cooperation with the Centre Pompidou-Metz. In 2002/03 museum in progress presented a "Safety Curtain" by the artist duo Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset at the Komische Oper Berlin. ![]() Media partners: Die Furche and Die Presse. 2022/23 in cooperation with the project partner BLUE MOUNTAIN CONTEMPORARY ART (BMCA) and further support from ART for ART, Hotel Altstadt, Johann Kattus, Foto Leutner and PRIVAT BANK of Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberösterreich. ![]() Jury: Daniel Birnbaum, Bice Curiger and Hans-Ulrich Obrist. The exhibition series “Safety Curtain” is a project of museum in progress in cooperation with the Vienna State Opera and the Bundestheater-Holding. By purchasing the edition, art and opera enthusiasts will be making an important contribution to the continuation of the exhibition series. On the occasion of the Safety Curtain project, a signed edition by Cao Fei is available at museum in progress. For the 25th Safety Curtain, the jury (Daniel Birnbaum, Bice Curiger and Hans-Ulrich Obrist) selected the Chinese artist Cao Fei. ![]() "Safety Curtain" is an exhibition series conceived by museum in progress in cooperation with the Vienna State Opera, which transforms the safety curtain into a temporary exhibition space for contemporary art. ![]()
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