Experience Traps

For the Experience Traps exhibition, the Antwerp Middelheim Museum invited sixteen internationally renowned artists to present works inspired by the innovative ideas of the baroque period.

Outdoor theatre sculpture: Le Soleil te regarde

German artist Ulla von Brandenburg rightly came to ShowTex to help shape her outdoor reproduction of a wooden baroque theatre with stunning cotton draperies. The beautifully layered Wagner setup of 14 cotton curtains (7 by 8 metres each) leaves a lasting impression on every visitor.

Custom-dyed Cyclo 200 drapes

To perfectly match the artist's idea of designing a stage halfway between a theatre and a boat, ShowTex custom-dyed each of the 7 layers of Cyclo 200 according to a specific Pantone colour. The various shades of blue give even more depth to the stage, drawing the attention to what can be seen in the back of the installation: another custom-coloured cotton canvas resembling a bright and wavy sea.

Making waves with fabric and wood

Just like a baroque garden, theatre uses tricks and effects such as perspective and trompe-l’oeil to create illusions. In this context, von Brandenburg ingeniously integrated the technique of the wave machine in her installation by horizontally hanging an azure blue cyclorama over rotating wings to represent the waves of the sea. A clever theatre device that is characteristic of one of the most extravagant ages of all time.

“Because theatre is obviously a means of travelling with your mind, we should remind ourselves that it was the sailors, with their knowledge of machinery, who worked in the theatres whilst on shore. I would like to build a stage made of sails, halfway between a theatre and a boat, moored on a lawn far from the sea, where the backdrop looks like the sails of a boat.” - Ulla von Brandenburg