Artistic Exchanges

ArtEx members Ulla Kallenbach and Julia Tonsberg have just returned from the European Association for the Study of Theatre and Performance (EASTAP) Conference Theatrical Mind: Authorship, Staging and Beyond held at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan. PI Ulla Kallenbach spoke about the theatrical thinking of Johanne Luise Heiberg, PhD fellow Julia Tonsberg was elected as the new student member of the EASTAP board.

‘Artistic Exchanges: The Royal Danish Theatre of Europe’ is a 3-year international research project led by Assoc. Prof. Ulla Kallenbach.
We investigate how artists, artistic practices and aesthetic ideas traveled across borders and how spaces, topographies, cultures and ideas of nationalities were imagined and performed on the Danish stage.
The Royal Danish Theatre, founded in 1748, is considered a key site for cultivating and examining Danish national identity, but the significance of the theatre owed to a marked international outlook and artistic exchange. Artists from e.g. France, Germany and Italy were key to founding and developing the theatre, and Danish artists travelled extensively. At a time when international travelling was still rare, the theatre was a “window to the world”; an essential agent for offering the public experiences of foreign cultures and for negotiating cultural identities.
The Royal Danish Theatre comprises theatre, opera, ballet and orchestral music. Its archive is one of the oldest European national theatre archives and remarkably comprehensive and offers a valuable prospect for understanding the broader context of European theatrical practices.
We are currently working on creating a digital map tracking how artists traveled, and a repertoire database where we can explore the impact of travelling on the Danish stage.