Culture in turbulent times

Culture

In our eighth campaign for the Deutsche Oper Berlin, we showcase the magical attraction of opera. We shot videos of opera employees at prominent locations in the opera house. The post-processing of the material means the movement of the people remains visible even in the motionless campaign motifs.

The photos were taken, among other places, in the auditorium with the yellow seats, in the stairwell that can be seen through the facade and on the exposed concrete wall at the main entrance on Bismarckstraße. The campaign for the 24/25 season is our third for the Deutsche Oper using digital and AI-based tools to create motifs with a special visual language.

This season is the last for artistic director Dietmar Schwarz. He is leaving at a difficult time. The Berlin Senate has announced drastic cuts in the cultural sector for the 2025 and 2026 budgets. Reason enough for the Deutsche Oper to focus its communication on the social and economic significance of culture.

Three of the new productions for 24/25 premiered between 1919 and 1930, that is to say, in a period when opera as an art form had to react to a changed society on several occasions: with a flight into fairy tale, with criticism of capitalism or with opulent outbursts of emotion. Dietmar Schwarz: ‘This maps out the scope of possibilities that is open to opera and demonstrates that there is not only one answer to the questions that, then as now, matter to people.’