Espiner's Berlin : The many stages of David Bowie
March 2013. And like the Ziggy phenomenon 40 years before, Bowie was once again THE hot ticket in London. This time, though, it wasn't the Hammersmith Odeon stage. It was the venerable V&A. Bowie in a museum? It sounded wrong.
I've been taken away from Berlin far too much recently, which might explain my silence to some of you, working as a theatre director doing things like this. But here, I thought, was a small bonus for my exile: in London in time for the Bowie opening.
But then came Bowiemania
I had another reason beyond Bowie for wanting to attend. Maybe it was just me (Kursk, one of the shows I co-directed, had been featured in a recent exhibition at the V&A) but I sensed a shift at the museum towards the more theatrical. This show was certainly a headline-grabbing bit of programming. Could that be the influence of the Germans, I thought, with Stuttgart-born Martin Roth as the new head of this most English of institutions?
But then came Bowiemania. Everyone wanted a ticket. There were bids on ebay. Long queues. Timed entry. I missed it.
David Bowie (8. Januar 1947 - 10. Januar 2016). Hier ein Bild von 1976 in Berlin. Foto von Archival Pigment Print auf Baryt. Courtesy: EYE·D Agentur für Fotografie. Das Bild war Teil der großen Bowie Ausstellung im Martin-Gropius-Bau.
Foto: Jim RaketeDie Ausstellung "David Bowie is" im Londoner Victoria Albert Museum huldigte dem 1947 geborenen britischen Pop-Star mit einer Fülle von Objekten. Zu sehen waren Kostüme, Instrumente, Notizen, Plakate und Videoinstallationen. Nun macht die Werkschau, erweitert um Bezüge auf Bowies einstige Wahlheimat Berlin, in der deutschen Hauptstadt Station. (Website der Ausstellung im Martin-Gropius-Bau mit Service hier.)
Foto: Victoria & Albert MuseumDavid Bowie mit Hund Etzel, 1977 in Berlin.
David Bowie mit Heiner Müller ... nein: Tonmeister Eduard Meyer im Meistersaal Hansa Tonstudio 2, Berlin,1987.
Und das war der Blick aus dem Regieraum des Hansa Tonstudios 2, 1980, unweit der Berliner Mauer.
Ohne Titel, 1978, Linolschnitt von David Bowie.
Selbstporträt von David Bowie, das als Vorlage für das "Heroes"-Cover diente. Vorbild ist das Bild „Roquairol“ des zur Künstlergruppe "Die Brücke" gehörigen Expressionisten Erich Heckel. In seiner Berliner Zeit, 1976 bis 1978, war Bowie oft im Brücke-Museum. Neben "Heroes" sind die Alben "Low" und "Lodger" Teil seiner Berliner Schaffensperiode.
Foto: Victoria & Albert MuseumDavid Bowie, 1973. Fotografie von Masayoshi Sukita.
Sehr kleidsam: David Bowies "Knitted Jumpsuit" von 1973 ist mal ein etwas anderer Jogginganzug für Berlin.
Foto: promoOriginal-Fotografie für das Earthling Album Cover, 1997.
Bühnenmodell für die Diamond Dogs Tour, 1974. Entworfen von Jules Fisher und Mark Ravitz. Aus dem David-Bowie-Archiv.
David Bowie mit William Burroughs, Meister der literarischen Cut-up-Technik. Februar 1974. Fotografie von Terry O‘Neill mit Farbauftrag von David Bowie. Aus dem David-Bowie-Archiv.
Werbefotografie für David Bowies Diamond-Dogs-Tour, 1974.
Textschnipsel für den Song "Blackout" aus dem Album "Heroes", das 1977 in Berlin entstand. Aus dem David-Bowie-Archiv.
David Bowie während der Filmarbeiten zum Musikvideo "Ashes to Ashes", 1980. Fotografie von Brian Duffy.
Original-Songtext für Ziggy Stardust von David Bowie, 1972. Aus dem David-Bowie-Archiv.
Foto: Victoria and Albert MuseumWesen von einem anderen Stern. David Bowie auf einem Foto aus den Aufnahmesessions für das Album-Cover von "Aladdin Sane", 1973.
Foto: Victoria & Albert MuseumEisblauer Anzug, 1972. Entworfen von Freddie Burretti für das Musikvideo "Life on Mars?". Aus dem David-Bowie-Archiv.
Foto: Victoria and Albert MuseumFotocollage mit bearbeiteten Film Stills aus "The Man Who Fell to Earth", 1975-1976. Film Stills von David James. Aus dem David-Bowie-Archiv.
Originale Szenenskizze von David Bowie für das "Ashes to Ashes"-Video, 1980.
Akustikgitarre aus der Space-Oddity-Ära, 1969. Aus dem David-Bowie-Archiv.
Wattierter Zweiteiler, 1972. Entworfen von Freddie Burretti für die Ziggy-Stardust-Tour. Aus dem David-Bowie-Archiv.
Mit Matte und Klampfe. David Bowie auf einem Konzertplakat von 1969.
Foto: Victoria & Albert MuseumKlassischer Schick. David Bowie 1963 auf einem Promo-Foto der Formation Kon-rads, bei der er Saxofon spielte.
Foto: Victoria & Albert MuseumEin Synthesizer, der 1977 bei den Aufnahmen des "Heroes"-Albums benutzt wurde
Foto: Victoria & Albert MuseumFormenwandler. David Bowie in einem Kostüm der "Aladdin Sane"-Tour von Kansai Yamamoto.
Foto: Victoria & Albert MuseumHoch hinaus. David Bowies Aladdin-Sane-Schuhe.
Foto: Victoria & Albert MuseumMärchenwesen. Ein David-Bowie-Kostüm der "Ashes to Ashes"-Tour von 1980.
Foto: Victoria & Albert MuseumSo, I was thrilled to discover it was coming to Berlin. Let's not tread over that Bowie Berlin myth stuff again, it's all been written about (even by me) a little too much recently. Unless you've been floating in a most a peculiar way up in space, you must by now know the story of the rise and fall of the starman, strung out in heaven's high on cocaine in LA and falling to Earth to hit an all-time low in Berlin, where he created the aptly named Low, Heroes and Lodger records - and helped make Iggy pop.
Putting on headphones take you to another world
While there's a whole room given to his "Berlin years", plus an extra Berlin-only section with new exhibits about him in the city, it was less revealing to me on his exile than it was another aspect of his work: theatre. This was surely aided by the innovative staging of the "show", which behaved more like a piece of contemporary immersive theatre than a museum exhibition.
I'm no fan of audioguides at all. I like to just look at the work in front of me and have my own thoughts. But putting on headphones for this takes you into another world, an intimate Bowie world, where it feels like David is almost talking to you. Sennheiser, a sponsor and supporter of the show, have developed some special technology for the event. Sound samples and music, which operate almost like a score for the show, are triggered when you stand in a particular location or in front of an artifact. They then seamlessly fade and dissolve into each other as you move around the exhibits.
David Bowie 1976. Der britische Sänger lebte von 1976 bis 1978 in einer großen Altbauwohnung in Schöneberg.
Foto: AFPAuch als Schauspieler stieg Bowie zum Star auf. Hier posiert er 1978 beim Filmfestival von Cannes für das Berlin-Melodram "Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo".
Foto: AFPAlterslose Schönheit. Bowie 1983 bei einem Auftritt in Frankreich.
Foto: AFPLässige Eleganz. Bowie singt im Mai 1983 in Brüssel.
Foto: AFPRegisseur der eigenen Legende. Bowie hantiert bei einem Konzert in den frühen achtziger Jahren mit einem Totenkopf.
Foto: AFPAuf dem Höhepunkt des frühen Ruhms. Bowie 1974, begleitet von seiner Frau Angela und Sohn Zowie, unterwegs zu einer Preisverleihung für sein epochales Album "Ziggy stardust".
Foto: AFPNoch immer der Thin White Duke. Bowie Mitte der neunziger Jahre in einer Fernsehdokumentation.
Foto: ArteAuf der Bühne bewahrt er die Distanz. Bowie 1987 bei einem Konzert im französischen La Courneuve.
Foto: AFPThe theatrical design group, 59 productions, who are responsible for the staging, and who had a hand in the celebrated Olympic 2012 Opening Ceremony in London, have used this to thrilling effect, coupling sound with visuals and settings that are sometimes subtly and sometimes brashly immersive. On the subtle end of the spectrum, you have a life-size video image of Bowie singing Starman on Top of The Pops, and you experience what a generation of artists including choreographer Michael Clark and Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant felt when Bowie looks dead straight into the camera and sings, "I had to phone someone so I picked on you", and then drapes himself around the shoulders of guitarist Mick Ronson; provocatively erotic. Subtle, but intimate and completely implicatory, it is all enhanced by the set design.
Similarly implicatory but on a much grander scale is the centrepiece 3D audio room, where you are surrounded by 6.5m-high video screens, flashing camera bulbs and an almost overwhelming concert soundtrack. You are immersed in the crowd of a Bowie gig as well having the sensation of being thrust on to the stage with him at Glastonbury.
The group of behind-the-scenes artists who have created this staging and sound, incidentally, provide another link with Berlin. The excellent sound design from Gareth Fry and 59 Productions' creative directors have had a hand in Katie Mitchell's ground-breaking work at the Schaubühne, as well as being on the team who created War Horse, currently on the Berlin stage.
Mark Espiner
Mark Espiner
This theatricalised experience threw an emphasis on his theatre work, which lay just below the surface in the exhibition. As I took in with my eyes and ears what was happening all around me, I realised Bowie's theatrical vision has been rather overshadowed by his music. I'm not talking about his efforts as a stage or film performer, where he is not so much a cracked actor but a bad one (the video of him in the Elephant Man is proof enough of that), but more about how he has embraced theatre: training as a mime artist with Lindsay Kemp, paying homage to Brecht and Weill by recording their songs and performing Baal, presenting jaw-dropping staging and costumes with German performance artist and musician Klaus Nomi in New York. It's interesting, too, to note how much of his theatrical inspiration comes from 1920s Germany.
All of which has rather put me in the mood for the Bowie-associated theatrical event connected to the exhibition and taking place at the Haus Der Berliner Festspiele on June 15. And at the risk of becoming Tagesspiegel's Bowie Correspondent, I'll be along to see what that's like too. I'll let you know how I get on.
Mark Espiner
You can email Mark on mark@espiner.com and follow him on twitter @deutschmarkuk