Friedrich Kiesler
«Raumbühne»

The «Raumbühne» (Space Stage)was conceived as the heart of Kiesler’s «Railway Theater,» his concept for a modern theater. In response to contemporary life becoming increasingly dynamic, in Kiesler’s concept the architecture sets itself in motion; so at the beginning of the performance, the auditorium orbits about the levitating stage.
«Forming a half-circle, a ramp leads upward from the floor to a ring-shaped performance strip, above which is placed a circular performance plateau, the so-called tower conclusion, accessible from the performance strip only by way of two steel ladders, or entered from below by a staircase. An additional electronic mounting aid, an elevator operating in the axis of the tower, permits easy access to the performance strip on the first floor.»
Even though Kiesler’s «Raumbühne» in all its radical exclusiveness was forced to remain a utopia, the idea of variable and movable building elements pointed the way toward future developments.
MS

(See Barbara Lesák, «Railway-Theater und Raumbühne», in: Friedrich Kiesler. Architekt—Maler—Bildhauer 1890–1965, Dieter Bogner (ed.), Museum moderne Kunst Wien, Löckner Verlag: Vienna, 1988, p. 258.)

Martina Sauerwald