The place behind the theatre stage, the backstage, is a place of exclusive admission. And those granted access encounter borders frequently if they do not possess keys for the numerous doors. Exit Being positions the viewer in front of the same barriers that confront visitors to the backstage area of the theatre: doors are in the centre of the series; even though they mark the entrance to somewhere else, they prevent passage.

"Every exit is an entrance somewhere else", writes the British dramatist Tom Stoppard. Whether this concerns walking through a door or the crossing of actors from the backstage onto the stage, passing over a threshold is contingent upon arrival somewhere else. However, in Exit Being the exits exist only for themselves: there is no ingress or egress in the backstage area.






Acknowledgements:

Barbican, London| Dome, Brighton | Maxim-Gorki-Theater, Berlin | Volksbühne, Berlin | Staatsoper, Berlin | Hans-Otto-Theater, Berlin