Museum Night Bern 2025

The SAPA Foundation is in possession of a large collection of photographs documenting the productions of the Stadttheater Bern (now Bühnen Bern) from 1934 to 2003. Between 2020 and 2023, this was evaluated and repackaged as part of a major project. Selected photographs were digitized. A total of 50,000 negatives and 17,000 paper prints from over 1,000 productions were processed.

Theater photography directly in the auditorium has been possible since the 1920s, when particularly light-sensitive cameras were produced that made it possible to take pictures of what was happening on stage despite the rather poor lighting conditions. Thanks to these photographs, it is possible to trace the changes in aesthetics or the development of staging conventions in drama, opera and ballet, for example.

The exhibition shows selected photographs from the photo collection of the Stadttheater Bern. The chronological arrangement allows comparisons between stage sets of a Mozart opera over several decades. Fairy tale productions for different generations of children are revived, and dance evenings with classical pointe dancing stand alongside those with modern movement sequences.

Video: Zoë Pitschmann, SAPA Foundation

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Panel discussion with the photographer Michael von Graffenried

Michael von Graffenried, one of the former stage photographers, gives us an insight into the peculiarities of this special form of photography, which is omnipresent and yet so rarely in the spotlight.

On this occasion, SAPA also welcomes Espace MVG for a long evening.

A look behind the scenes

The panel discussion is followed by a guided tour of the archive, which houses a colorful array of documents such as old program booklets, artistically designed stage sets and other trouvailles from earlier times.