Great World Theatre
100 years of the
Salzburg Festival
State Exhibition

Bernhard Auinger, Festival President Helga Rabl Stadler, Governor Wilfried Haslauer, Margarethe Lasinger (Salzburg Festival) and Museum Director Martin Hochleitner © Franz Neumayr

Entitled the Great World Theatre – 100 years of the Salzburg Festival, the exhibition at the Salzburg Museum offers insights into the festival’s history and its development until the present. The exhibition transforms the museum into a stage and brings the history of the Salzburg Festival to life. Video and audio material, photos, costumes, stage props, an extensive archive as well as installations of internationally renowned contemporary artists form a comprehensive overall experience. In keeping with this principle, the visitors are invited to dive into the world of the Salzburg Festival and explore the exhibition actively.

“The State Exhibition is the first event celebrating the 100-year anniversary of the Salzburg Festival. We are grateful to all those who have enabled this: the State and City of Salzburg for their financial support, the Salzburg Museum as our ideal partner – above all, we thank Martin Hochleitner, who is acting as curator, as is our own dramaturge Margarethe Lasinger. Together they have developed a concept which is as imaginative as it is thorough. We are optimistic that this show will offer both the citizens of Salzburg and guests from all over the world fascinating retrospectives and glimpses of the future,” says Festival President Helga Rabl-Stadler.

“The Salzburg Museum is pleased to present a ‘great’ Salzburg theme in the form of a State Exhibition once again. After 2016 (‘200 Years of Salzburg in Austria’) and 2018 (‘Silent Night! Holy Night! at 200’), the entire team of the Salzburg Museum is looking forward to this special challenge. We will rise to this challenge with enthusiasm, both in terms of organization and content. We have already begun collaborating with the Salzburg Festival’s team, especially Margarethe Lasinger and the designer duo Michael Veits and Ferdinand Wögerbauer, and we look forward to implementing this project jointly in 2020,” says Museum Director Martin Hochleitner.

“As an internationally outstanding festival, the Salzburg Festival makes important contributions to the City and State of Salzburg and is a major part of the history and identity of this state. The State Exhibition on the 100th anniversary of ‘our Salzburg Festival’ demonstrates the special value of this traditional and innovative cultural event, both by looking back through history and forward into the future. Thanks to the success of the State Exhibitions in 2016 and 2018/2019, we look forward with confidence to this State Exhibition, which is supported by the City and State of Salzburg, at the Salzburg Museum. Together, the City and State of Salzburg have dedicated 2.1 million Euros to this purpose. Even at this early stage, my gratitude goes to President Dr. Helga Rabl-Stadler and Director Prof. Dr. Martin Hochleitner as well as all the employees working on this project and numerous cooperating partners,” says Governor (Landeshauptmann) Wilfried Haslauer.

“It is most gratifying that the Salzburg Museum dedicates itself to the founding and history of the Salzburg Festival in form of a State Exhibition in 2020. On the one hand, one hundred years of festival history demonstrate the artistic and cultural development of the institution and all the personalities which have left their mark upon it. Naturally, the retrospective also reflects the historical, political and economic context of Salzburg’s development as a city during this period. Thus, the Salzburg Festival has not only been an artistic and economic motor sharpening the city’s profile as an international cultural location, it has also had significant influence on the quality of the urban cultural landscape and partners with major cultural institutions within the city today. Therefore, we look forward to the full spectrum of 100 years of Festival history which the 2020 State Exhibition will unfold for us. I am grateful to all those who contribute to this great project,” says Bernhard Auinger, Deputy Mayor of the City of Salzburg and Chairman of the Board of the Salzburg Museum.

Curator: Hon.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Martin Hochleitner (Salzburg Museum)
Curator: Mag. Margarethe Lasinger (Salzburg Festival)