The logistics of art

Vienna is a city with a long tradition of art and culture, including theatre, opera, classical music and the fine arts. The Burgtheater is considered one of the best German-speaking theaters in the world, as is its affiliate the Akademietheater. Vienna is also home to a number of opera houses, such as the Staatsoper and the Volksoper. This entire structure requires specialized logistical operations to store and transport costumes and sets.

We contacted the Vienna State Opera (Staatsoper) in order to understand a little about this operation. Here's a summary of what we've learned.

The Staatsoper season runs from September to June, when more than 60 different performances take place, including operas and ballets. Of these performances, about 9 are unpublished. The House premieres around 5 operas, 3 ballets and a children's opera per season. During this period, more than 300 presentations are made and a maximum of 110 rehearsals of different types such as studio rehearsals, stage rehearsals, piano rehearsals, orchestral rehearsals, etc. For every new production there is a 4-6 week rehearsal period, however the concept building and planning of a production starts years in advance.

The State Opera House has small storage areas with the capacity to store the sets of performances for the next few days. These areas belong to the technology department, which stores 3 to 4 productions to facilitate the change of scenarios by technicians. Setting up the stage can take from 4 hours to a week depending on the complexity of the set and employs around 220 technicians.

In addition to this small advanced stock, the Staatsoper has two external warehouses: one in the Arsenal approximately 3 km from the Opera House and the other in Haringsee 30 km from Vienna, totaling 50.000 m² of storage with a storage capacity for 55 productions. Staatsoper, therefore, has the capacity to store only the costumes and sets of the productions in theaters. Material from past productions is stored by Art for Art.

Figure 1 – Staatsopera warehouse in Haringsee

Art for Art is a costume and scenery producer, which has all the necessary logistical structure to guarantee the availability of the pieces at the presentation points. The production company's stock of costumes is the largest and most important in Europe. It draws its services not only from the Staatsoper but also from the Volksoper, Burgtheater and Akademietheater and has a collection of over 250 costumes from the last 60 years. from €150 for up to 3 months.

Figure 2 – Art for Art collection

Figure 3 – Production of costumes by Art for Art

The logistical operation of costumes and scenarios has some characteristics that make its management more complex. The pieces are unique and require an assertive registration so that they are not lost in the collection. Imagine taking inventory of hundreds of thousands of different items! Another obstacle is the varied sizes and formats of the pieces of the sets that make it difficult to optimize space in storage and transport, in addition to requiring special care because of their fragility. In addition to the inherent complexity of the presentations and shows segment, a high level of service is expected from its logistics chain, which requires a lot of planning, leaving little room for improvisation.

Logistics operations are everywhere, even backstage at an opera house. The values ​​of place, time, quality and logistics information are fundamental for any artistic presentation to take place. The role of logistics is to ensure that the costumes and sets are in the right place, on the right day, in one piece and tracked, because the show cannot stop.

References:

Testimony from the Vienna Staatoper – http://www.artforart.at