Franz von Strolchen

Graz-based dramatist and director Franz von Strolchen (alias Christian Winkler) stages the view of Landstraße 201 as an associative reflection on OUTSIDER. Who or what are OUTSIDERS? Who defines an OUTSIDER? And what can we find out about the “normal” on the basis of OUTSIDERS?

The term OUTSIDER describes the deviation from a “norm”. This “deviation” is a social construction that is primarily used to exclude, fear or even criminalize certain groups. It is less about objective characteristics and more about classifying someone as unsympathetic, defining their behaviour as bad or stigmatizing them.

Von Strolchen makes the street itself the scene and center of the action. The screen-like structure, which Alfred Lenz has already converted into a concert hall, exhibition space and goat shed, is transformed into a stage space. Also including the grandstand developed by Hans Schabus in 2023. The result is an enclosed space that only offers a view of the sky and the road. This concentrated stage space can be experienced both outside and inside.

In this open-air theater, 50 spectators look out onto a stage that is a road with real traffic and street noise. A text analyzing the events is played via an LED subtitle board.