Contributed by Paderborner ‘SJ’
The building project of one of the most important contemporary German film and theatre directors Christoph Schlingensief has becoming reality, who laid the foundation for his opera village before passing away at the age of 49. The theatre project in Africa is designed to resemble the Bayreuth Opera house in Germany. Schlingensief who directed Richard Wagner’s Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festival pursued his plan vigorously after receiving the diagnosis of his terminal disease. In searching for possible locations in Cameroon and Mozambique he finally decided to build the opera village in Burkina Faso. The charitable support organization which he founded to maintain this project is now run by his wife and supported by many prominent personalities, including Horst Köhler, the former Federal President of Germany, Amelie Deuflhard, director of Kampnagel in Hamburg, her colleague Matthias Lilienthal from the Hebbel am UFER theatre in Berlin and Antje Vollmer, the former vice-president of the German Bundestag.
The first phase of the opera village, a school with special facilities for music teaching, will be accomplished in early autumn. Whereas the second phase will include a sports field, a guest house and studios, the final stage will be the opera house with all its necessary amenities. This phase will also include the building of a ward. The African architect, who studied in Germany and who received the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture, developed the opera village with Schlingensief. Like he did in his award-winning school project, Kéré will incorporate all natural materials and a self cooling system for the roof construction. Since Schlingensief’s passing away in August 2010 his wife, Aino Laberenz, has taken the lead to complete the dream and legacy of her husband.
Post from our German language archive
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Totales Theater: „Grundsteinlegung in Burkina Faso“ – BauNetz
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Burkina Faso’s “crazy opera” is rising – Afrol News
Inauguration of works at the Laongo opera village, Burkina Faso
© Aino Laberenz/Schlingensief/afrol News
afrol News, 19 October
- Even architect Diébédo Francis Kèrè “thought it was a joke” when he was commissioned to build an opera village in the Burkinabe countryside to host the African parallel of Germany’s famous Bayreuth Festival. Not any more.
It is not the first time Mr Kèrè – born in Gando in Burkina Faso and studying architecture in Berlin – has followed and realised a crazy dream. In 1998, he founded an organisation seeking private German funds for the building of schools in Burkina Faso using local materials. A dozen of schools have already been inaugurated.
Read more at: Afrol com
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Opera Village in Burkina Faso: The show will go on! – Germany and Africa.Diplo.de News
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Sep 22, 2010
Christoph Schlingensief’s Opera Village in Burkina Faso has a new project leader. In a recent visit to Ouagadougou, Christoph Knoch introduced himself as the new person responsible for Schlingensief’s Opera Village project. During a tour in early September, he assured the people from Burkina Faso that the project would continue as planned.
The good news was quickly reported by the local newspapers. Journalists were happy that money, expertise and good will continue to fuel the project according to schedule.
Containers for Schlingensief’s Opera House from Ruhrtriennale (© Marianne Lange)
The new manager, German theatre professional Christoph Knoch, is their second “Christophe” concerned with the Opera Village. He said that German people were especially touched with the condolences addressed from Burkina Faso to Christoph Schlingensief’s widow and friends. It is now expected that the first finished buildings of the project could be ready by the end of 2010 or in January 2011.
In Ouagadougou, Christoph Knoch made contact with members of the Government of Burkina Faso, workers, the press and supporters. He also was able to inspect the ongoing work and meet team members.
In Laongo, foundations have been laid for several buildings. There are concrete elements, brick walls, adobe, and burnt bricks. A large pit has been dug, though the excavation has filled with water from the rains. It is here the theatre stage will find its position. Thirteen colourful containers donated by Ruhrtriennale are surrounded by a fair amount of elephant grass. In the distance, a woman carries firewood on her head across a hill.
When Christoph Schlingensief inaugurated this building site in February 2010 with a big ceremony, it was during the first months of the dry season. Roads, trees and rocks were covered in dust. The red soil was cracked. Bush land lay bare with leftover stacks of corn and millet.
At the time of his death at the end of August however, Burkina Faso was in the midst of its rainy season. Now the dominating colours are lush greens. Leafy trees offer shade, fields are in abundance, crops grow high, and cattle graze with leisure.
Director Christoph Schlingensief with Architect Francis Kere in Burkina Faso (© picture-alliance/dpa)
Laongo’s opera village site is a peaceful space, immediately off the new road to Ziniare, hometown of the President of Burkina Faso. German film and theatre director Christoph Schlingensief and his team arrived at the location in 2009 for the first time to look at the proposed site. The road then was in a deplorable condition. The reconstruction of the tarmac was one of the trumps the Burkinabè government held in its pack of cards during preparatory talks. So far it has kept this promise. Opposite the entrance to the opera village site, the old open-air museum of the granite sculptures of Laongo has gained better accessibility as well.
A little over six months ago, on February 8, 2010, German opera director Christoph Schlingensief together with Burkina Faso’s Minister of Culture, Tourism and Communication, Fillippe Savadogo, participated in the opening ceremony of the building site for the Opera Village.
The site has become a place of interest. Guard Prosper Tenoara Tapsoba shows the visitors’ book with its roughly 50 entries since June 2010. Most people, whether Burkinabè, German or from other countries, are enthusiastic about the project. Some seem to have been entranced by the “magical atmosphere” as one visitor put it.
One of the last entries was written two days before the death of the artist. Young Marius from Castrop-Rauxel in Germany wrote “long live fantasy!”
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Related posts:
Video of Diébédo Francis Kéré AG Khan award winning school project in Gando
Video on Christoph Schlingensief’s Opera Village project
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Aga Khan award for Architecture
Gando Primary School, Gando, Burkina Faso
Client
The community of Gando Village, Burkina Faso
Architect
Diébédo Francis Kéré, Burkina Faso
Completed in October 2001
This school is the result of one man’s mission to improve conditions in his village. Not only did he design the school and raise the funds to build it; he also secured government support to train people in building with local materials, and drew on the strong tradition of community solidarity to engage all of the villagers in the construction of this school for their children.
Find out more | View video | View slide show
Aga Khan Award for Architecture for Primary School in Gando Village
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Filed under: Aga Khan Award for Architecture, Architecture, Education, Germany Tagged: | Africa, Aga Khan Award for Architecture, Architecture, Burkina Faso, Civil Society, Education, Germany, Opera village, Schools
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