Building as Opera – Nina Glockner

This publication has been launched for the occasion of the performance 'Building as Opera', including the essay ‘A Speaking Building’ by art historian Matisse Huiskens and designed by Koen Slothouber.

'Building as Opera' consists of a site-sensitive audiovisual performance, a text intervention on the windowfront, and a publication, all based on the Temple Tolstraat, a national monument located in Amsterdam Zuid. 

In 1927 a building with the shape of a quarter of a circle was constructed as a new temple for the Theosophical Society. After only 10 years, the function of the building began to change frequently.  Since then it has been used as a synagogue, cinema, mosque, public library, and temporary artist studio. Before it officially becomes a creative hub in 2021, Nina Glockner took this unique moment of transition, in which the building is temporary ‘out of function’ and brought together various voices from the past and the present. Based on her research around the history and the structure of the building, Glockner used movement, voice, and sculptural elements for a live performance that echoed the important cultural and social consequences that the space has incorporated throughout its existence. In the context of a strong architectural environment and for the duration of a sunset, the audience was witnessing a space in transition and a moment of togetherness in distance. 

Concept & Edit: Justina Nekrašaitė and Nina Glockner
Graphic design: Koen Slothouber
Essay: Matisse Huiskens
Text and Image: Nina Glockner
Photography: Werner Mantz Lab, Justina Nekrašaitė
Publisher: n.k.g. publications
Supported by Stichting Old School, Gemeente Amsterdam Zuid, Stichting Stokroos