ARBOS – Company for Music and Theatre

ARBOS – Company for Music and Theatre is an Austrian performing-arts society based in Vienna, Salzburg and Klagenfurt. Its work focuses on new forms of theatre, particularly contemporary music theatre, scenic concerts, theatre for young audiences, theatre concerts, deaf theatre, directed-space performance, theatrical exhibitions and crossover projects combining music, drama, visual art, history and research. Rather than operating primarily as a conventional repertory theatre, ARBOS develops projects around specific artistic, historical or social questions. Its productions have addressed war, exile, genocide, memory, disability, language and intercultural exchange. The company is especially associated with projects that make performance accessible across linguistic and sensory boundaries, including deaf theatre and work involving deaf-blind participants. It has also used unusual performance environments, such as trains, underground stations, trams, mountain infrastructure and former industrial or historical sites. A major strand of ARBOS's work concerns the Austrian composer Viktor Ullmann, who was murdered at Auschwitz in 1944. The company's production of Ullmann's opera "The Emperor of Atlantis", with a libretto by Petr Kien, became one of its best-known international projects. First presented in the early 1990s and later documented in a Terezín performance, the production toured or was presented in locations including Prague, Terezín, Vienna, Klagenfurt, Dresden, Washington, Los Angeles, Ottawa, Montreal and Stockholm. ARBOS subsequently expanded this interest into the broader "Tracks to Viktor Ullmann" project and the research and exhibition programme "Viktor Ullmann – Witness and Victim of the Apocalypse", linking Ullmann's experience during the First World War with his persecution and murder during the Second World War. The company's other major projects include "Kar", a music-theatre work staged inside the dam of the Großer Mühldorfer See in the Carinthian Alps; "Different Trains", a group of Holocaust-related operas presented while travelling through European railway stations; and the trilogy "The Stories about Voyages", created with Dževad Karahasan and Herbert Gantschacher. ARBOS has also developed the "Dialogues on the Border" trilogy, the interdisciplinary "War = daDa" programme and "Inukshuk", an Arctic-Alpine art and theatre project. ARBOS's urban work has included visible and invisible theatre in Vienna's underground and tram systems. Its access-oriented projects include "I Can See Something You Cannot See", a deaf-theatre work for deaf and hearing children, "Speaking Hands", a deaf-theatre workshop, and projects exploring communication with deaf-blind students. The company has received Austrian, European and international recognition for artistic innovation, sponsorship partnerships, language projects, human-rights-oriented cultural work and inclusive theatre. Performances and collaborations associated with ARBOS have reached more than thirty countries across four continents. Partners and presentation venues have included arts festivals, museums, theatres, archives, cultural forums and educational institutions in Europe, North America, Asia and other regions. The company is also connected with international networks concerned with contemporary music theatre, historically suppressed music and deaf theatre. Its public profile is therefore defined less by commercial branding than by long-term artistic research, international cultural cooperation and socially engaged performance.

ARBOS emerged as a society devoted to developing forms of theatre beyond conventional stage production. Its artistic field includes contemporary music theatre, scenic concerts, youth theatre, deaf theatre, visual theatre, exhibitions and performances designed for particular architectural or public environments. The company's work has frequently combined artistic production with historical research and international cooperation. One of ARBOS's central historical interests has been the life and work of Viktor Ullmann. The company produced "The Emperor of Atlantis", Ullmann's opera with a libretto by Petr Kien, and presented it internationally. The production received the 1993 music-theatre production award in Prague and subsequently travelled to Holocaust museums, theatres and cultural venues in Europe and North America. This work became the basis for a wider programme examining Ullmann's artistic legacy and the relationship between twentieth-century war, persecution and cultural memory. ARBOS also developed "Kar", a mountain-based music-theatre project by Herbert Lauermann and Christian Fuchs. Presented inside the dam of the Großer Mühldorfer See at approximately 2,300 metres in the Reißeck mountains of Carinthia, the production received the 1994 MAECENAS award for an Austrian arts-sponsorship project. Another important project, "Different Trains", used a moving train and railway stations in several European countries to frame three operas dealing with the Holocaust. It received the ARTECO Award in 1999. The company's international and intercultural work expanded through projects such as "Dialogues on the Border", based on dramas by Dževad Karahasan, and "The Stories about Voyages", a music-theatre trilogy created with Karahasan and Herbert Gantschacher. These productions were presented in Austria and abroad, including in the Czech Republic, Germany, Ukraine and Singapore. ARBOS also created "Inukshuk", an Arctic-Alpine art and theatre project, and the long-running "War = daDa" programme, which examined war and artistic response across the conflicts of the twentieth century through performances, conferences and exhibitions. A further strand of ARBOS's practice has focused on public space. In Vienna, the company staged visible and invisible theatre in underground stations on the U1, U2, U3, U4 and U6 lines, and later developed work connected with tramlines 1 and 2. These projects used everyday transport environments as theatrical settings and were recognised by MAECENAS awards in 2002 and 2003. Accessibility has remained another defining concern. ARBOS developed deaf-theatre productions and workshops for deaf and hearing participants, including "I Can See Something You Cannot See" and "Speaking Hands". Both were recognised with the EUROPASIEGEL in 2002 for innovative language projects. The company later worked with deaf-blind students and hearing students on "Sense of Touch – Sense of Smell – Sense of Taste", which received recognition from Austria's Federal Minister for Education and Women's Affairs in 2014. The UNESCO also honoured ARBOS's Visual Theatre Library for its contribution to the development of human rights for all. The Ullmann research programme reached a major stage with "Viktor Ullmann – Witness and Victim of the Apocalypse". The project combined new documentary research, exhibitions, films, archival and audio materials, and publications. It was shown in Austria and Germany and later adapted for presentation in Czech, Russian and Slovenian contexts, including Prague, Saint Petersburg, Kingisepp and Kromberk in Slovenia. An English and German book about the exhibition was published in 2015, with later translated editions and presentations. ARBOS has worked with institutions and partners in more than thirty countries across Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Australia. Its networks include organisations concerned with suppressed or persecuted music, contemporary music theatre and deaf theatre. Recognition has included the European Artprize of the Financial Times, the EUROPASIEGEL, MAECENAS awards, the ARTECO Award, UNESCO recognition and a nomination for the Bank Austria Art Prize in 2012. The available reference material does not establish a founding year, ownership structure or commercial corporate status.

• 2015

  Publication of the Ullmann exhibition book

  [1]Arbos – Company for Music and Theatreen.wikipedia.org

  An English and German book connected with Viktor Ullmann – Witness and Victim of the Apocalypse was published.

• 2014

  Recognition for deaf-blind theatre work

  [1]Arbos – Company for Music and Theatreen.wikipedia.org

  The project Sense of Touch – Sense of Smell – Sense of Taste, involving deaf-blind and hearing students, received an award from Austria's Federal Minister Gabriele Heinisch-Hosek.

• 2012

  Bank Austria Art Prize nomination

  [1]Arbos – Company for Music and Theatreen.wikipedia.org

  ARBOS was nominated for the Bank Austria Art Prize.

• 2003

  Dada in Tramline 1 and Tramline 2 receives a MAECENAS Award

  [1]Arbos – Company for Music and Theatreen.wikipedia.org

  ARBOS's public-space theatre project in Vienna's tram system received a MAECENAS Award.

• 2002

  Recognition for deaf-theatre and subway projects

  [1]Arbos – Company for Music and Theatreen.wikipedia.org

  The company received EUROPASIEGEL recognition for innovative language projects including I Can See Something You Cannot See and Speaking Hands, and a MAECENAS Award for Theatre Traps in the Subway of Vienna.

• 1999

  Different Trains receives the ARTECO Award

  [1]Arbos – Company for Music and Theatreen.wikipedia.org

  ARBOS's Holocaust-focused travelling train project Different Trains received the ARTECO Award after presentations across European railway stations.

• 1994

  Kar receives the MAECENAS Award

  [1]Arbos – Company for Music and Theatreen.wikipedia.org

  Kar, a mountain music-theatre production staged inside the Großer Mühldorfer See dam in Carinthia, received the MAECENAS Award for Austria's best arts-sponsorship project.

• 1993

  Recognition for The Emperor of Atlantis

  [1]Arbos – Company for Music and Theatreen.wikipedia.org

  ARBOS's production of Viktor Ullmann and Petr Kien's The Emperor of Atlantis was selected as Prague's music-theatre production of the year by an independent jury associated with Divadelni Noviny.

A research-led Austrian contemporary theatre company combining music, drama, visual performance, historical memory, accessibility and unconventional performance spaces.

• Music theatre · 1993

  The Emperor of Atlantis

  ARBOS's internationally presented production of Viktor Ullmann's opera with a libretto by Petr Kien. The work became a core part of the company's engagement with music suppressed under National Socialism and with the cultural history of the Terezín concentration camp. Presentations have included venues and institutions in the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Sweden, the United States and Canada.

• Site-specific music theatre · 1994

  Kar – Music Theatre for the Mountains

  A work by Herbert Lauermann and Christian Fuchs staged inside the dam of the Großer Mühldorfer See in the Reißeck mountains of Carinthia. Its extreme alpine setting made the physical environment part of the theatrical concept and helped establish ARBOS's interest in unconventional performance spaces.

• Travelling music theatre · 1999

  Different Trains

  A project comprising three operas dealing with the Holocaust and presented in a moving train through stations in Belgium, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria. The railway setting connected the artistic experience with the historical role of trains in twentieth-century deportation and displacement.

• Deaf and visual theatre

  European Deaf Theatre

  ARBOS's body of deaf-theatre, visual-theatre and inclusive communication work. It includes performances and workshops for deaf and hearing children, families, teachers and other participants, as well as projects exploring communication with deaf-blind people.

• Interdisciplinary arts programme

  War = daDa

  A programme of performances, conferences and exhibitions examining art and war from the Balkan conflicts of 1912–1913 and the First and Second World Wars through the Balkan wars of 1991–1999. The project draws on theatre, music, documentary material and visual arts.

• Research, exhibition and documentary project · 2007

  Viktor Ullmann – Witness and Victim of the Apocalypse

  A multidisciplinary research and exhibition project tracing Viktor Ullmann's experience as an artillery observer during the First World War and his murder at Auschwitz during the Second World War. It incorporates documents, films, recordings, exhibitions, publications and translations presented in several European countries.

1. 1Arbos – Company for Music and Theatreen.wikipedia.org
2. 2ARBOS – Company for Music and Theatre official websitearbos.at