The Vereinigte Bühnen Bozen, the German-speaking theatre in South Tyrol, is a production theatre: an enduring and respected structure that never the less is of a fluid and variable nature, dictated by a programme of constantly new projects. When, in 2012, it renewed its visual identity, Lupo Burtscher thought up a graphic project in dialogue with the territory, which would be able to communicate the theatre as a presence and, at the same time, a worksite of possibility.
A single typeface was chosen for the entire communication project, the FF Sero, with a spacious and typographic symbol, completed with many weights. For the logo, the institutional name of the theatre is enclosed within the synthesis of an acronym, easy to recognize and quick to say, VBB, where the central B is activated by a dash that makes it rise, turning it into a stage.
The VBB seasons
For each theatrical season the dominant colour changes as well as the various titles, which take on different forms, each time playing with typographic experiments. A special story in pictures translates the vital soul of the theatre and the visual identity of each season, thanks to the contribution of a local artist or photographer selected each year. From this a project is born where artistic practice gives volume to the theatrical season. It is a visual path that is completed gradually, using all communication instruments available to the point of it physically entering the foyer, thanks to “Kunst zu Gast”, a programme created specifically to present a new work by the artist.
Art is inserted into the theatre generating a short circuit for the public: on posters, brochures, programmes and gadgets, the image is no longer a theatrical stage direction but defers to another artistic idea. Theatre as experimentation and contamination. The public as active participants: looking at a poster is not just being subjected to an image. It is an opportunity to reclaim public space from the predominant advertising presence in favour of a proposal for freedom of expression that conveys the sense of what the arts defend, whether visual, theatrical or other.
