Radar

Design of a poster and a booklet for the experimental play “Radar”

For Immanuel Bartz

Inspired by Friedrich Jürgenson and the Electronic voice phenomenon, “Radar” deals with what would happen if connections to other spheres were possible: Dr. Markward, a scientist and spiritualist, tries to connect Robin with Sueva—who committed suicide hours ago.

It is an atmospheric play with five stages, each of them resembling different spheres, times, and status quos, sometimes overlapping and interfering with each other. Small stories happen simultaneously and build a bigger picture in the end (see also: photos of the play).

Radar is directed by Immanuel Bartz and originally written by Sebastian Ulbrich.

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The poster

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Radar’s poster comes in a bold manner, resembling the serious, dark theme of the play. Fuzzy handwriting might remind one of Jürgenson's notes and the overall weird imagery (wrong shades etc.) is open for interpretation, as is the atmospherical play itself.

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The hanging dress is a central part of the play—one actress continuously moves around a huge pile of clothing, getting rid of layers of dresses (fig. 4).

The booklet

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Since Radar is a professional, but low-budget production, we decided to print Radar’s booklet on the poster’s back. It is cost-effective and a nice object itself. Plus, visitors get their hands on the poster easily.

Taking the folding process into consideration, we went for a multi-layered design with overlapping, intervening elements which again resemble essential thoughts of the play.

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Radar's booklet offers additional information on Jürgenson, on the play, and on its many participants. Apart from that, there is a quick guide to establishing connections to other spheres (see below).