United Artists Theatre, Los Angeles - Limited Edition of 7 Photograph

John Berger: The existence of the theatre makes itself felt when there is not even a second person present, when the minimum requirement for any performance (two people) is lacking. Since 2010, I have been photographing classical theaters and opera houses across Europe for the series, The Fourth Wall. Composing from the back of the stage facing the audience, the series is a commentary on the design and dramatic theory of the invisible wall between the audience and performers. The Fourth Wall, a term common among actors, was invented in 1892 by the French dramatist Jean Jullien: the actors should behave on stage like in a room with four walls, the fourth is transparent to the audience. The mechanical, electric complexity of show production, typically hidden behind the scenes, now prominently frames the opulent, velvet theater seating beyond the stage creating a multifaceted dialogue between the two contrasting environments. The photograph was made with a 4x5" large format camera on sheet film. The Archival Pigment Print comes on Canson Baryta (fibre-based). The dimension include a white, 6 cm wide border around for suugested framing.