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Sabine Theunissen

Set Designer

Sabine Theunissen

Sabine Theunissen studied architecture in Brussels. After spending one year at the technical office of La Scala of Milan, she joined the Royal Theater of La Monnaie (Brussels) where she worked 17 years in the design office.

In 2003, she met William Kentridge. Their collaboration began with The Magic Flute (creation TRM 2005). Since then, she has designed sets for his opera productions which include; The Nose (MET, Nyc 2010), Refuse the Hour (2012) Refusal of Time (Documenta XIII -Kassel 2012), Winterreise (Vienna Festival June 2014), Lulu (Met NYC, DNO, ENO 2015), Wozzec (Salzburg Festival 2017, Met Nyc, Sydney Opera), and recently The Head and the Load (Tate Modern London, Ruhr Triennale, Armory NYC 2018).

She also designed Kentridge’s art installations and exhibitions which featured Notes Towards a Model Opera (exhibition, Beijing, Seoul, 2015), No It Is (exhibition Gropius Bau, Berlin 2015), Thick Times (exhibition White Chapel-Louisiana-Salzburg-Manchester 2016), Smoke Ashes and Fables (exhibition in Bruges 2017), O Sentimental Machine (exhibition in Frankfurt, Liebig Haus in 2018), and Quelle Che Non Riccordo (exhibition in Art gallery Sydney 2018).

Based in Brussels, she is simultaneously working with other directors and choreographers, among which is her sister Hélène Theunissen for whom she designed sets for La Dispute, Marrakech (Brussels 2012), and Midsummer Night’s Dream,(Brussels 2017).

She recently designed sets for Bug, and Othello staged by Aurore Fattier. She also collaborated with the choreographer Michèle Noiret for Hors Champs (2015) and Radioscopie (2016), as well as with the director Lillo Baur for Ariane and Barbe Bleue (Opera de Dijon 2012).

Other exhibitions include; The Body in Indian art (Europalia Festival, Brussels 2013), and 1000m2 of desire (CCCB, Barcelona, 2016).

Sabine continues giving back to the community and is frequently invited to give lectures at schools which specialise in art and architecture such as Stockholm University, Pavillon Bosio (Monaco), La Cambre (Brussels), Fine Art School (Tournai), and Eye Museum (Amsterdam).

Sabine Theunissen