We are excited to present Stageless: Second Act, photographic portraits by Sven Marquardt, courtesy of Galerie Deschler, Berlin. This is the artist’s inaugural solo exhibition with the Gallery. Stageless: Second Act is a reprisal of Berlin-based photographer Sven Marquardt’s collection of portraits of dancers and performing artists just after they have come off-stage. His intimate snapshots show the unembellished transition from the performers’ dramatic, mask-like stage roles to their strained and tired faces after the show. The result is fluid portraits of performers who are about to discard their practiced repertoire of professional facial expressions in order to return to their civilian selves.

Originally presented at Friedrichstadt-Palast Berlin in fall of 2020, before it was shut down due to Covid restrictions, Stageless transformed the largest and most modern show palace in Europe into an exhibition space in order to give its visitors a photographic look behind the scenes. In this new iteration, selections from the original series are presented as an homage to the rigors and passion of transformation through performance, at a time when we are regaining our ability to appreciate and explore our physical relationship to one another.

This exhibition and associated programming have been generously sponsored by the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in New York.