Heilige Wildnis

In his hymn fragment “Tinian”, Friedrich Hölderlin coined the term “Heilige Wildnis - holy wilderness”.

Nature and religion play central roles in Hölderlin’s work. The pioneering lyric poet – who after years in a theological seminary decided against a career as a pastor – was determined to find an unconventional form of poetic expression. He wanted to discover his own “natural” poetic voice. Inspired by pantheism, Hölderlin believed in the immanence of divinity in nature and thus transferred the concept of the sacred into the here and now.

In the performance “Heilige Wildnis”, wilderness is artificially constructed and at the same time questioned via artistic process: is wilderness still a valid form of sacred refuge for us today? Should nature be left to her own devices and trusted to be able to – in times of pollution and climate change – reclaim her space and resources? Or can nature be saved only by way of assisted artificial recreation?

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Directors: Cornelia Böhnisch, Katharina Schrott
Music/Composition: Gudrun Plaichinger, Jan Leitner
Dancers: Elena Francalanci, Cornelia Böhnisch
Stage Set/Costumes: Paul Horn
Dramaturgy: Felicitas Biller
Musical Dramaturgy: Marius Schebella
Lights/Tech: Alexander Breitner, Robert Schmidjell

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"Heilige Wildnis" was produced by Toihaus Theater, Salzburg

Photo Credits: Ela Grieshaber