The Toihaus is a place for contemporary art, where an international and transdisciplinary team brings together the various fields of dance, music and visual arts in a poetic connection. The Toihaus stage is used for various formats and offers space up to 60 people depending on the setting. Several productions are developed each year, which are shown in Salzburg and also go on tour worldwide. Performances are offered at different times in order to reach an age-diverse audience.
Art education at Toihaus takes place on several levels: workshops, collaborations with educational institutions and art spaces, guest performances in toddler groups, kindergartens and theatres show the diversity of the Toihaus program. The Toihaus also offers the independent theatre scene space for rehearsals and performances and is always open to new collaborations and points of contact.
Since 2007, Toihaus has been organising the biennial festival BimBam, where international plays for young children are presented to an ever-growing audience in Salzburg. The high-quality program is presented at various venues in the city and province of Salzburg as well as in neighbouring provinces.
Artistic style
The Toihaus productions are free of linguistic limitations and show poetic moments in their essence. This opens up a space for inspiration, sensation and perception. By exploring fundamental aesthetic approaches, Toihaus promotes sensitivity and creativity.
Cornelia Böhnisch and Katharina Schrott are the choreographers of Toihaus productions and shape the artistic signature of the theatre. The artistic process for the development of a new production consists of a research phase, which is always enriched by the knowledge already gained from previous pieces. The aim is to find the power of reduction in the compositional and choreographic potential of material and object.
Dance is universal and can be found everywhere, in every single moment of movement, in the interplay of things with each other. Things are charged with content and take on meaning as soon as they resonate with a person. I strive for the essence of these encounters with the aim of touching people.
– Katharina Schrott
The focus of my artistic work lies in the intensive exploration of materials. It takes centre stage in the choreographic creation. In the encounter of material, movement and music on stage, the objects are set in relation to each other. Images are created whose blurring awakens the audience’s imagination and stimulates their own interpretation of what is happening.
– Cornelia Böhnisch
Values
The Toihaus takes a mindful, empathetic and sensitive approach. In particular, the promotion of sustainability is a key issue for a future-orientated cultural sector. For this reason, the Toihaus is operating in a more sustainable way overall, both in terms of human and material resources.
The Toihaus is managed by a female trio and is organised into a team of full-time and part-time employees. The division of the management into three people stems from the need to create a pleasant working environment with the flattest possible hierarchies. In terms of working conditions (working hours and holidays), Toihaus is very family-friendly and the office team attaches great importance to acquiring and passing on knowledge.
At Toihaus, ideas and concepts are developed over several productions, and the revivals also pursue the idea of prolonged effectiveness so that the artistic ideas have a longer life cycle. The appreciation of the youngest members of our society is a central concern and is expressed in artistic encounters at eye level and in taking artistic aspirations seriously, regardless of age and origin.
In terms of the materials used, the Toihaus focusses on reusable natural products. The Toihaus is also a partner of Green Events Austria, an initiative for a sustainable event industry. A central concern is also the promotion of sustainable travel by public transport, which Toihaus makes a strong effort to promote, despite the higher expenditure of time and sometimes also money, both for Toihaus guest performances and for artists who have to travel to Salzburg.
The Toihaus history
Toihaus began in 1984 with the association ‘Löwenzahn – Association for Theatre Spaces’ and has been an integral part of Salzburg’s independent cultural scene since then. Since 2002, Toihaus has been one of Austria’s pioneers of art for the very youngest and is one of the few European theatres to produce plays for both adults and children. Since 2018, Toihaus has been run by artistic directors Cornelia Böhnisch and Katharina Schrott and administrative director Karin Buchauer.