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Through the centuries, many different media formats and materials have been used for the advertisement of the performing arts. This online collection showcases the diversity of ephemeral printed objects that have been employed in the marketing of Western European theatre, dance and circus performances. These playbills, posters, booklets and newspaper articles are connected by their ephemerality, meaning that they were produced to eventually fade away. By exhibiting them, we aim to create a historical narrative that reveals the persisting power dynamics rooted in the production of these objects, notwithstanding their short lifetime. The exhibition is structured in the categories Visual Representation, Language, Materiality and Distribution. By exploring the categories in the presented order, you as the spectator are invited to learn more about how certain power structures manifest in the formal or material aspects of objects. You start by only looking at what is visible and end by exploring the origin of the object in question. In this way, we hope to put forward the ubiquity of power in all levels of ephemeral printed objects, especially in the context of the performing arts.

Ephemeral Marketing in Western European Performing Arts

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Let the spectacle commence!

How are people being attracted to visit theatre, dance and circus performances through 19th and 20th century ephemeral printed media?