Jonathan Meese Designs Set for Charpentier's Médée at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées

German artist Jonathan Meese has designed the set for Marc-Antoine Charpentier's 1693 opera Médée, staged at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris in October 2012. This is his second opera set, following his work on Wolfgang Rihm's Dionysos in Salzburg in 2010. In an interview with Denise Wendel-Poray, Meese explains his approach: he sees Médée as a liminal figure driving the future, not as good or evil but as pure metabolism. The dominant colors are yellow and violet, which he associates with Van Gogh's madness, and green as poison. The stage curtain features a collage of eyes and mouths from Claudia Schiffer and Scarlett Johansson, evoking dismemberment. The set is structured like the interior of a camera, reflecting humans as puppets. Three large silver iron crosses appear in the second act, reflecting their surroundings to neutralize symbolism. Meese views the theatrical experience as a cleansing process. He listens to music physiologically, focusing on singers' bodies as instruments. He hopes audiences leave feeling that the future is arriving. The production is directed by Pierre Audi, conducted by Emmanuelle Haïm, with Michèle Losier as Médée and Anders Dahlin as Jason. Meese is represented by Galerie Daniel Templon in Paris and will direct Parsifal at Bayreuth in 2016.