Not long to go until 18 May. Are you excited?
Not really. In between, I was working on the stage show for BTS’ comeback concert at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul. That was a huge production with 260,000 spectators. And in mid-April, for the first time, I also did a WrestleMania event in Las Vegas. For Eurovision, we’ve been in the intense rehearsal phase since May 4. It’s not just the final, there are two semi-finals beforehand as well. First a few full run-throughs without the performers, then with them.
What are the biggest challenges?
We have 35 artists from 35 countries, and after each performance the stage has to be reset. We have exactly 40 seconds to do that. That’s extremely tight. To make it work, there are strict regulations governing what can be on stage, even down to the weight of props. So, no grand pianos weighing tons, and no more than six people on stage at the same time.
You are now designing the ESC stage for the tenth time.
That’s not something automatic, by the way. I have to apply every single time. The goal is often to hire a set designer from the host country. If you come from outside, it’s not enough to be just a bit better than the rest. You really have to put in a serious effort.
What do you do better?
I like to constantly try new things and use the latest technology. At my first Eurovision in 2011 in Düsseldorf, I used a huge moving LED wall. 60 meters wide, 18 meters high, with over 2,000 spotlights and 1,300 lighting modules. That kind of setup hadn’t been done before, at least not at Eurovision. My advantage now is, of course, experience. I know the processes, I know how everything runs. And this year it was easier because I had already designed the Eurovision stage in Vienna back in 2015.
How much of Vienna is reflected in the set design for ESC 2026?
Austria—and Vienna in particular—has a rich musical tradition: opera, classical music, and pop culture ranging from Mozart to Falco. That served as the point of reference, though not in a literal, one-to-one sense. It needed another layer, something entirely new, just as Viennese music itself has often been revolutionary and pioneering. I came across the Vienna Secession, a group of pioneers of Austrian avant-garde art. They not only radically rethought art, architecture, and design, but also had a significant influence on music and opera. They created performances without traditional stage sets, relying solely on light. At the time, this was completely unconventional and highly visionary.
