George Tsypin Opera Factory: Building in the Black Void

Forget everything you think you know about contemporary theater design. The explosive work of Russian-born George Tsypin is changing the way audiences see theatrical productions of all kinds, and it will alter the way you think about what you see on a stage. Thanks to Tsypin, the days of stark, minimalist, almost empty sets are over. His maximalist creations fill the theater's black void with a fevered combination of elements, referencing everything from Russian Constructivism to the works of Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid. Set design, under his direction, is a unique form of architecture, a celebration of structural and sculptural possibility.

George Tsypin Opera Factory shows Tsypin's works for the most important opera houses in the world, from New York's Metropolitan Opera to Milan's La Scala to Saint Petersburg's Mariinsky Theater. The book also features work outside of opera, including the MTV Video Music Awards, the Russian Pavilion for the Venice Biennale, and the Millennium Cities project for Doncaster, England. These pieces include a head of the Statue of Liberty thrust onto the body of the Tatlin Tower and a glass and steel skyscraper that simultaneously rises from and falls into a lake.

In all his work, Tsypin redefines the parameters of contemporary stage design. As Grigory Revzin writes in his introduction, "In Tsypin's work avant-garde ideas return to their natural environment, to an enormously energetic and large-scale attempt to transform reality into magic reality."

George Tsypin is a sculptor, architect, and designer of opera. Since he won an International Competition of "New and Spontaneous Ideas for the Theater for Future Generations," his opera designs have been seen all over the world.