Theaterkunst Talk

Tina Kloempken

Since studying fashion design, costume designer Tina Kloempken has worked on numerous film and TV productions, designing costumes for films by directors Oskar Roehler, Sebastian Schipper, Eddy Berger and Lars Kraume and others.

Another particular focus of her work is on costume design for the stage, with guest appearances at the theaters in Zurich, Vienna, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Bochum, Dresden, Berlin and Hamburg. She has created costumes for numerous international dance theater productions for the American choreographer Meg Stuart and done the costume design for opera productions in the Salzburg Festival, Ruhrtriennale, Bonn Opera, Stuttgart State Opera and the Grand Théâtre de Genève.

On 25 July 2024 is the cinema release of the “The Investigation” by director RP Kahl, for which Kloempken developed the costume design, with the support of costume design assistant Emily Schumann. The feature film is based on Peter Weiss’ drama by the same name, which revolves around the Auschwitz trials that took place in Frankfurt between 1963 and 1965.

Copyright: Aki Pfeifer, A Company / Leonine StudiosrnPortrait: Tina Kloempken

Theaterkunst

Tina Kloempken

The costume design for “The Investigation” must’ve been quite a task for you and your team. How did you prepare, and what was it like working on the five-day shoot with an ensemble of 60 people?

Thanks to the numerous documentaries about Auschwitz-Birkenau and the Auschwitz trials, I was able to prepare extensively for this exciting project. The Fritz Bauer Institute in Frankfurt in particular offers excellent insight into the biographies of those involved. RP Kahl and I felt that it was important to focus more on the content of the drama and less on creating period-correct costume design.

But what was striking about the visual material available to me was the fact that the so-called prisoner witnesses, i.e. the inmates, were dressed in a much more modern style than the defendants, for the most part. The witnesses from the camp administration, former employees of the camp and others who were on the perpetrator side were often dressed in their old suits from the 1940s. So there was this noticeable contrast in terms of the material and cut of the clothing, because the majority of the prisoner witnesses had emigrated to major cities around the world after the war, and thus had a modern influence and were highly educated. The defendants, by contrast, seemed stuffy and stuck in their old times and ideology.

I took this observation as an opportunity to make this modernity visible in terms of costume design. These were not broken victims, but rather courageous people who had the strength to describe the cruelest and most unimaginable things in front of the court and to once again face the gazes and laughter of the perpetrators.

Because I had weeks of preparation at Theaterkunst – thanks again for that, as well as for my great team and the wonderful and sympathetic actors – the five days of shooting were hectic yet fantastic as a team effort. For everyone involved, the priority was on the project as a whole.

You once said, in a 2012 Spiegel interview: “The costume shouldn’t be stronger than the actor and shouldn’t force itself into the foreground.” Do you still adhere to this principle today, some 12 years later?

That still holds true today, in principle, although it can vary from project to project. A project like the Nibelungen Festival in Worms, for example, which takes place on a huge stage, requires “more” costume. That said, what interests me are the subtle, quiet aspects of costume work. While they may not be noticeable to the audience, that’s where the art lies, where costume and character combine to form a homogeneous unit. And that can mean a lot of work!

You’ve done a lot of work in theaters in recent years. Do you see a difference between designing costumes for stage and for cinema?

Above all, the dynamic is different. Everything has to happen quickly when filming. I only have the actors for a short time, and then everything has to be just right. But I really enjoy that pace, it suits my nature. The rehearsals for a theater production take about eight weeks, during which the team is together almost every day, developing the costumes. For me that also means being very closely involved with the project. You’re in a constant state of development and nothing is final until the premiere – at least that’s the case with the directors I work with. That’s very intense but also a great way to work.

Do you feel that the notion of sustainability in costume design has changed in recent years?

Costume designers have been working sustainably for a long time. Not necessarily because of the popular and urgent idea of sustainability, but simply because worn clothing is more lively and charming than purchased clothing. In 1995 I put together and reinterpreted my diploma thesis using thrifted pieces, so it’s an idea that’s very familiar to me.

For this particular project, I was made aware of the requirements of a green production and, thanks in large part to the fantastic collection of Theaterkunst, I was able to fulfil 99% of those criteria. But since our film is also historical, it was easier for me to meet those requirements.

At the theater, I have more opportunities to have costumes made and to influence the choice of fabrics and how they are produced. The wide availability, speed and pricing that online retail offers us should be reconsidered and, above all, questioned.

In your opinion, what’s so special about a costume collection like that of Theaterkunst?

Like I said, “The Investigation” was shot in the studio in just five days. We had to “doctor” 60 actors who came from all over and were therefore only available to us for a very brief period – about an hour on one specific day. A logistical challenge that my wonderful assistant Emily Schumann mastered successfully – and always in a good mood.

We had to make a large pre-selection, i.e. at least three, four or even five outfits per actor. That requires not only a huge amount of space, but also a broad and high-quality selection. All of this is sufficiently available at Theaterkunst. We even had our own workspace – at no extra cost. Since we were shooting with eight cameras and in the highest resolution, it was important to me that the costumes fit perfectly.

It felt like each fitting was lovingly supervised by experienced workshop staff. It helped that there was also a very friendly and informal atmosphere, with assistance available from all sides when things got hectic.

Thank you very much for the interview, and see you soon at Theaterkunst!

Many thanks to you all!