Spectacle of dust: Anselm Kiefer marks 20 years of the Bastille Opera
German artist and sculptor Anselm Kiefer told the Bastille Opera: 'I can only do this if you give me the whole of the Bastille, not just the stage'Photograph: Charles Duprat/Opera National de ParisGrey dust settles over the stagePhotograph: Charles Duprat/Opera National de ParisVerses from the Bible are read aloudPhotograph: Charles Duprat/Opera National de Paris
Biblical lands aside, Am Anfang also evokes the ruins of Baghdad and the destroyed German cities at the end of the second world warPhotograph: Charles Duprat/Opera National de ParisTottering towers of a city in a grey desertPhotograph: Charles Duprat/Opera National de ParisDust pervades everythingPhotograph: Charles Duprat/Opera National de ParisJörg Widmann directs the music from the orchestra pitPhotograph: Charles Duprat/Opera National de ParisKiefer, looking over the stagePhotograph: Charles Duprat/Opera National de Paris'Twelve millennia of bricks are piled up here,' reads the librettoPhotograph: Charles Duprat/Opera National de ParisKiefer's set seems to go on and on, receding into an endless gloomPhotograph: Charles Duprat/Opera National de Paris
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