A report by Yasmin Claes (BE) 

In January 2026, after our first start-up Canon II meeting in Brussels, the team met again in Amsterdam. It was a chance to dive deeper into our research, exchange ideas, and visit a few fascinating institutions along the way, including our associate partner, the Allard Pierson museum.

Dutch National Opera & Ballet 

We started with a visit to the Dutch National Opera & Ballet, where Cor van den Brink and Coen van der Hoeven welcomed us warmly. The lighting designers, working for the NO B lighting department, gave us a fascinating look at how opera lightings designs are documented in practice. We saw a wide variety of drawings, material lists, notebooks and photos, as well as the digital file structure used to store and reuse lighting designs. Later, we learned that this is actually a standard method used by many European opera houses. 

Afterwards, we continued the discussion at the AHK Amsterdam – Academy of Theatre and Dance, where we met for a project meeting and reflected on what we had seen.

Allard Pierson archive 

Next day we visited the Allard Pierson archive in Amsterdam Zuidoost. In a rather plain-looking building on the edge of the city, we were warmly welcomed by Lisa Lucassen and Gonneke Janssen, two collection specialists working with the Theatre Collection.

We split into two groups for a guided tour of the archive. Lisa and Gonnneke had already laid out some designs by Henk van der Geest for us, based on materials we had requested in advance. There was a lot to explore: drawings, lists, and original documentation, including th “PanCan” – a kind of moving mirror stage light. During the visit, we also looked at theatre spotlights from the collection and saw a book by Nicola Sabbatini.

A living heritage in the Allard Pierson Museum

Besides our own meetings at the AHK, one of the highlights for me was the visit of the Baron van Slingelandt model theatre at Allard Pierson museum. Made in the 18th-century as a chamber theatre of Baron van Slingelandt. This miniature stage was used in living rooms to demonstrate how theatre worked. With real set changes and lighting.

Artist Arne Hendriks has created his own version of the principles of the Slingelandt Theater that visitors can touch, explore and work with themselves. It was a great reminder that theatre heritage is not only something to preserve, but also something to experience and keep alive.