The Extreme Costume project is part of the competitive Section of Countries and Regions and will consist of an exhibition of costumes, videos, and photos, as well as presentations and discussions.

This project will create space for costume projects to be taken out of their original context of performance in order to be looked at ‘close up’ as autonomous art with individual quality. Projects presented will include work for theatre as well as other arts working with performance (for instance visual art or media). It will include costumes used in the theatre as part of the performance design components as well as costumes used in the visual arts as objects, elements of action, or environment.

Only projects originally created for live performance will be presented; originally “inhabited” by living being or a puppet.

In this project the material itself will be looked as the medium, with the aim to not only present some of the most innovative materials, but also its use and meaning within the performance. So while the exhibition will provide well-designed space and special lighting for the individual costumes to ‘speak for their own’, additional photos, videos, written and audio material will help ‘tell the story’ of the individual costumes within the framework of the exhibition.

The extreme materials and use of materials for costume should tell us new stories about costume and its role in live performance. These can include any materials beyond traditional fabrics, such nano fibers or biodegradable paper, as well as special metals, plastic or even light as costume. “Extreme” means: different, other, unusual, daring, unexpected, surprising, precise, cosmic, virtual, untouchable, degradable, shining, painful, hurting, flying, extravagant, disgusting, deforming, etc.

Presented costume design projects and artists will be proposed by curators of exhibiting countries and regions and selected by the project’s curator and coordinator, Simona Rybakova.

Curator of the Extreme Costume exhibition: Simona Rybakova (CZ)

Location of the Extreme Costume Exhibition: the ArtMinus Cinema Space in the Veletržní Palace - National Gallery
(together with the Section of Countries and Regions, the Student Section, the Presentations and the Portfolios)

The Extreme Costume project is competitive – see the PQ Jury

For exhibitors: the deadline for proposing costumes is June 30, 2010.
For more information, see the Manual, photos and plans of the Veletržní Palace - National Gallery