Riga – Belgrade - Evora 2010

Invitation and Call for Papers
 
Throughout the past decade, scenographic practice and performance design have continuously moved beyond the black box of the theatre toward a hybrid terrain located at the intersections of theatre, architecture, exhibition, visual arts, and media. This terrain and its spaces are constructed from action and interaction. They are defined by individual and group behavior, and are contrasted by distinct behavioral patterns.
 
It is proposed here that spaces that are staged in such a way –  spaces that are at the same time hybrid, mediated, narrative, and transformative – result from a trans-disciplinary understanding of space and a distinct awareness of social agency. These two factors of “expansion” are seen as the central driving forces in contemporary scenographic practice and thought.
 
 
With the aim of initiating and hosting an active and trans-disciplinary discourse on the notion of an expanding scenography, the  Prague Quadrennial for Performance Design and Space issues an invitation for participation and a Call for Papers for the symposia and workshop sessions, Scenography Expanding 1-3 in 2010. Grouped under the overriding and programmatic title of Scenography Expanding, invited academic papers, artist’s presentations and expert workshop sessions will be looking to engage with notions of spectatorship, artists/authors, and curating in relation to the diverse artistic positions in contemporary spatial design.    
 
In preparation for the Intersection Project of the Prague Quadrennial in June, 2011, we invite researchers in practice and theory (artists, curators, programers, directors, dramaturgs, critics, and theorists) to participate in 3 international scenography symposia held in Riga, Belgrade and Évora during 2010. The overall aim of these symposia is to unfold the wide range of disciplines, genres, theoretical, and artistic positions that comprise the relationships between spectator, artist/author and curator in contemporary scenographic/performance design practice. 
 
Scenography Expanding 1-3 will be followed up by a peer-reviewed publication comprised of selected speakers` contributions in the form of academic papers and visual essays.  

 
Scenography Expanding 1: On Spectatorship

February 25 – 27, 2010
New Theatre Institute of Latvia, Riga, Latvia
 
Speaker presentations, panel discussions, and workshop sessions engage with effects of the proposed “scenographic turn” on notions of spectatorship in performance design and space.   
How are contemporary theories of spectatorship expanding by the increasingly hybrid spaces that we inhabit – in theatre (performance), architecture, exhibition, and media?  Is “space” becoming a governing factor in the negotiation between performers and spectators?
Do hybrid spaces invite new agendas to be explored, performed, exhibited, and constructed? Does an expanding notion of scenography challenge/confirm established notions of live-ness and re-mediation?
 
Deadline for registration and submission of abstracts: 15.12.2009

application form for Riga
application form for Riga

 
Scenography Expanding 2: On Artists/Authors

July 9 – 11, 2010
BELEF Center and Festival, Belgrade, Serbia
 
Speaker presentations, panel discussions, and workshop sessions investigate the question of the identity of the artist/author in the conceptualization, construction and participation in hybrid scenographic and performance design spaces.  
Who are the artists and teams responsible for creating contemporary scenographies in theatre, performance, architecture, exhibition, installation, and media? Is and/or how is the trans-disciplinary nature of scenographic teams reflected in the theoretical discourse on scenography? When does audience become a co-creator? When does a curator become a co-creator?    
 
Deadline for registration and submission of abstracts: 15.3.2010 

application form for Belgrade
application form for Belgrade

Scenography Expanding 3: On Curating

September 27 – 29, 2010
Festival Escrita na Paisagem and Centro de História da Arte e Investigação Artística (CHAIA), Évora, Portugal
 
Speaker presentations, panel discussions, and workshop sessions are concerned with the complex role of the curator in exhibiting spatial practice. A range of models, examples, and future perspectives are introduced and discussed. How is scenographic practice in theatre (performance), architecture, exhibition, installation, and media framed in order to curate, program, communicate, display and reflect? When does an artist become a curator? Who is the author of the space? What are contemporary perspectives on the display of ephemeral practice? Between Badious’ call for “decidedness” (2005) and Bourriauds’ relational aesthetics (2002) – where do we stand?
Deadline for registration and submission of abstracts: 15.6.2010
 
 

Symposia Conveners
Sodja Lotker, Prague Quadrennial Artistic Director
Thea Brejzek, Prague Quadrennial Curator for Theory 
Please send abstracts of 300 words max, and a short bio to: sodja.lotker@pq.cz and thea.brejzek@zhdk.ch (please download the application form at www.intersection.cz).
We will inform you within two weeks of the submission deadline whether your proposal
has been accepted. 

Registration fee - 20 Euro (speakers with accepted proposals will not be charged); students - 5 Euro. Fees will be paid in cash during registration on the arrival day.

 
More information, including registration forms and the full program (keynote speakers and speakers, publication details, etc.), will be updated on: www.intersection.cz.
 
Join our mailing list to get the latest information: pq@pq.cz.
  

 
Information flyer to download