Dear members
Dear members of the IFTR Scenography WG, past and present,
We are delighted to announce we will be holding an interim meeting in Prague between the main IFTR conferences, timed to coincide with PQ’19. We will be hosted by the Department of Theatre Studies of the Faculty of Arts at Charles University, and we are adopting the main PQ themes for our meeting. Our event is not part of the PQ programme, but we hope for a productive alignment between the scenographic thinking and activity of PQ and our own!
The call for presentations is attached, and we have included the text below in case you cannot access the attachment. Please note the short deadline for proposals, and that although you don’t need to be a current member of IFTR to submit a proposal, you do need to have a current membership at the time of the event.
We hope to see as many of you as possible in Prague!
Best wishes,
Nick and Sofia
IFTR Scenography Working Group Symposium
Interim Event
Friday 14th June – Saturday 15th June 2019
Hosted by the Department of Theatre Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University
Prague, Czech Republic
The Scenography Working Group is convening a two-day symposium for members to share their research in the context of the largest event in the scenographic calendar, the Prague Quadrennial.
We are inviting proposals that relate to the artistic vision of PQ’19 – the cyclical phases of the creative process: Imagination (“youth’s wild instinct and intuition”), Transformation (“the experience of adulthood”), Memory (“the wisdom of age”).
We are looking for proposals for 15 minute presentations linked to these themes.
Timed to coincide with PQ’19, the symposium is kindly hosted by the Faculty of Philosophy at Charles University. There will be no charge to attend the symposium, but you must be a member of IFTR at the time of the symposium (see www.cambridge.org/core/membership/iftr for details). The only additional costs to participants will be related to travel, accommodation and subsistence.
Proposals should be a maximum of 300 words and clearly identified in relation to one of the three areas:
scenography and imagination
scenography and transformation
scenography and memory
Proposals should be sent to both co-convenors of the SWG, Nick Hunt and Sofia Pantouvaki:
nick.hunt@bruford.ac.uk and sofsceno@gmail.com
Deadline for proposals: 29th March 2019
Acceptances confirmed by 15th April 2019
Dear members of the IFTR Scenography WG, past and present,
We are delighted to announce we will be holding an interim meeting in Prague between the main IFTR conferences, timed to coincide with PQ’19. We will be hosted by the Department of Theatre Studies of the Faculty of Arts at Charles University, and we are adopting the main PQ themes for our meeting. Our event is not part of the PQ programme, but we hope for a productive alignment between the scenographic thinking and activity of PQ and our own!
The call for presentations is attached, and we have included the text below in case you cannot access the attachment. Please note the short deadline for proposals, and that although you don’t need to be a current member of IFTR to submit a proposal, you do need to have a current membership at the time of the event.
We hope to see as many of you as possible in Prague!
Best wishes,
Nick and Sofia
IFTR Scenography Working Group Symposium
Interim Event
Friday 14th June – Saturday 15th June 2019
Hosted by the Department of Theatre Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University
Prague, Czech Republic
The Scenography Working Group is convening a two-day symposium for members to share their research in the context of the largest event in the scenographic calendar, the Prague Quadrennial.
We are inviting proposals that relate to the artistic vision of PQ’19 – the cyclical phases of the creative process: Imagination (“youth’s wild instinct and intuition”), Transformation (“the experience of adulthood”), Memory (“the wisdom of age”).
We are looking for proposals for 15 minute presentations linked to these themes.
Timed to coincide with PQ’19, the symposium is kindly hosted by the Faculty of Philosophy at Charles University. There will be no charge to attend the symposium, but you must be a member of IFTR at the time of the symposium (see www.cambridge.org/core/membership/iftr for details). The only additional costs to participants will be related to travel, accommodation and subsistence.
Proposals should be a maximum of 300 words and clearly identified in relation to one of the three areas:
scenography and imagination
scenography and transformation
scenography and memory
Proposals should be sent to both co-convenors of the SWG, Nick Hunt and Sofia Pantouvaki:
nick.hunt@bruford.ac.uk and sofsceno@gmail.com
Deadline for proposals: 29th March 2019
Acceptances confirmed by 15th April 2019
Jaroslav Malina
[Jaroslav Malina in Scenography and Painting]
Brandesky, Joe
hardcover, 288 pp., 1. edition
published: june 2019
ISBN: 978-80-246-4269-7
Jaroslav Malina (1937–2016) was a world-renowned scenographer and painter. Essays included in this book cover the diverse aspects of his career, offer an insight into his methods of work and their philosophical roots, and explain Malina’s artistic contribution. The transcripts of the interviews, presented for the first time ever in this book, provide an intimate testimony about the impulses that guided Malina throughout his life. More than 120 illustrations document the interconnection between Malina’s work as a scenographer and his more intimate paintings.
https://karolinum.cz/en/books/brandesky-jaroslav-malina-21395
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the most famous Czech scenographer — Josef Svoboda (1920–2002) – the Arts and Theatre Institute (ATI) has organised the exhibition entitled Josef Svoboda 100, which presents more than thirty of the most technically and artistically important Czech and foreign productions he participated in staging.
The exhibition Josef Svoboda 100 recapitulates more than thirty of the technically and artistically most important Czech and international productions that Josef Svoboda staged over a period of almost sixty years in collaboration with the most famous Czech and foreign directors.
The structure of the thirty-minute virtual exhibition maps the individual periods of Svoboda’s work both chronologically and thematically – starting with his artistic beginnings at the 5th of May Theatre and his collaboration with Alfréd Radok, including the international success enjoyed at EXPO 58
and the phenomenon known as Laterna Magika, as well as the peak era of his work with stage director Otomar Krejča at the National Theatre, and ending with his technical experiments at prominent theatres around the world – including Covent Garden in London, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and the Ancient Theatre of Orange. The exhibition culminates with a reminder of the production of Goethe’s Faust at the Estates Theatre in Prague.
In her book Josef Svoboda – Scenographer, Helena Albertová (ATI), a theatre historian specialising in scenography, wrote: “I realised that Svoboda’s work, which, at first glance appears so diverse, is actually very compact. As time progressed, I became increasingly interested in Svoboda’s combined dramaturgical, directorial, and scenographic approach to the staged work. I came to understand his obsession with theatre. This passion went hand in hand with his fascination with technological innovations.” The principle of a virtual exhibition, although unplanned contains a conscious reference to Josef Svoboda’s technological experiments, and it strives to present
a concise retrospective of the most important milestones and transformations in his artistic activities.
ATI has long been working to promote and publicise the work of Josef Svoboda. It has organised a number of exhibitions both in the Czech Republic and abroad, published an extensive monograph about Svoboda, and, for this year, is planning to publish the first Czech edition of a transcription of the lectures Svoboda gave in 1986, which have become known as the “Milano lectures.” Svoboda’s work is also accessible to the professional and lay public through the ATI’s Virtual Study website.
The exhibition Josef Svoboda 100 is the result of a collaborative effort between Helena Albertová, Anna Cvrčková, Anna Hejmová, Jana Jansová, Ondřej Svoboda, and Tereza Vinická. The published materials are from the ATI’s archives and collections and from Josef Svoboda’s personal archive.
Dear members of IFTR,
On behalf of the Executive Committee and the Galway team, I thank you for your patience and understanding; your messages of support were very much appreciated by all of us.
I am pleased to announce that the generosity on the part of other future IFTR hosts means that we are able to reschedule the Galway conference in 2021. The Galway team is aiming for 12th to 16th July 2021 (provisional dates until fully confirmed by the team’s institution and external partners). Information about how we shall be proceeding with the administrative logistics of the rescheduled conference will follow in due course.
Regarding immediate cancellation matters, please note the following:
If you made an accommodation booking through the conference agency Go West, you will be receiving a refund by the end of April/ early May. The 35 Euros administrative cancellation charge is being covered by IFTR, so you will be refunded in full.
All conference registration fees are being refunded in full by Cambridge Core (as distinct from the non-refundable membership fee).
Bursary awardees and essay prize winners: we shall be communicating with you shortly.
In many countries, people are about to start their Easter holiday break. Wherever you are and whatever your holiday-lockdown plans are, IFTR & Galway 2021 wish you the warmest and the best,
Elaine Aston
President of IFTR.
Association Divadelná Nitra, Slovakia together with its partners Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute, Poland; Trafó – House of Contemporary Arts, Hungary; Arts and Theatre Institute, Czech Republic; Visual and Performing Arts Centre ART CORPORATION, Belarus; Center for Cultural Projects Azart, Moldova; announce an open call for young theatre critics from VISEGRAD GROUP – Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic and Poland to take part in the V4@THEATRE CRITICS RESIDENCY 2020.
V4@THEATRE CRITICS RESIDENCY enables participants to watch and discuss performances of the 29th edition of the International Theatre Festival Divadelná Nitra – Territory Ethos under the leadership of international lector, to meet theatre professionals from Europe, and to take part in debates with artists, critics who are attending the festival. The workshop will be led by the significant German theatre critic Stefan Tigges for the second time.
7-days creative residency will held from 24th September to 1st October 2020 at the International Theatre Festival Divadelná Nitra 2020. It offers up-and-coming young theatre professionals aged 35 or under a platform for in-depth exchange about contemporary performing arts. The workshop is run in English.
By combining analytical seminars reflecting on the main festival programme with the critics and active participation at meetings with artists, the project offers fertile soil for open discussion, whose ambition is to transcend the context of the festival and tie into the broader socio‑political framework.
The project partners will nominate 4 – 6 applicants from each eligible country (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland) to the main organizer based on the selection criteria below. The Association Divadelná Nitra will select and will announce a maximum of 20 participants. The rest of nominated applicants will be substitutions.
The organizer, Association Divadelná Nitra, reserves rights to implement changes of the project according to a situation.
Apply until 6th August 2020.
Open call
Application form
https://nitrafest.sk/en/
The Days After
Through the Lens of Karel Čapek’s Plays R.U.R. and The White Plague: Staging the Ethical Dilemmas of Industrial and Post-industrial Societies in 20th and 21st Century
Online conference
26 – 27 January 2021
25 January 2021 will mark the 100th anniversary R.U.R.’s premiere at the National Theatre in Prague. Written in 1920 by Czech writer, dramatist and journalist Karel Čapek as a comedy, the play coined the word “robot”, which, along with its title, gained worldwide notoriety in the following years. The play marked the emergence of a thread of science-fiction themes in the Čapek’s novels and plays, while his drama The White Plague has taken on a special urgency in connection with the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Both plays warn of the ethical and existential dilemmas of modern civilisation in the form of global threats linked to the negative effects of machines and technology, totalitarianism, armaments and/or pandemics. On one hand, artificial intelligence has become commonplace, a helpful part of our everyday lives that can even compose music and paint pictures, while, on the other, it raises ethical dilemmas and concerns as strong as those articulated 100 years ago.
For the 100th anniversary of the premiere of R.U.R. at the National Theatre in Prague, the Arts and Theatre Institute will host an online conference devoted to the staging traditions of Čapek’s works dealing with the ethical problems of modern civilisations. The conference will focus on two distinct thematic areas. The first will be devoted to staging traditions of R.U.R. and The White Plague in the Czech Republic/Czechoslovakia and abroad. The second will open a space for insights into civilisational dilemmas related to the themes of Čapek’s plays R.U.R. and The White Plague in the context of contemporary theatre and society.
The conference will also include the presentation of the results of the PQ STUDIO: Common Design Project, completed this year by the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space in collaboration with ATI (more information here).
The conference will take place on 26 – 27 January 2021 on the Zoom platform and will be held in English. The organisers plan to publish the conference proceedings.
Contributions of a maximum of 15 minutes (including any extracts) may respond to the following thematic areas:
Abstracts (1800 characters maximum) may be written in Czech or English and will be accepted until 30. 11. 2020 via this form.
Organisers:
Arts and Theatre Institute / Department of International Cooperation
www.idu.cz, www.performczech.cz
Partners:
The Society of the Brothers Čapek
Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space
The Czech Centres
Silesian University in Opava / Cultural Dramaturgy with a Focus on Theatre
Author: Vera Velemanová
TAJ – Theatre Arts Journal: Studies in Scenography and Performance is a peer-reviewed electronic journal devoted to the study of scenography in performing arts, founded by the Gordon Craig Society for Theatre Research (R.A.) and published under the auspices of the Morris E. Curiel Institute for European Studies at Tel Aviv University.
The journal is published twice a year.
ISSN 2076-667X
https://taj.tau.ac.il/
Cambridge is delighted to be offering a 30% discount on key titles in Theatre Studies and Performance, as well as free access to book chapters and journal articles, to mark this month’s American Society for Theatre Research Conference (ASTR) 2020.
The Cambridge Companion to Theatre and Science
Editor: Kirsten E. Shepherd-Barr, University of Oxford
The Cambridge Companion to International Theatre Festivals
Editor: Ric Knowles, University of Guelph, Ontario
Rediscovering Stanislavsky
Author: Maria Shevtsova, Goldsmiths, University of London
Performance, Modernity and the Plays of J. M. Synge
Author: Helene Lecossios, Université de Lille
The Globalization of Theatre 1870–1930
The Theatrical Networks of Maurice E. Bandmann
Shakespeare, Technicity, Theatre
Author: W. B. Worthen, Columbia University
More titles: https://www.cambridge.org/cz/academic/subjects/arts-theatre-culture/drama-and-theatre-general-interest
Theatre Research International
ISSN: 0307-8833 (Print), 1474-0672 (Online)
Editors: Dr Fintan Walsh Birkbeck, University of London, UK, Dr Silvija Jestrovic University of Warwick, UK, and Dr Tanya Dean Ulster University, UK
Editorial board
Theatre Research International publishes articles on theatre practices in their social, cultural, and historical contexts, their relationship to other media of representation, and to other fields of inquiry. The journal seeks to reflect the evolving diversity of critical idioms prevalent in the scholarship of differing world contexts.