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Scenography as New Ideology in Contemporary Curating: The Notion of Staging in Exhibitions

©2014 Textbook 123 Pages

Summary

Scenography has been acting as a transformative force to reform the traditionalexhibitionary complex. This has led to an unprecedented intersection wherescenography meets contemporary curating, which further informs a radical ideologicalshift in the frontier of the exhibition scene. This book aims to exploit a new land ofdiscussion to look into this intersection between scenographic practice andcontemporary curating, its mergence and the subsequent revolution it has caused. Byseeing museums and exhibition spaces as metaphorical stages, it fundamentallyreconfigures the infrastructure of curating practices, in terms of a shift in authorship,architectural embodiment of ideas, field of experience, layered narrative, dramaturgy andthe hybrid expressions of new media. Three case studies will demonstrate scenography’swide-ranged methodologies in dealing with contemporary issues. Cases include: BMWMuseum (Reopened in 2008), Cultures of the World (Opened in 2010) and Leonardo’sLast Supper: A Vision by Peter Greenaway (2008, 2010). The discussion cuts throughmajor discourses, both responding to the rise of the experience economy and theexpanding notion of curating, in parallel.

Excerpt

Table Of Contents


exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London `Diaghilev and the
Golden Age of the Ballets Russes 1909 -1929 '
4
. The spectator's route
through the installations mapped six important aspects of The Ballets
Russes during these years. The curatorial text was imagined and
interpreted by scenographer Tim Hatley who, rather than illustrating the
sections, allowed the spectator to imagine the world in which the ballets
were created, through the judicious and often surprising use of objects,
light and space. It demonstrated, as in theatre, the importance of good
collaboration and synchronicity of art forms. In addition to this
exceptionally well attended event, Diaghilev's `astonishing legacy of
music, dance, and art '
5
gave rise to a series of related events
highlighting music, dance, fashion, textiles, design, scenography, art,
cities of the period and an extensive programme for young people and
families.
From these examples it can be seen that the inclusion of staging in
exhibitions, especially when the scenographer or visual artist is the author
of the event, or an equal collaborator with the curator is a democratizing
development for museums and galleries. Public enthusiasm for the new
`blockbuster' exhibitions has increased beyond all imagination as the
need for a timed ticket entrance system proves. Museums have become
iv
4
Jane Pritchard (ed.), Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes 1909 -1929, (London:
V&A Publishing, 2010)
5
V&A, `Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes', V&A, (2010), <http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/d/
diaghilev-and-the-ballets-russes/> [accessed 09/03/14]

free and open family friendly spaces, where visitors can walk through at
their own pace, and see as little or as much as they fancy. They receive a
new form of `theatrical' experience, which is not text based but visually
based, and this has given rise to the relatively new practice of Museology.
An academic interrogation and critical evaluation of this `New Ideology' is
well timed, as practitioners start to assess the cultural impact of this
relatively new form.
The strategy to use Art to understand the past better, in order to change
the way we view the present is a bold step in museology, provided the
scenographic conception is not drowned by an excess of verbal and
audio information bombarding the visitor! As Josef Svoboda realized,
materiality, objects, shapes and colours can poetically express the story
behind the text. The theatre discipline where the text, libretto, or scenario
are the starting point for the artist to realize the metaphoric world of the
production are no different to the curatorial script. The task is then to
sculpt the space to make it `speak` to the audiences whether contracted
by a ticket to sit in their seats, or at their own pace wander through a
space challenging the creators to engage their interest. As in all creative
work, there is no formula for success. Each project is a new creation and
that is the excitement that communicates from the artist to the spectator,
whatever the subject or discipline in that special and unique shared
experience.
v

Acknowledgements
I would like to express my gratitude to Professor Pamela Howard OBE for
her enthusiastic support. Her contribution to the Foreword had further
given a spark of insight into the relationship between scenography and
museology, which was surely an added dimension to the book's
discussion. I would also like to extend my sincerest thanks to Professor
Donna Loveday (Head of Curatorial at the Design Museum, London) and
Professor Catherine McDermott, for their mentorship in professional
curating all along the way. In particular, special thanks also goes to my
advisor Gillian Russell for her inspirational guidance. Her words had
broadened my mind on various contemporary issues in the expanded
field of design.
vi

About the Author
Margaret Choi Kwan Lam is an art professional working in the
interdisciplinary creative field, cutting through art curating, design
exhibitions and branding activities. After furthering her studies in
MA Curating Contemporary Design (graduating with Distinction) -
Kingston University, in partnership with the Design Museum in London,
Margaret has been working as an independent curator and contributing
in art exhibition-making. She is particularly interested in interdisciplinary
curatorial practices that involve scenography, experiential design, spatial
narration and new interpretive approaches in exhibition spaces.
Combining her artistic background and multi-faceted experience in
creative industries, including professional work in advertising agencies
and multi-media exhibition lab, she has developed overarching skills as
substantial backup to pursue creative curating and exhibition-making.
Personal Website: http://www.margaretlam.co.uk
Linkedin: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/margaretlamcurator
vii

Abstract
In the frontier of the exhibition scene, a significant phenomenon is
observed that a contemporary artistic staging practice, called
scenography, has grew out from the theatre context and keeps expanding
its influence in the exhibition context in recent time. Scenography has
been acting as a transformative force to reform the traditional
exhibitionary complex, and consequently, this has led to an
unprecedented intersection where scenography meets contemporary
curating, which further informs a radical ideological shift. This book aims
to exploit a new land of discussion to look into this intersection between
scenographic practice and contemporary curating, its mergence and the
subsequent revolution it has caused. By seeing museums and exhibition
spaces as metaphorical stages, it fundamentally reconfigures the
infrastructure of curating practices, in terms of a shift in authorship,
architectural embodiment of ideas, field of experience, layered narrative,
dramaturgy and the hybrid expressions of new media. Three case studies
will demonstrate scenography's wide-ranged capacities and various
methodologies in dealing with contemporary issues. The whole
discussion cuts through major discourses in the field, both responding to
the increasing awareness of the notion of staging experiences in the rise
of experience economy, and the expanding notion of curating, in parallel.
viii

Contents
Foreword - by Professor Pamela Howard OBE
ii
Acknowledgements
vi
About the Author
vii
Abstract
viii
Introduction
1
Section 1
Critical Analysis :
8
The Deadlock of Conventional Exhibitionary Culture
Section 2
The Phenomenon of Expanding Scenography :
13
Its Potentials to Reform Exhibition-making
Section 3
Scenography in Exhibition Context :
19
The Intersection, Mergence and Reformation
Section 4
Scenography and Curating the Contemporary
25
4.1
Scenographer as Author : Redefining Curatorial Strategies
25
4.2
Architectural Structure : Embodiment of Ideas
29
4.3
Field of Experience : Transformative Process
34
4.4
Layered Narrative : Multiple Viewpoints
39
4.5
Dramaturgy : Orchestration and Directing
44
4.6
New Media : Hybrid Expressions
49
Section 5
Case Studies
5.1
Case Study 1 : BMW Museum (Reopened in 2008)
56
Scenography as Brandscape
5.2
Case Study 2 : Cultures of the World (Opened in 2010) 67
Scenography as a Site of Cultural Mediation
5.3
Case Study 3 : Leonardo's Last Supper:
79
A Vision by Peter Greenaway (2008, 2010)
Scenography as Interference and Discourse
Conclusion
91
Appendix - Image Sources
95
Bibliography
100


Introduction
The expanding notion of curating is under intense discussion in recent
years. Not only that the field of contemporary curating has constantly
reflected on the status of the exhibitionary culture, but also it has raised a
critical awareness of a shift in the profession of curating itself. In 2011, a
symposium entitled `The Critical Edge of Curating'
1
was held in Solomon
R. Guggenheim Museum, highlighting the need for `a broader theoretical
and practical analysis of the field'
2
. One of the key pressing issues in the
debate was about the `curatorial agency in an expanded field of
production'
3
, where the questions of authorship, capability, ideology and
methodology of the contemporaneity were brought to the fore.
Such inquiries could be seen through by an inherent link between the new
tendency of exhibition-making and the global transition towards the
experience economy. As economists B. Joseph Pine II and James H.
Gilmore asserted in The Experience Economy: Work is Theatre and Every
Business a Stage about the `first principle of effective experience staging'
4
, they later clarified that this is `prevalent in almost any industry [...][and]
1
1
Guggenheim, `The Critical Edge of Curating', Guggenheim, (2011),
<http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/calendar-and-events/2011/11/04/the-critical-edge-of-
curating/989> [accessed 12/08/13]
2
ibid.
3
ibid.
4
B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore, The Experience Economy: Work is Theatre and Every
Business a Stage, (Boston: Harvard Business Press, 1999), p.27

applies just as much to the museum world'
5
. In this sense, the notion of
staging now becomes the core metaphor in the new exhibitionary
paradigm, in which drama takes on a new strategic role in its heart
6
. To
clarify, the idea of staging and drama discussed here should not be
confined to the concept of performances but a total theatrical expression
of the whole space being encountered. This cultural enquiry in the
grander scheme has posed a tremendous challenge on contemporary
curating. As museology scholars Dr. Suzanne MacLeod, Laura Hourston
Hanks and Jonathan A. Hale further visionized the phenomenon in 2012,
[m]useum
making
in
the
twenty-first
century
is
challenging,
creative,
[and] complex [...]. Operating across different scales of activity from
the
level
of
the
object
to
the
level
of
the
building,
city
or
landscape,
museum
making
also
cuts
across
a
range
of
professional
practices
from curation to design and from architecture to theatre and film.
7
On the one hand, this forecast offered succinct insights of the new
components in the future's exhibition scene, but on the other hand, it
severely exposed the incapability of the conventional exhibitionary
system to implement the new vision. Whereas, most to the core, it
significantly implied that the profession of curating is in crisis, since
traditional curators might lack of tools to tackle the complex tasks. As art
historian Terry Smith asserted, the profession is `ready to shift'
8
. While a
2
5
B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore, `Museums and Authenticity', Museum News, May/June,
(2007), pp.76-80,92-93, (p.76)
6
B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore, The Experience Economy: Work is Theatre and Every
Business a Stage, (Boston: Harvard Business Press, 1999), p.164
7
Suzanne MacLeod, Laura Hourston Hanks and Jonathan A. Hale, Museum Making: Narratives,
Architectures, Exhibitions, (London: Routledge, 2012), p.xix
8
Terry Smith, Thinking Contemporary Curating, (New York: Independent Curators International,
2012), p.121

more fundamental transformation in the exhibitionary ideology is on call, a
prominent artistic phenomenon is emerging on the other side of the world
which has started influencing the exhibition scene, causing a paradigm
shift in contemporary curating. It is the notion of the expanding field of
scenography.
To give a brief information to set up the ground for understanding,
scenography is an artistic practice rooted in contemporary theatre in the
19th century that emphasized a unity between all elements of staging,
including architecture, field of experience, narrative, dramaturgy and use
of media. While scenographers are professionals who could be
considered as authors for the whole spatial expression on theatrical
stages. Stepping into the 20th century, scenography had been evolving
itself into a transdisciplinary design practice and expanding its
manifestation in other fields. In 2010, Prague Quadrennial festival held the
`Scenography Expanding Symposia 1-3'
9
, it asserted that
[t]hroughout
the
past
decade,
scenographic
practice
[...]
[has]
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.
10
Scenography now becomes an autonomic force and a transformative
ideological model, causing cross-pollination effects on exhibition-making,
curating and museum culture. As art and media theorist Dr. Pamela C.
3
9
Prague Quadrennial, `Symposium Scenography Expanding 2: On Artists/Authors', Art &
Education, (2010), <http://www.artandeducation.net/announcement/symposium-scenography-
expanding-2-on-artistsauthors/> [accessed 08/07/13]
10
ibid.

Scorzin observed in 2011, `[u]ntil recently the term "scenography" was
loosely applied to [...] museography'
11
. The scenography phenomenon
informs an emerging new profession with wide-ranged capabilities to
respond to the cultural needs to treat museums and exhibitions as
metaphorical stages for curating the contemporary.
While symposiums are more active on discussing the emerging scene,
comparatively, there are very few literatures written to capture the
intersection of expanding scenography in exhibition context and curating.
Pamela Howard's What is Scenography?
12
(2002) was an ambitious
attempt to offer a world view of contemporary scenography, just that its
full analysis was more inclined to implements in theatre context, not
directly informing exhibition curations. Atelier Brückner's Scenography:
Making Spaces Talk
13
(2011) focused on illustrating the scenographic
creative process in exhibition-making, but it did not address issues of
curating. Thea Brejzek's Expanding Scenography: On the Authoring of
Space
14
(2011) had a chapter on curating, but it inclined to curating
performances in non-theatre urban spaces. Frank Den Oudsten's Space.
Time. Narrative: The Exhibition as Post-Spectacle Stage
15
(2011)
4
11
Pamela C. Scorzin, `Metascenography: On the Metareferential Turn in Scenography' in Werner
Wolf (ed.), The Matereferential Turn in Contemporary Arts and Media: Forms, Functions, Attempts
at Explanation, (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2011), p.260
12
Pamela Howard, What is Scenography?, (London: Routledge, 2002)
13
Atelier Brückner (ed.), Scenography: Making Spaces Talk - Projects 2002-2010 Atelier Brückner,
(Ludwigsburg: AVedition, 2011)
14
Thea Brejzek, Expanding Scenography. On the Authoring of Space, (Prague: The Arts and
Theatre Institute, 2011)
15
Frank Den Oudsten, Space. Time. Narrative: The Exhibition as Post-Spectacular Stage,
(Farnham: Ashgate, 2011)

dedicated to the interviews of six scenographers, it documented some
behind-the-scene treasures but remained personal fragmented
reflections, not examining from a curatorial angle. In short, as
scenographer Den Oudsten highlighted, `there is no theory [...]
to fall
back on'
16
to capture the `scenographic development of an exhibition'
17
.
He also brought out the need for further investigations:
[c]rossovers
between
stage
and
exhibition,
[...]
curatorship
and
design,
execution
and
authorship,
necessitate
a
reassessment;
for
scenography
-
or
whatever
this
artistic
no-man's-land
-
is
in
a
transdisciplinary sense a profession of increasing complexity.
18
In other words, a gap in the literatures could be identified - for further
buildup on research and discussions in those crossover zones. How
scenography informs contemporary curating by seeing exhibitions in the
notion of staging? How did it grow to be a new professional practice to
revitalize the crisis of curatorship? What is the new paradigm of
authorship? How far could scenography open up curatorial possibilities
and transform the museums and exhibition scenes? These are worthwhile
to look into.
Methodology
This book aims to exploit a new land of discussion: to examine how
scenography informs an ideological shift in contemporary curating, and
5
16
Frank Den Oudsten, Space. Time. Narrative: The Exhibition as Post-Spectacular Stage,
(Farnham: Ashgate, 2011), p.104
17
ibid., p.104
18
ibid., p.13

further uncover its various methodologies in exhibition-making and its
capabilities in addressing major curatorial issues.
The discussion is carried out in five sections. Section one will be a critical
analysis on the deadlock in the conventional exhibitionary system that
kept holding it back from a transformation from within. Section two will
open up to investigate the expanding scenography: how it grew out from
its original context, theatre, and evolved into an autonomous practice that
showed its huge potential to reform the exhibition culture. Leading to
section three, it will capture the significant mergence of scenographic
practice and content curation. Afterwards, section four goes in depth to
inform the total reconfiguration in the new form of curating, in terms of
authorship, architectural embodiment of ideas, field of experience,
layered narrative, dramaturgy and the hybrid expressions of new media.
Whereas, section five brings in three case studies to showcase a
spectrum of scenographic methodologies, illustrating wide-ranged
capacities to deal with contemporary issues in curating. Cases include:
BMW Museum (2008), Cultures of the World (Rautenstrauch-Joest-
Museum, 2010), Leonardo's Last Supper: A Vision by Peter Greenaway
(Santa Maria delle Grazie, 2008 and Park Avenue Armory, 2010). Finally,
the book will conclude that by embracing scenography as a
transformative ideology, the ailing conventional exhibitionary scene could
be revitalized, by discovering a whole new set of exhibitionary language,
6

and thus, a fundamental reformation in contemporary curating practices
could be made possible.
7

Section 1
Critical Analysis :
The Deadlock of Conventional Exhibitionary Culture
Before discussing the possibility of the expanding notion of curating, it is
important to firstly revisit the deadlock of the conventional museum and
exhibition system, in order to diagnose the situation and identify the
obstacles and opportunities for a way out. While curating as a profession
is enthusiastically calling for an expansion, one should ask a more
underlying question : what had made it so pessimistic for the traditional
exhibitionary scene to transform from within?
Scholars around the field prevalently illustrated the ailing exhibitionary
culture. When art historian Peter Vergo asserted that there was a
`widespread dissatisfaction with the "old museology" '
19
, the situation was
in fact not that mild. Museum specialist Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett
already notified that `museums are [now] experiencing a crisis of identity'
20
, while curator Jens Hoffmann put it, `[i]n some cases the "death of the
exhibition"
has already been proclaimed'
21
. Curator Kathleen McLean
even expressed a more sceptical view in her essay `Do Museum
Exhibitions Have a Future?':
8
19
Peter Vergo, The New Museology, (London: Reaktion, 1989), p.3
20
Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Destination Culture: Tourism, Museums, and Heritage, (London:
University of California Press, 1998), p.7
21
Jens Hoffmann, `A Plea for Exhibition', Mousse Magazine, Issue 24, (2013),
<http://moussemagazine.it/articolo.mm?id=569> [accessed 19/06/13]

museum
exhibitions
might
be
an
obsolete
medium
on
the
dying
limb
of
an
evolutionary
tree,
and
unless
they
significantly
adapt
to
their
rapidly
changing
environments
in
the
coming
years,
they
could be headed toward extinction.
22
In a period of pessimism, many curators might choose to give up the
battlefield, as Manifesta Journal observed, they `[felt] the need to "curate
outside the canon."'
23
Whereas curator Peter White would rather hit to the
core: `in the transition curating was moving in the direction of the very
power and authority that was being questioned'
24
. Precisely here, a more
inherent obstacle is revealed.
One could recognize a more fundamental ideology was in play that kept
holding it back from transforming the exhibitionary format. That is the
power in space. This phenomenon was described succinctly and vividly
in cultural critic Tony Bennett's notable essay `The Exhibitionary Complex'
25
, in which he adopted philosopher Michel Foucault's groundbreaking
theory of using panopticon as a metaphor to illustrate politics of power
inherent in institutions
26
, and further applied it to analyze exhibition
spaces. Bennett asserted that the conventional exhibition scene was in
fact a manifestation of power inscribed in space, where it `organize[d] [...]
9
22
Kathleen McLean, `Do Museum Exhibitions Have a Future?', Curator: The Museum Journal, Vol.
50, Issue1, Jan, (2007), p.117, <http://www.ind-x.org/essays/do-museum-exhibitions-have-future
>
[accessed 22/07/13]
23
Manifesta, `The Canon of Curating', Manifesta, (2013),
<http://www.manifestajournal.org/canon-curating> [accessed 13/08/13]
24
Peter White and Banff Centre for the Arts, Naming a Practice: Curatorial Strategies for the
Future, (Banff: Banff Centre Press, 1996), p.2
25
Tony Bennett, `The Exhibitionary Complex' in Reesa Greenberg, Bruce W. Ferguson and Sandy
Nairne (ed.), Thinking about Exhibitions, (Oxon: Routledge, 1996), p.81-112
26
Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, trans. by Alan Sheridan,
(London: Allen Lane, 1979)

an order of things and [...] produce[d] a place for the people in relation to
that order'
27
. It was a `space of representation'
28
broadcasting didactic
messages, allowing only one-way communication. Within this system,
curators were connoisseurs giving `an assurance that museum objects
[were] "authentic" masterpieces that express[ed] universal truths'
29
, as in
art historian Janet Marstine's words. While the whole `[traditional] museum
architecture [was] "congealed ideology", a text to be read'
30
, as
architectural theorist Dr. Suzanne MacLeod asserted. The visitors'
movements were being regulated along a linear path and narrative,
whereas their experiences are limited to, as Bennett called it, `the
hierarchically organized systems of looks [...] [and] controlling vision'
31
.
The ultimate purpose of traditional museums was to promote `the logic of
culture'
32
in their perspective and for their own good. In doing so, it
would lead to an unfavorable future, as Bennett warned it:
[i]f museums gave this space a solidity and permanence, this was
achieved at the price of a lack of ideological flexibility.
33
This vital analysis actually complemented with the Foucault's view, since
10
27
Tony Bennett, `The Exhibitionary Complex' in Reesa Greenberg, Bruce W. Ferguson and Sandy
Nairne (ed.), Thinking about Exhibitions, (Oxon: Routledge, 1996), p.89
28
ibid., p.102
29
Janet Marstine (ed.), New Museum Theory and Practice: An Introduction, (Oxford: Blackwell
Publishing, 2006), p.10
30
Suzanne MacLeod, `Telling Stories of Museum Architecture' in Suzanne Macleod, Museum
Architecture: A New Biography, (Oxon: Routledge, 2013), p.20
31
Tony Bennett, `The Exhibitionary Complex' in Reesa Greenberg, Bruce W. Ferguson and Sandy
Nairne (ed.), Thinking about Exhibitions, (Oxon: Routledge, 1996), p.91
32
Tony Bennett, `Exhibition, DIfference, and the Logic of Culture' in Ivan Karp and others (ed.),
Museum Frictions: Public Cultures/ Global Transformations, (Durham: Duke University Press,
2006), p..56
33
Tony Bennett, `The Exhibitionary Complex' in Reesa Greenberg, Bruce W. Ferguson and Sandy
Nairne (ed.), Thinking about Exhibitions, (Oxon: Routledge, 1996), p.73

the resulting fixation also manifested on a practical level, that [s]pace was
treated as the dead, the fixed, the undialectical, the immobile.
34
At this
point, in fact, not only it is fixed internally, but also isolated from other
creative forces. As museology scholars Dr. Suzanne MacLeod, Laura
Hourston Hanks and Jonathan A. Hale, `[m]useum space and its
production [were] traditionally compartmentalized: disciplinary
boundaries [...][were] entrenched'
35
. Whereas, in the face of a
transdisciplinary future, `the classical abilities of conventionally trained
curators [...] no longer sufficed.'
36
, as stage director Christian Barthelmes
highlighted. Even curators had started to commission artists or various
exhibition design companies to deal with space presentations, there was
still a critical point not being addressed: if they do not hand over the
power of authorship, the transformation of the exhibition scene could be
very limited.
The
whole situation is a closed system awaiting to open up.
While in fact,
the Foucauldian view was a dual-facted-reference-point for insights. Apart
from the analysis of the deadlock, a new light could also be found. As
architectural academia Adam Sharr revisited Foucault's assertion,
Foucault's
crucial
juxtaposition
[in
analysis]
of
space,
knowledge
11
34
Colin Gordon
(
ed.), Power/Knowledge: Selected Interview and Other Writings 1972-1977 by
Michel Foucault, trans. by Colin Gordon, Leo Marshall, John Mepham, Kate Soper, (New York:
Knopf Doubleday Publishing, 1980), p.70
35
Suzanne MacLeod, Laura Hourston Hanks and Jonathan A. Hale, Museum Making: Narratives,
Architectures, Exhibitions, (London: Routledge, 2012), p.xx
36
Christian Barthelmes and Frank Den Oudsten, Scenography: Making Spaces Talk - Projects
2002-2010 Artelier Brückner, (Ludwigsburg: AVedition, 2011), p.17

and power has [in fact] unlocked novel spatial possibilities for
thinking about design in architecture.
37
To clarify the argument here - Foucault as a significant philosopher in the
spatial turn, had unexpectedly contributed to hint a direction for the
contemporary to overcome the institution's complex. By refocusing and
revolutionizing another parameter, space, in the system, it could break
through the deadlock. In other words, If ever, there is a new creative force
who has the capability to revolutionize the whole spatial manifestation,
and inscribe it with new ideas of knowledge and new spatial logics, the
power could be shifted. There will be huge potentials to rewrite the future
of museums and exhibitionary scene.
12
37
Gordana Fontana-Giusti, Foucault for Architects, (Oxon: Routledge, 2013), p.i

Section 2
The Phenomenon of Expanding Scenography :
Its Potentials to Reform Exhibition-making
What the exhibitionary culture calls for is a new paradigm of radical
spatial reformation and, most of all, a democratic ideology. However, the
question becomes: where could have such ideology be cultivated?
Probably not from within the traditional exhibition context, but from
without. It is observed that on the other side of the art world, a
transformative phenomenon had been emerging and expanding its
influence rapidly. As art historian and curator Dorothee Richter asserted
in her essay `When Truth Discourse Meets Spectacle' in 2012,
[i]n
recent
times,
we
have
experienced
an
increasing
integration
of
theatre
and
exhibition
practices
in
terms
of
display.
Evidence
of
this
may
be
found
in
the
inclusion of scenography and theatrical
scenery
in
exhibitions
[...]
leading
to
general
breakdown
in
what
we
might see as any strict narration.
38
This influential phenomenon should not be overlooked, and could be
traced back to a significant development of an artistic practice rooted in
contemporary theatre context that deals with mise-en-scène on stages.
Such artistic practice has increasingly earned credibility in and outside
the field, which is called: scenography.
Scenography, throughout the past decades, has gone through a series of
13
38
Dorothee Richter, `When Truth Discourse Meets Spectacle', Oncurating.org, Issue 15, (2012),
pp.45-55, (p.46), <http://www.on-curating.org/documents/oncurating_issue_1512_small.pdf>
[accessed 04/08/13]

radical evolutions. It is important to take a glimpse into the key
developments and its changing definitions, in order to set up a
background understanding of the inherent capacity and main
characteristics of scenography. By doing so, it paves the way to see the
potentiality of scenography to expand into exhibition context. What is
scenography? To give a brief understanding on the terminology is
necessary. As art historian Jocelyn Penny Small put it, the term
scenography originally comes from the Greek word `skenographia'
39
, and
`[f]rom its two root words, sken- and graph-, skenographia literally means
"scene painting" '
40
. As scenographer Den Oudsten further explained
that those root words could be `interpreted as "hut" [...][and] "to write" '
41
,
altogether, scenography suggests the meaning of: authorship in a space.
To clarify, scenography does not equal to and is more than set design.
Rather, it is an encompassing design discipline for the art of staging. As
scenographer Howard asserted,
[s]cenography
is
the
seamless
synthesis
of
space,
text,
research,
art,
actors,
directors
and
spectators
that
contributes
to
an
original
creation.
42
However, it is important to note that scenography is not fixed in its
definition over time, but inclined to constantly evolving its meaning and
expanding its paradigm. Since the significant movement in the Eastern
14
39
Jocelyn Penny Small, `Skenographia in Brief' in George W. M. Harris and Vayos Liapis,
Performance in Greek and Roman, (Boston: Brill, 2013), p.111
40
ibid., p.111
41
Frank Den Oudsten, Space. Time. Narrative: The Exhibition as Post-Spectacular Stage,
(Farnham: Ashgate, 2011), p.17
42
Pamela Howard, What is Scenography?, (London: Routledge, 2002), p.130

Europe's contemporary theatre scene in the early twentieth century,
scenography had evolved, from its historical root of pictorial
representation, into a presentation of the unity of staging spaces.
The pioneering Czech scenographer Josef Svoboda, who was considered
to be the father of modern scenography, dedicated to take scenography
to another level. Renowned for his kinetic staging and projection
techniques, as theatre critic Jarka M. Burian asserted, Svoboda's core
aesthetic vision was an unification of
metaphoric
power
[...][,]
intangible
forces:
time,
space,
movement,
non-material
energy
[...][and]
kinetic
scenery
[...]
fused
his
principle of dynamism with his profound sense of architecture.
43
In order to claim independence for authorship, ideation and artistic
production, Svoboda and director Alfréd Radok founded the multimedia
group called Laterna Magika. With a new mission, Svoboda took
scenography out of its original theatre context, and experimented it in
Expo 58 and Expo 67 international exhibitions' entertainment sections, as
a kind of multimedia shows, as test bed, which could be considered to be
the first encounter of scenography and exhibition scene. As theatre critic
John Bell put it,
15
43
Jarka M. Burian, `Josef Svoboda: Theatre Artist in an Age of Science', Educational Theatre
Journal, Vol.22, No.2, May, (1970), pp.123-145, (p.125-126)
<http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3205717?
uid=2134&uid=4576706077&uid=3738032&uid=2&uid=70&uid=3&uid=4576706067&uid=60&sid
=21102494366581> [accessed 25/07/13]

Svoboda's work in these areas is fascinating [...] because, as he
puts
it
himself,
the
world
exhibitions
`are
first
of
all
surveys
of
ideas
.
'
44
The `polyscenic space'
45
, as in Svoboda's own words, was among the
most famous legacies that informed a ground-breaking methodology of
narration in space that allowed `a breaking up of the linear continuity'
46
.
In this sense, scenography was not just a new artistic tool, but further
transformed to act as an ideological spatial strategy to work against
authoritative agendas. Thereby, linear narrative could now be replaced by
a multi-layered narrative, allowing multi-viewpoint-accesses. Although
Laterna Magika might also be accused of producing mere spectacles,
Svoboda's exploitation had still created influential impact on the art
culture in a grander scheme. As theatre critic Jarka M. Burian gave a
head-turning summary,
Laterna Magika becomes, in effect, a new, hybrid medium, [...]
[and
as
Radok
suggested,
it]
has
the
capacity
of
seeing
reality
from several aspects.
47
Similarly, artistic director Sodja Lotker reflected in the article
`Scenography: a Battlefield' that `[s]cenography itself is a context, an
16
44
John Bell, `The Secret of Theatrical Space by Josef Svoboda; J.M. Burian', TDR, Vol.38, No.2,
Summer (1994), pp.184-186, (p.185)
45
Jane Collins and Andrew Nisbet, Theatre and Performance Design: A Reader in Scenography,
(Oxon: Routledge, 2010), p.391
46
ibid., p.391
47
Jarka M. Burian, `Josef Svoboda: Theatre Artist in an Age of Science', Educational Theatre
Journal, Vol.22, No.2, May, (1970), pp.123-145, (p.134)
<http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3205717?
uid=2134&uid=4576706077&uid=3738032&uid=2&uid=70&uid=3&uid=4576706067&uid=60&sid
=21102494366581> [accessed 25/07/13]

environment. Scenography is the intersection'
48
, which pinpointed its
highly penetrativeness.
The significance of scenography had increasingly received more
attention among academia and visionaries. However, for such an
exceptionally expanding discipline, the expanding scenography reached
a polemic in its changing definition. As scenographer Howard
acknowledged:
[w]henever
scenographers
meet
internationally
the
discussion
inevitably
turns
to
that
indefinable
conundrum
"What
is
Scenography?"
Lively
debates
flourish
that
show
[...]
how
difficult
it
is to quantify.
49
While Howard offered up to forty-four world views
50
, art and media
theorist Scorzin stated that `a clear definition of "scenography" is still
wanting'
51
. The academia might feel uncomfortable with its phenomenon
that scenography kept expanding its meaning so frequently, but perhaps
most importantly, it is essential for the culture to recognize the very nature
of scenography, before moving on to further discussions. As notable
scenographer Den Oudsten asserted,
[s]cenography
is
dominated
by
probabilities.[...]Scenography
cannot be defined unequivocally and is bound to ask questions
52
17
48
Intersection, `Scenography: a Battlefield', Intersection, (2013),
<http://www.intersection.cz/description/> [accessed 08/07/13]
49
Pamela Howard, What is Scenography?, (London: Routledge, 2002), p.xiii
50
ibid., p.xiii-xvi
51
Pamela C. Scorzin, `Metascenography: On the Metareferential Turn in Scenography' in Werner
Wolf (ed.), The Matereferential Turn in Contemporary Arts and Media: Forms, Functions, Attempts
at Explanation, (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2011), p.260
52
Frank Den Oudsten, Space. Time. Narrative: The Exhibition as Post-Spectacular Stage,
(Farnham: Ashgate, 2011), p.55

While among all, scenographer Boris Kudli
cka's response in the interview
entitled `Scenography is an Open-Ended Structure' made the idea much
more graspable:
scenography
[...]
is
now
an
open-ended
structure,
a
kind
of
construction
of
ideas,
while
at
the
same
time
providing
a
large
amount
of
freedom
for
interpretation
and
metaphor.
It
[...]
is
also
becoming an autonomous branch of visual art.
53
In this sense, one might ask: how scenography could inform the future of
exhibitionary culture and curating? Instead of drilling on finding a fixed
definition, one should pay more attention to the capacity of expanding
scenography as a transformative force characterized by its `significant
degree of artistic self-sufficiency'
54
, as Professor Christopher Baugh
asserted in `Scenography with Purpose: Activism and Intervention'. While
in time of a crisis in curating, scenography could offer a platform for the
profession to undergo a reformation in its practices, by filling the gap in
the culture that calls for a transformation in the notion of staging.
18
53
Markéta Horesovská, `Scenography is an Open-Ended Structure', PQ Mag, Issue 01, (2011), p.3
54
Chistopher Baugh, `Scenography with Purpose: Activism and Intervention' in Arnold Aronson
(ed.), The Disappearing Stage: Reflections on the 2011 Prague Quadrennial, (Prague: Arts and
Theatre Institute, 2012), p.39

Details

Pages
Type of Edition
Erstausgabe
Year
2014
ISBN (eBook)
9783954897179
ISBN (Softcover)
9783954892174
File size
20.6 MB
Language
English
Publication date
2014 (September)
Keywords
Contemporary Art and Design Museum Curating Scenography Exhibition
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Title: Scenography as New Ideology in Contemporary Curating: The Notion of Staging in Exhibitions
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