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

Lam, Margaret Choi Kwan

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

by Margaret Choi Kwan Lam (Author)

Art - Installation / Action/Performance Art / Modern Art

53115

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

exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London `Diaghilev and the

Golden Age of the Ballets Russes 1909 -1929 '

. 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 '

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

Jane Pritchard (ed.), Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes 1909 -1929, (London:

V&A Publishing, 2010)

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.

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.

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

Acknowledgements

About the Author

vii

Abstract

viii

Introduction

Section 1

Critical Analysis :

The Deadlock of Conventional Exhibitionary Culture

Section 2

The Phenomenon of Expanding Scenography :

Its Potentials to Reform Exhibition-making

Section 3

Scenography in Exhibition Context :

The Intersection, Mergence and Reformation

Section 4

Scenography and Curating the Contemporary

4.1

Scenographer as Author : Redefining Curatorial Strategies

4.2

Architectural Structure : Embodiment of Ideas

4.3

Field of Experience : Transformative Process

4.4

Layered Narrative : Multiple Viewpoints

4.5

Dramaturgy : Orchestration and Directing

4.6

New Media : Hybrid Expressions

Section 5

Case Studies

5.1

Case Study 1 : BMW Museum (Reopened in 2008)

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:

A Vision by Peter Greenaway (2008, 2010)

Scenography as Interference and Discourse

Conclusion

Appendix - Image Sources

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'

was held in Solomon

R. Guggenheim Museum, highlighting the need for `a broader theoretical

and practical analysis of the field'

. One of the key pressing issues in the

debate was about the `curatorial agency in an expanded field of

production'

, 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'

, they later clarified that this is `prevalent in almost any industry [...][and]

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]

ibid.

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'

. 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

. 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

the

twenty-first

century

challenging,

creative,

[and] complex [...]. Operating across different scales of activity from

the

level

the

object

the

level

the

building,

city

landscape,

museum

making

also

cuts

across

range

professional

practices

from curation to design and from architecture to theatre and film.

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'

. While a

B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore, `Museums and Authenticity', Museum News, May/June,

(2007), pp.76-80,92-93, (p.76)

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

Suzanne MacLeod, Laura Hourston Hanks and Jonathan A. Hale, Museum Making: Narratives,

Architectures, Exhibitions, (London: Routledge, 2012), p.xix

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'

, it asserted that

[t]hroughout

the

past

decade,

scenographic

practice

[...]

[has]

continuously

moved

beyond

the

black

box

the

theatre

toward

hybrid

terrain

located

the

intersections

theatre,

architecture,

exhibition, visual arts, and media.

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.

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]

ibid.

Scorzin observed in 2011, `[u]ntil recently the term "scenography" was

loosely applied to [...] museography'

. 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?

(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

(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

(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

(2011)

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

Pamela Howard, What is Scenography?, (London: Routledge, 2002)

Atelier Brückner (ed.), Scenography: Making Spaces Talk - Projects 2002-2010 Atelier Brückner,

(Ludwigsburg: AVedition, 2011)

Thea Brejzek, Expanding Scenography. On the Authoring of Space, (Prague: The Arts and

Theatre Institute, 2011)

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'

to capture the `scenographic development of an exhibition'

He also brought out the need for further investigations:

[c]rossovers

between

stage

and

exhibition,

[...]

curatorship

and

design,

execution

and

authorship,

necessitate

reassessment;

for

scenography

whatever

this

artistic

no-man's-land

transdisciplinary sense a profession of increasing complexity.

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

Frank Den Oudsten, Space. Time. Narrative: The Exhibition as Post-Spectacular Stage,

(Farnham: Ashgate, 2011), p.104

ibid., p.104

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,

and thus, a fundamental reformation in contemporary curating practices

could be made possible.

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" '

, the situation was

in fact not that mild. Museum specialist Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett

already notified that `museums are [now] experiencing a crisis of identity'

, while curator Jens Hoffmann put it, `[i]n some cases the "death of the

exhibition"

has already been proclaimed'

. Curator Kathleen McLean

even expressed a more sceptical view in her essay `Do Museum

Exhibitions Have a Future?':

Peter Vergo, The New Museology, (London: Reaktion, 1989), p.3

Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Destination Culture: Tourism, Museums, and Heritage, (London:

University of California Press, 1998), p.7

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

obsolete

medium

the

dying

limb

evolutionary

tree,

and

unless

they

significantly

adapt

their

rapidly

changing

environments

the

coming

years,

they

could be headed toward extinction.

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."'

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'

. 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'

, in which he adopted philosopher Michel Foucault's groundbreaking

theory of using panopticon as a metaphor to illustrate politics of power

inherent in institutions

, 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] [...]

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]

Manifesta, `The Canon of Curating', Manifesta, (2013),

<http://www.manifestajournal.org/canon-curating> [accessed 13/08/13]

Peter White and Banff Centre for the Arts, Naming a Practice: Curatorial Strategies for the

Future, (Banff: Banff Centre Press, 1996), p.2

Tony Bennett, `The Exhibitionary Complex' in Reesa Greenberg, Bruce W. Ferguson and Sandy

Nairne (ed.), Thinking about Exhibitions, (Oxon: Routledge, 1996), p.81-112

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'

. It was a `space of representation'

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'

, as in

art historian Janet Marstine's words. While the whole `[traditional] museum

architecture [was] "congealed ideology", a text to be read'

, 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'

The ultimate purpose of traditional museums was to promote `the logic of

culture'

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.

This vital analysis actually complemented with the Foucault's view, since

Tony Bennett, `The Exhibitionary Complex' in Reesa Greenberg, Bruce W. Ferguson and Sandy

Nairne (ed.), Thinking about Exhibitions, (Oxon: Routledge, 1996), p.89

ibid., p.102

Janet Marstine (ed.), New Museum Theory and Practice: An Introduction, (Oxford: Blackwell

Publishing, 2006), p.10

Suzanne MacLeod, `Telling Stories of Museum Architecture' in Suzanne Macleod, Museum

Architecture: A New Biography, (Oxon: Routledge, 2013), p.20

Tony Bennett, `The Exhibitionary Complex' in Reesa Greenberg, Bruce W. Ferguson and Sandy

Nairne (ed.), Thinking about Exhibitions, (Oxon: Routledge, 1996), p.91

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

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.

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'

. Whereas, in the face of a

transdisciplinary future, `the classical abilities of conventionally trained

curators [...] no longer sufficed.'

, 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]

space,

knowledge

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

Suzanne MacLeod, Laura Hourston Hanks and Jonathan A. Hale, Museum Making: Narratives,

Architectures, Exhibitions, (London: Routledge, 2012), p.xx

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.

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.

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,

have

experienced

increasing

integration

theatre

and

exhibition

practices

terms

display.

Evidence

this

may

found

the

inclusion of scenography and theatrical

scenery

exhibitions

[...]

leading

general

breakdown

what

might see as any strict narration.

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

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'

, and

`[f]rom its two root words, sken- and graph-, skenographia literally means

"scene painting" '

. As scenographer Den Oudsten further explained

that those root words could be `interpreted as "hut" [...][and] "to write" '

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

the

seamless

synthesis

space,

text,

research,

art,

actors,

directors

and

spectators

that

contributes

original

creation.

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

Jocelyn Penny Small, `Skenographia in Brief' in George W. M. Harris and Vayos Liapis,

Performance in Greek and Roman, (Boston: Brill, 2013), p.111

ibid., p.111

Frank Den Oudsten, Space. Time. Narrative: The Exhibition as Post-Spectacular Stage,

(Farnham: Ashgate, 2011), p.17

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.

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,

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

himself,

the

world

exhibitions

`are

first

all

surveys

ideas

The `polyscenic space'

, 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'

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

Radok

suggested,

it]

has

the

capacity

seeing

reality

from several aspects.

Similarly, artistic director Sodja Lotker reflected in the article

`Scenography: a Battlefield' that `[s]cenography itself is a context, an

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)

Jane Collins and Andrew Nisbet, Theatre and Performance Design: A Reader in Scenography,

(Oxon: Routledge, 2010), p.391

ibid., p.391

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'

, 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

that

indefinable

conundrum

"What

Scenography?"

Lively

debates

flourish

that

show

[...]

how

difficult

is to quantify.

While Howard offered up to forty-four world views

, art and media

theorist Scorzin stated that `a clear definition of "scenography" is still

wanting'

. 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

dominated

probabilities.[...]Scenography

cannot be defined unequivocally and is bound to ask questions

Intersection, `Scenography: a Battlefield', Intersection, (2013),

<http://www.intersection.cz/description/> [accessed 08/07/13]

Pamela Howard, What is Scenography?, (London: Routledge, 2002), p.xiii

ibid., p.xiii-xvi

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

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

[...]

now

open-ended

structure,

kind

construction

ideas,

while

the

same

time

providing

large

amount

freedom

for

interpretation

and

metaphor.

[...]

also

becoming an autonomous branch of visual art.

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'

, 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.

Markéta Horesovská, `Scenography is an Open-Ended Structure', PQ Mag, Issue 01, (2011), p.3

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
Publication Year: 2014
ISBN (Softcover): 9783954892174
ISBN (eBook): 9783954897179
File size: 20.6 MB
Language: English
Publication date: 2014 (September)
Keywords: Contemporary Art and Design Museum Curating Scenography Exhibition
Product Safety: Anchor Academic Publishing

Author

Margaret Choi Kwan Lam (Author)

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

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Author

Margaret Choi Kwan Lam (Author)