Prague Quadrennial Blogs

Just thought i’d link you up with some sounds of Scenofest. First of all Steve Brown’s audio diary and his post sharing the fantastically eerie and beautiful soundscape for “Reaching for the Heavens 1″ if that doesn’t make you wish you were back in the buzz of the Babel Tower then your dead to the world.

My second offering is a bit of audio I took during one of the many rain showers during the Prague Quadrennial 2007, in my post I say I’m off in a meeting but the truth is I was out barefoot in the rain making the most of it’s cooling effects, listen out for Angela Bower and Yella (sp?) the Belgium IT/Theatre Technician

Will McNeice stopped off in Derbyshire on his way home to Bangor, Northern Ireland and helped me brew up some (un)Official Prague Quadrennial beer.

if your on facebook check out the “What did you do with your PQ tape?” group

The latest photos from the Industrial Palace show the get out… check out our gallery here

Late on Sunday night, the volunteers doing the get-out decided to have a party. The second hand clothes were emptied onto the floor, the bar was kept open, and the DJ played the same ten records all night long. Rodrigo (the rabbit) and I (the camera operator) decided to interview some people before they got totally smashed. Here are the results:

WHY DO CRITICS NOT DEVOTE MORE SPACE, THOUGHTS AND WORDS TO WRITE ABOUT SCENOGRAPHY?

 

Giving language to something visual this is the million dollar question, remarked the London-based critic and correspondent Matt Wolf.

 

The German critic Thomas Irmer agreed: “The printed page has its limits. To describe design, it might be necessary to use certain tools that are not verbal.”

 

“One reason critics write so badly about design is that they are writers, and not designers,” added the American critic Robert Brustein. “In talking about acting, critics must respond verbally to a person acting onstage who is also verbalizing the play.”

 

These and other diagnostic statements were put forward by a troop of international critics Saturday June 16 at the Lecture Hall in the Industrial Palace in a symposium titled “Writing About Scenography.” Wolf, Irmer and Brustein were joined by their international colleagues Vlasta Gallerova of the Czech Republic and Nikolai Pesochinski of Russia. Arnold Aronson, the PQ commissioner, acted as the moderator.

 

The truth-telling that arose from this lively discussion proved to be quite revealing. Brustein himself confessed, at one point, that when he started out as a young critic, he often could not remember what he saw onstage and so had to make a point of describing the physical world of the play as soon as he entered the auditorium.

 

Wolf testified that in the British critical establishment, the work of lighting, costumes, set, sound and visual designers are frequently slighted in favor of describing the literary world of the play. Part of his problem is that journalistic space devoted to reviews and criticism has greatly diminished over time.

 

A dramaturge and writer, Vlasta Gallerova discovered that she was more successful as a critic when talking about scenography on Radio Free Europe rather than writing about it for the printed page.

 

A theatre researcher, Nikolai Pesochinski went so far as to gather empirical evidence by surveying of 16 reviews of Russian director Lev Dodin’s St. Petersburg production of King Lear. Pescochinski discovered that the reviews diverged widely in their descriptions of the scenographic elements of this production. “How are we to develop out interpretation of the visual aspects of the show?” Pesochinski asked, rhetorically. “Should critics impose our own subjective concepts of the design? Or should we offer a more objective composition of what was seen on stage? If the act of watching is not impersonal, can we get ride of personal readings?”

 

“Even more problematic is the theoretical discourse,” Irmer offered. “While the debates in the visual arts seem open to nearly everything from pop culture to film theory, it oddly excludes the discussion of design in theatre. Art magazines rarely devote themselves to the work of stage designers. Theatre seems to be a ghetto for the artists that he or she is only allowed to leave on rare occasions.”

 

However, the Czech writer Vlasta Gallerova warns that one cannot write about scenography separately from the world of a performance. “We have to think about theatre as a whole in all its complexity,” she says. “Our duty as critics is to give out the full information and to offer readers some navigation about which way to go. We have to let them know about the visuality of the production, but you cannot talk about scenography without also talking about how it informs and supports the actors, the directors and the dramaturge. We need to write about everything together—scenography’s very close connection with everything that is done on stage.”

 

Irmer, who has specialized in writing about scenography as an independent critical discourse, stated that while there are training programs for writers and university courses on critics, he has never heard about writing workshops that deal exclusively about scenography.

 

“This is a problem,” sums up Nikolai Pesochinski. “We need special workshops not just about how we write about scenography but also about how we read or interpret the live performance.”

If you come to the talk below, you will likely get a free copy of “American Theatre” magazine, which is published by Theatre Communications Group. 

Prezentace skupiny THEATRE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP

(Presentation of The THEATRE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP  (U.S.A.)

“CAPTURING AMERICAN SCENOGRAPHY”

Prague Quadriennale
SATURDAY
23.6.2007 16:30 - 18: 00
Prednaskovy sal /
Lecture Hall

Let’s talk about the state of the American theatre.
Every month, stage designers are front and center in
“American Theatre” magazine, the leading U.S. theatre
magazine published monthly by Theatre Communications
Group.

From news features and special theme issues to the
monthly features (such as “Production Notebook”),
“American Theatre” has been in the cutting edge of
exploring and covering the aesthetic of scenic,
costume, sound and lighting designs, as well as new
trends in playwriting, acting and directing. How does
“American Theatre” decide on what productions to
feature in its pages? What are the challenges of
capturing scenography with a truly national scope?

SPEAKER: Randy Gener is the senior editor of American
Theatre magazine, a monthly publication from Theatre
Communications Group based in New York City.

This talk is made possible by the financial support of
the Ford Foundation through the Institute of
International Education.

PQ, for me, has been akin to a fringe festival. Less than a week into the event, Sodja told me that I might have to create a flyer for my talks. Apparently no one came to one talk at the Lecture Hall, and so they decided to cancel it.

Naturally, this sent me in a tail spin. I spent Sunday creating flyers for both these talks and made sure I papered the entire Industrial Palace. I bought extra paper so that everyday I could replenish the stands, the tables, the walls, the chairs, the PQ cafe. I was like a maniac. I felt like I was in the Edinburgh Festival. After one lecture by someone else, there I was manning the door and handing out flyers to whoever wanted one. And I spent time in front of a computer emailing people who I knew or met here at the Czech Republic.

 There is a Greek designer here whose name is Nikos. He is really a master of public relations. His photocopied face is everywhere at the Scenofest, which is the Central Hall of PQ at the Industrial Palace. He is incredible. I have to learn a lot of lesson from him.

Announcement:

The 19th of June there will be a presentation of the project “Lighthouse of Babel”.
This is a project from a group of young lighting designers from around the world.
Together we are making a universal beacon of light for the Tower of Babel.
The content of the project is about cultural differences in the perceptian of light and the influence of Fine Art Masterpainters from different countries.

STILL SEARCHING FOR PARTICIPANTS!!!

To all light designers present at the Scenofest,

Tuesday the 19th we are presenting a lighting design for the tower of babel and we are still searching for more participants!!!
Are you a lighting designer and interested in joining a group of lighting designers from different countries and cultures?
Than please call us: 0031630661998. We are starting today, the 16th, and you can still join up the conversations and brainstorming proces now.
The project is called: “Lighthouse of Babel” and located in the Tower on the ground flour.

We are going to work with a model of the tower and the LightBox (1:24 scale theatre) and will present the design the 19th in te centre of the tower.
But we are also going to light the Big Tower itself, on the 18th in the evening.
So if you would like to participate, feel free to call: 0031630661998 !!

Greetings Yvon Muller.
(Scenographer and Light Designer from the Netherlands)

I woke up nice and early to get breakfast in our hotel… which like most hotel breakfast’s was a range of very good healthy food and very bad unhealthy things that i should avoid… so of course i went for the latter.

I then went straight back to bed because the effects of the traveling were still playing on my health.

At about 13:00 I went into the city to pick up some transit tickets, phonecards, phone and some software for my powermac (i forgot that my powermac didn’t have the version of garageband with the dedicated podcast editor… idiot)

I arrived at the Industrial Palace at around 6pm where i registered and met up with some of the scenofest team. I have to say the guys have been working really hard and i felt a bit guilty swaggering in after a fairly easy day of essential shopping. The first face i recognised on site was Peter Farley who was contagiously enthusiastic about his Reaching for the Heavens workshops and performance, if you are participating in this you really are in for a treat. Peter took me over to the Scenofest Teams office behind the Scenofest stage where i finally met scenofest web master and technical manager Chris Van Goethem and Head of Sound Steve Brown Chris was jumping from pc to scenofest stage throughout the day and i can’t say i envy him his job! Steve pointed out some of the key areas of scenofest and we had a short discussion about our coverage of the audio events, sound is very well represented with the Laptop Connections Performance, the Sound Effects Garden, the Babel Bell and numerous sound workshops to name but a few.

Anyhow i’ve had a few emails and requests from people about the price of things in Prague and transit tickets, so I’ll tell you what i can.

Transport first:

Trams and Metro are the best way to get around the city and are very frequent, tickets can be bought for the following price and time limits:

24 hours 80,- Kč

3 Days 220,- Kč

1 Week 280,- Kč

15 Days 320,- Kč

Just pop into any metro station or news kiosk, alternatively if you are in a hotel ask the receptionist.

more details at the pq website

Weather :

Hot Warm 24 is the highest so far, dropping to 17 at night. Today was mostly cloudly. Definately bring summer clothing and deoderant. The Palace can be very warm.

Phones :

most of the scenofest publishing team seem to be opting for vodaphone, as suggested by nikos and michelle (thanks guys)

you can get a sim card for 200 Kč, which come with 200 Kč credit, if like me you are from the UK and have an Orange phone there is a good chance you won’t be able to switch to CZ Vodaphone, the cheapest phone I’ve seen was 1,129 (but don’t forget to buy a sim card too)

Shopping :

Stuff in Prague can be either very cheap or very expensive… as a rule of thumb it seems that the expensive stuff is imported. So for example the software i mentioned earlier costs me about £59… in the UK it would have cost £55, similarly bottled water from France is the same as it might be in the UK, but water produced in the Czech Republic is much cheaper. In one supermarket a 500ml of Vittel water was 25Kč wheras the 500ml of CZ water was only 7,5Kč

Prices are also high in the tourist areas… so buy water and stuff before you get there, i saw a 33cl bottle of evian for 120Kč at an ice cream stall at the old town square.

So basically avoid buying stuff in prime tourist areas and look for local produce/goods if you want the bargains

Currency Exchange :

The rates are quite good over here for pounds and euros… however most places will charge commision, so its probably better better to exchange at home

Food :

I’ve only eaten in our hotel… and it’s not cheap… a meal for two cost us 820Kč (£21/€31) however it was very nice. The same meal in the UK would be far too expensive for me to even consider!

Generally speaking if you are eating out whether it (cafes or restraunts) i’m told £15/€22 per person a day is average.

Alchohol/Tobacco

Sorry Nikos i don’t smoke so i can’t say!

Drink… sadly i’m unable to drink for health reasons… curse this evil world! but generally beer/lager is very cheap, again the local stuff is cheaper, bottled is more expensive

if your not working in Pounds or Euros try this online currency calculator

Photo = Sound Effects Garden machine read for installation outside the Palace