Contemporary Scenography 1

Display Schedule

Subject guarantor

Jan ŠTĚPÁNEK

Name of lecturer(s)

Barbora Diego RIVERA PŘÍHODOVÁ

Department

The subject provides Department of Stage Design

Contents

Classes take place 8. 10., 15. 10., 22. 10. 29. 10., 19. 11., 26. 11. 2026 online always from 18.00 to 19.30

Course Decription

This course focuses on selected developments and topics in scenography of the last 50 years. We will examine practices, styles, and artistic and ideological principles of theater makers in Europe and beyond who have used performance space and design in new, unconventional ways to con-test the aesthetic, and sometimes political, norms of their communities. An important source will be Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space in its transformations. Through discus-sions of visual and audiovisual materials, we will explore the work of artists, such as Robert Wilson, Heiner Goebbels and Klaus Grünberg, and Tanja Beer. We will also explore ‘theoretical’ concepts and topics, including ‘scenography’ itself, visual dramaturgy, ecoscenography, and cos-tume agency. Students are invited to bring their own examples of 'memorable' use of scenogra-phy to enrich our class discussion.

Syllabus Outline:

(subject to change)

1.Oct 9

Introduction to the course; Contemporary (Expanded) Scenography and Performance De-sign; ‘memorable’ scenography

2.Oct 16

Visual Dramaturgy and Postdramatic Theatre; early experiments of Robert Wilson

Oct 23 Class doesn’t meet

3.Oct 30

Post-anthropocentric approaches and scenographic installation; Heiner Goebbels’s colla-borations

4.Nov 6

Intersections of performance design and visual arts: Antony Gormley’s collaborations

5.Nov 13

Sustainability in Performance Design and Ecoscenography: Tanja Beer and others

6.Nov 20

Costume as the Protagonist

Learning outcomes

As a result of this course, you will be able to

• Discuss major developments in scenography over the past 50 years

• Identify some of the key personalities, themes, and concepts of recent and contemporary per-formance design in Europe, the U.S., and beyond

• Discuss artistic works using basic critical language from theater and performance design, and scenography studies in English

• Demonstrate critical thinking and cultural sensitivity when approaching different scenographic practices

Prerequisites and other requirements

None.

Literature

Aronson, Arnold (ed.): The Routledge Companion to Scenography. Routledge, 2020.

Barbieri, Donatella. Costume in Performance: Materiality, Culture, and the Body. Bloomsbury, 2017.

Tanja Beer. Ecoscenography: An Introduction for Ecological Design for Performance. Londýn: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022.

Hann, Rachel: Beyond Scenography. Routledge, 2019.

Hannah, Dorita and Harsløf Olav: Performance Design. Museum Tusculanum Press, 2008.

McKinney, Joslin and Phillip Butterworth: The Cambridge Introduction to Scenography. Cam-bridge University Press, 2015.

McKinney, Joslin and Scott Palmer: Scenography Expanded: An Introduction to Contemporary Performance Design. Methuen/Bloomsbury, 2017.

Wiens, Birgit E. Contemporary Scenography: Practices in German Theatre, Arts and Design. Me-thuen/Bloomsbury, 2019.

PQ Catalogues and on-line PQ Archive.

Additional materials will be shared in class.

Evaluation methods and criteria

Participation in 4 lectures out of 6 is a condition for the credit.

Further information

Course may be repeated

This course is an elective for all students of this school

Schedule for winter semester 2026/2027:

Schedule for summer semester 2026/2027:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

The subject is a part of the following study plans

• Stage Design (B.A.) (Required elective subjects)
• Scenography - Theatrical Scenography in EN (M.A.) (Elective subjects)
• Scenography - Theatre Scenography (M.A.) (Required elective subjects)
• Scenography - Film Scenography (M.A.) (Elective subjects)
• Scenography - Costume and Mask (M.A.) (Elective subjects)