Scenography as New Ideology in Contemporary Curating and the Notion of Staging in Exhibitions

Contents

Abstract

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) - Scenography as a Site of Cultural Mediation
5.3 Case Study 3 : Leonardos Last Supper: A Vision by Peter Greenaway (2008, 2010) - Scenography as Interference and Discourse

Conclusion

Appendix - Image Sources

Bibliography

Credits

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 paper 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.

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 fiirst principle of effective experience staging' ⁴, they later clarified that this is 'prevalent in almost any industry [...][and] 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 more fundamental transformation in the exhibitionary ideology is on call, a prominent artistic phenomenon is emerging on the other side of the world w0068ich 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. 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 Space¹⁴ (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) 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 paper aims to exploit a new land of discussion: to examine how scenography informs an ideological shift in contemporary curating, and 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 paper 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" ' 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?': 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] [... ] 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 the resulting fixation also manifested on a practical level, that [s]pace was treated as the dead, the fixed, the undialectical, the i mmobile. 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 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.

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-scene 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 thro ugh a series of 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

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 Alfred 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, 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 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 questions⁵²

While among all, scenographer Boris Kudlicka'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.

Section 3 Scenography in Exhibition Context : The Intersection, Mergence and Reformation

After the test-bed-period, there came some significantly progressive moments when scenography and exhibition scenes created an official intersection. In Expo 2000 held in Hanover, according to Den Oudsten, the term and notion of Scenographie (scenography) was for the first time officially applied to international exhibition context by the president of its thematic area Dr. Martin Roth ⁵⁵. After Expo.02, exhibition makers started to call themselves Szenograf (scenographers), and later in 2006, 'not only exhibition makers, but also architect, graphic designers, curators and consultants [...] started to add the title of Szenograf to their business cards.' ⁵⁶ As Den Oudsten noted, '[t]he label of scenography apparently has a certain attraction' ⁵⁷ since it proved itself of its competence.

The two expositions, in fact, acted as touchstones of scenography's potentiality in exhibition context. Themenpark was a highlight in Expo 2000 that illustrated an outline framework of how scenography worked in an exhibition. It transformed the 100,000-square-metres site into a conceptual exhibitionary stage, a seamless scenic space for encounters, while metaphors played a crucial of role in it. The exhibition became a field of experience and, according Expo 2000, it installed '72 egg- shaped, self-controlled robotic beings, networked together' ⁵⁸ as a metaphor of knowledge, moving through the room for random interactions with visitors. Since scenographers were designated to work within the Expo's structure, their approaches had added physicality and sensibility in exhibition-making. As urban anthropology schloar Dr. Alexa Färber cited, they intended to make the exhibits 'to be experienced without further explanation' ⁵⁹, evoking wonder, emphasizing 'experimental reflexivity' ⁶⁰, 'generat[ing] a diversity of meaning among visitors' ⁶¹ instead of 'didactic exhibition strategies' ⁶². Whereas, in Expo.02 held in Switzerland, it further opened up the possibilities of scenography in exhibition context. In its four Arteplages built around the lake region, moving image projections were juxtaposing architectures and speculative structures, while choreography of people, multiple views and accesses were explored. As notable scenographer Professor Uwe R. Brückner highlighted, architectures and structures became an integral part of communication as a whole in 'dramatic-narrative space' ⁶³ by posing a scenario for visitors 'to make experienceable what is not exhibitable' ⁶⁴. Yet, it could be debatable for these scenographic exhibitions to create speculative formats of experiences. In situationist theorist Guy Debord's sense, they could be accused of their artificial approaches that led to a 'pseudo-world' ⁶⁵. However, in both cases, scenography unprecedentedly proved its diverse potentials and enormous capacity to stage a topic's content with unique critical voices.

These manifestations had well set up a foundation for discussions later on about scenography and content curation. Since then, the narrative potential of scenography in exhibitions became a central focus of concerns. Wider awareness was built when International Scenographers' Festival (IN3) ⁶⁶ was founded in 2006 by Professors Brückner, Andreas Wenger and Heinz Wagner. In its 2010's symposium entitled 'Exhibit! Scenography in Exhibition Design', the discussion even furthered the focus on the topic of 'modern scenography, exhibition and staging in and around museum' ⁶⁷, in which Professor Brückner prompted the professionals to think about the future of curating scenographic exhibitions:

[between] white cube or black box [...], around the curating or staging of contents [...][is] there [a third way of] contemporary design launched [...] beyond these two extremes? [...] Which role does scenography lay here? And what influence does it have on international museum architecture and exhibition design? ⁶⁸

Such questions were mind-opening, yet, to answer them, one should not see it as a compromise in the implements between traditional exhibitions and theatres. Rather, it should be seen as an exploitation of a new artistic form of exhibiting in terms of its mutated spatial methodologies.

In fact, prior to asking those open questions, Brückner had already provided his suggested solutions few years before this meeting. Trained as both architect and stage designer, Brückner was one of the core pioneers to forge a transdisciplinary scenographic movement in exhibition context. He founded the exhibition-making firm Atelier Brückner in 1997, where he re-modeled a famous design credo and formulated a new philosophical motto: 'form follows content' ⁶⁹. As this point of departure, they made conscious attempts to create a series of scenographic exhibitions in the past decade by ''[t]ranslating contents [...], allowing atmospheres to develop, evoking spatial images that arise from theatrical concepts.' ⁷⁰ Their efforts represented a new breed of exhibition-making, and most of all, they made it noteworthy for the whole exhibitionary culture to realize that a convergence of scenography and curating had been developed.

By entering the new paradigm of scenographic exhibitions, it did not simply imply that it was something eclectic or quick and easy, but rather, it raised the level of new challenges in contemporary curating. As curator Hans Peter Schwarz identified the current situation and critical questions in his essay 'Forward: Routes to a New Scenography' in 2011,

[o]n the one hand, how may or should a complex super medium like an exhibition be charged with meaning in a sensible way? On the other: how may or should we produce a sophisticated translation of a complex content into a multimedia form that is expressive? ⁷¹

The inquiry here has become a question of how. As in scholar Kirshenblatt-Gimblett's words, '[e]xhibitions are fundamentally theatrical' ⁷², therefore, it could be more than sensible for scenographic exhibition- making to borrow the ideological strategies from theatres, and translate them into the use of curating the contemporary. This assumption leads to an intersection of ideological exchange. As theatre critic Susan Bennett asserted in Theatre and Museums,

both theatre and museums require an infrastructure supported by a diverse range of technical and intellectual skills, acts of interpretation and mediation, and, eventually, an audience. ⁷³

In this sense, a set of new exhibitionary language should be explored, because, as scenographers Dorita Hannah and Sven Mehzoud pinpointed, such development now 'offers an alternative role to the traditional curator/exhibition designer: [...] a new form of curatorship.' ⁷⁴ Therefore, the expanding notion of curating in scenographic realm further means: a total reconfiguration in contemporary curating is much needed.

Section 4 Scenography and Curating the Contemporary

4.1 Scenographer as Author : Redefining Curatorial Strategies

In the scenographic paradigm of exhibition-making, a role in between curator and scenographer in the expanding field is under discussion. While on the one hand, traditionally speaking, scenographers are considered to be artists, and thus when the discussion is talking about the expanding role of the curator, it means that it 'should be considered in terms of potential overlaps, complements and conflicts with the role of the artist [...] [where] it becomes the evolution of a hybrid practice' ⁷⁵, as in curator Darryl Bank's words. On the other hand, from scenographers' point of view, scenographers are expanding their own role to incorporate curating practices. Apparently, this is not a new debate between the topics of artist-curators and curator-artists. Yet, here emerges a platform to mediate the two roles. As curator Hans Peter Schwarz asserted, [t]his dilemma forms the axis that connects the curator and the scenographer and there is only one position on that axis that will enhance both views: right in the centre [...] [in which] the full bandwidth of potential authorship opens up. ⁷⁶

At this point, it is important to clarify that it does not necessarily mean the physical role of a curator would totally diminish on the operational level. However, most crucially, the central discussion is pinpointing to the notion of authorship.

Since in terms of collaboration with scenographers, the physical role of a curator could be analogized with a director in theatres. While in fact, a curator is experiencing a similar changing status because 'the director is no longer a specialist in every area, "a man of the theatre"' ⁷⁷, as theatre critic Christine White asserted. Simultaneously, as theatre theorist Brejzek argued, a scenographer emerges 'not as the spatial organizer of scripted narratives but as the author of constructed situations and as an agent of interaction and communication' ⁷⁸.

The whole situation implies a handover in the power of authorship from traditional curators' hands to scenographers'. At this point of departure, the possibilities of exhibition-making are radically opened up, with added spatial dimensions. Scenographers would see museums and exhibition spaces as alternative theatrical stages and take a holistic approach in the curation. Such changes lead to some further questions: what does it mean by the notion of curatorial in the new paradigm? What is the possible equivalence of a curatorial concept? As compared to the traditional text-based-connoisseurship in curating, scenographers would instead curate with an emphasis on spatial translations and theatricality of an curatorial idea. As scenographic scholar Laura Gröndahal put it, [h]ere the scenographic strategy is based on expressing a verbal idea by spatial and visual means; by turning conceptual content into a perceivable form, which should then be recognized and interpreted by the spectator. ⁷⁹

In order words, wall texts and labels would no longer be the only medium to communicate contents, but instead, spatial metaphors are used to speak for ideas through the acts of staging.

In terms of interpretation, scenography in exhibition context is borrowing contemporary theatre's strategies in epistemology. As Gröndahal asserted, the aim is not to provide 'a fixed interpretation of a given text and transmit this interpretation to audiences but to open up a never- ending process of questions, statements, and utterances.' ⁸⁰. The exhibitions will no longer be broadcasting messages with limited readings and understandings, but rather, multiple perceptions would be facilitated. As Brejzek assserted in Expanding Scenography. On the Authoring of Space, '[s]cenography practice as an expanded field of presence [...][its intention is to provide] a unique [...] critical voice from within our society.' ⁸¹ The interpretive apparatus of the scenographers becomes imagery- oriented, not on a textual basis.

While traditional curators usually come from a scholarly background, scenographers are artistic spatial-communicators. It might be cynical for Brückner to make a judgement that '[traditional] curators often have no idea what it means to give a spatial structure to the subject matter.' ⁸² because they 'suffer from an educational deficit' ⁸³ in a sense. Yet, Brückner was just being conscious about the situation, since there are some reasons behind it. What traditional curators lack is a skill of 'giv[ing] form to, or translat[ing], the [curatorial concept] themes in such a way that [...][it comes] up with an exciting staging' ⁸⁴. Contrastingly, scenographers would have a full range of scenographic tools and, as in Brückner's words, 'scenographic masterstroke' ⁸⁵ to tackle a curatorial brief. Scenographers could have huge capabilities to rewrite the meaning of the exhibits and of a space and place. In this respect, the shift in authorship towards scenographers further informs that a series of more complex tasks are involved.

4.2 Architectural Structure : Embodiment of Ideas

Prior to further discussing various scenographic strategies and tools in exhibition-making, there is a very important premise to be recognized in the first place. As in Howard's words, '[u]nderstanding scenography starts with understanding the potential of the empty [...] space' ⁸⁶, while scenographer Kathleen Irwin also resonated with this idea and asserted that scenographers are professionals capable of 'recogniz[ing] the intrinsic aesthetic value of a location' ⁸⁷. In this sense, to scenographers, as authors in staged exhibitions, the notion of exhibition space is not a container of concept ideas but rather an embodiment of them. They created a site of complex narrative where contents would be inscribed all over the constructed space. The architecture and structure as a whole framework, thus, has gone beyond a mere surface design and becomes an important apparatus to synthesize all elements in the scenographic exhibitions. This could be considered to be a breakthrough from conventional notion of curating. As curator Dr. Vince Dziekan asserted, the spatial translation of the curatorial philosophy are addressed through the form of the exhibition. Aligned with these conceptual concerns are higher-level dialectical objectives expressed through the act of exposition, such as design strategies pertaining to context, exhibition design and scenographic effect. ⁸⁸

The noteworthy point here is about the close relationship between curatorial concept and architectural embodiment. Dziekan had acknowledged that 'the guiding curatorial trope [...][now involves] spatial practice into an itinerary.' ⁸⁹ As art and visual perception theorist Rudolf Arnheim explained it more vividly, that 'since all architectural experience is by its nature symbolic' ⁹⁰, it becomes possible for scenographers to apply architectural technique to 'create a spatial metaphor of a relativistic worldview.' ⁹¹

In order words, spatial thinking now plays an important role in the process of curating. Compared to conventional curators' linguistic thinking, spatial paradigm takes the narrative potential much further. Thereby, the decision-making in curating is no longer confined to the given architecture or the given space's original identity, since scenography has the capacity to recontextualize the space. As Dziekan put it forward, the potential narrative

is negotiated by interfacing between the formal properties of the artefact or architectural conditions of [...][exhibition] space and the set of spatiotemporal relations occurring within museological space. ⁹²

Thus, an architectural and structural framework will no longer merely be the shell for an exhibition, but a part of a spatial speech in its own right. It is no longer a background for exhibits, but a fundamental stage for the exhibits to perform their messages. By seeing the exhibition space as a stage in a theatrical sense, a scenographic structure would further be seen as a site of happenings for visitors to think through. The head of scenography of Norwegian Theatre Academy, Serge Von Arx, had pinpointed that, '[s]cenography is an ephemeral momentum within time and space, [while the] architecture [acts] as an occasion.' ⁹³ The objective is to provoke an inherent dialogue within the space through scenography. In Gröndahal's words, the whole planning is for the purpose of '[t]hinking of and with space' ⁹⁴ and 'us[ing] spatial experiences as cognitive metaphors' ⁹⁵. Theatre designer Eamon D'Arcy had also argued that this is a deliberate effort for scenographers to go beyond traditional understanding of what a space should function. Thus, they could further create 'a new type of space, where a different spatial logic might unfold, and be articulated critically.' ⁹⁶

From a scenographic point of view, the notion of conventional spatial logic within an exhibition space would be questioned, reexamined and transformed. Traditionally speaking, there was an awareness of space syntax in conventional exhibitionary culture. As professors Bill Hillier and Kali Tzortzi asserted, the emphasis on combining 'architectural intent' ⁹⁷ and 'curatorial intent' ⁹⁸ was based on a belief that seeing the 'link[age] between space syntax and the architectural and narrative potential' ⁹⁹. However, traditional space syntax professional' discussions are still confined to the reconfiguration on the space's layout level, which is limited two-dimensional concerns. Contrastingly, for scenographers, they would take the spatial logic further, by re-imagining what exhibition spaces could be, in a three-dimensional way, where time could be an added dimension as well. In this sense, the scenographic spatial strategies could be more inclined to the notion of spatial intervention, where interior architecture could be utilized, or even more radical approaches could be conducted to combine the use of new media. In theatre theorist Arnold Aronson's words, they would see architecture as 'an expressive - that is to say, theatrical - vocabulary' ¹⁰⁰. To curate scenographic exhibitions implies that the narrative thread would perform through time and space as in theatrical stages, and thus, it leads to a task of tackling a question that Aronson had raised: 'How are transitions made from one scene to the next?' ¹⁰¹. By giving solutions to such inquiry of creating scenic transitions, it would further add values to the exhibition spaces, since it provides a framework to embed various theatrical qualities in what could be called: the exhibitionary stages of experiences.

4.3 Field of Experience : Transformative Process

While the notion of staging becomes the core, a scenographic exhibition is no longer a place for pursing didactic knowledge but a field for experiencing intellectual exchange and sensual dialogues. To trackback for a comparison, in conventional object-oriented exhibitions, where artefacts were considered to be the only source of knowledge, the showcases were the dominating devices used to present exhibits while an over-arching theme was applied to link them together. As a result, these conventional experiences usually became no more than a kind of label-hunting-activities and treasure-hunting-tours. While in contrast, scenographic exhibitions will explore a new paradigm that goes beyond the objects-as-focus practices, and aims to transcend the boundaries between artefacts, structures, meaning-making, subjective engagements and speculative viewings in totality. Since Svoboda, the father of contemporary scenography, pioneered to take a 'holistic approach to design in contemporary theatre' ¹⁰², his influential legacy had now been transmitted from theatre context into exhibition context. Scenographic exhibition models as an expanded field of Svoboda's ideology, the new curating acts are, thus, to emphasize the creation of a holistic experience.

Such notion of emphasizing experience over objects, in fact, is based on a different assumption in the role of objects and artefacts. As cultural critic Riya De Los Reyes had clarified that '[m]eaning is created and assigned through attribution, not contained within the object or idea.' ¹⁰³ While Professor Eberhard Schlag, partner of Atelier Bückner, also argued, an object is only the beginning of the research, the ultimate 'goal is to make the object speak' ¹⁰⁴. Scenographers would abandon a making that produce a mere 'accumulation of set pieces' ¹⁰⁵ but pursue an integratively designed unit serving to translate the content.' ¹⁰⁶ While on the other hand, the scenographic production could incorporate speculative media installations to create a field of immersive experience. However, that is not the main purpose for it to remain merely entertainments. Whatever the media is in use, it should be contributing to the curatorial idea. Together with the other elements being staged, meanings would come through those juxtaposed signs awaiting for encounters.

Such scenographic exhibitionary field would value the notion of transformative experience rather than transmission of messages. Visitors will be staged to take on an active role in the interpretations, and as Gröndahal asserted, '[r]eception also becomes creative [...], since it is always being renewed in each encounter' ¹⁰⁷. In a sense, as architect David Dernie argued, 'spectators [...][are also] part of the spectacle' ¹⁰⁸, since their responses and behaviors are taken into account of the curating process. This is a strategy to encourage subjective discoveries, where the assumption is based on a fundamental difference between fixed knowledge and the knowing in action. As pragmatism philosopher John Dewey argued in a lecture entitled 'The Quest for Certainty. A Study of the Relation of Knowledge and Action' that knowledge is not something fixed but more discursive and could be experienced through actions. He strongly argued that 'the object of knowledge is eventual' ¹⁰⁹ rather than 'something in sufficient existence before the act of knowing. ¹¹⁰ With this understanding, it is both a challenge and a mission for scenographers to make use of objects and collections to tell a new story. In other words, the task is not to merely present them but to re-present them in a way that objects will be treated as materials performing a narrative to engage visitors. Dewey's assertion actually shares a common ground with the assumptions in theatre-making, and it is a complement for Gröndahal to put forward that, 'contents are not carried by a solid text, but emerge in a continuous process and collective discourse.' ¹¹¹ At this point, it brings out the most noteworthy and essential quality of scenography that provokes transformative experiences, and that is the significance in the process undertaking.

As theatre theorist Aronson articulated, the scenographic field is a connotation of an all-encompassing visual-spatial construct as well as the process of change and transformation that is an inherent part of the physical vocabulary of the stage. ¹¹²

To clarify, when it is talking about the notion of process, it does not necessarily mean that all elements in the exhibition space would involve kinetic movements, but rather, it is more associated to the process and change in perceptions. If any physical movements or interactions are ever involved, they are for the purpose of switching the perceptions of the visitors. In other words, scenographic exhibitions aim not to inform, but to transform, through staging experiences in various ways. This implies that the scenographic framework is not about providing pre-packaged messages, but about staging an intellectual scenario, where possibilities of a subject matter would be brought to the fore. As in anthropologist Corinne A. Kratz's sense, such situations resonate to what she called the 'total exhibition experience' ¹¹³, in which:

[j]uxtapositions, contrasts, unspoken assumptions, and spatiotemporal flows - aspects of exhibitions that defy modular analysis - are also part of exhibition communication and the ways visitors engage them. ¹¹⁴

Scenographic exhibitions could then be considered to be, in Gröndahal's words, a site of 'dialogic negotiation' ¹¹⁵, where visitors would experience a renewed point of view.

4.4 Layered Narrative : Multiple Viewpoints

Scenography as an expanded field in curating, how scenographers see what narrative is about underlies a fundamental difference from the conventional linear approaches. In the scenographic paradigm, an open structure of narrative is facilitated. Scenographers would exploit narrative potentials beyond what words could do. Museology scholars Dr. Suzanne MacLeod, Laura Hourston Hanks and Jonathan A. Hale had pointed out the major difference of scenographic approaches compared to conventional ones:

[a]s opposed to spoken or text-based narratives [...]- the work here tends to reverse the terms of the literary metaphor and to consider the [...][exhibition spaces] as a form of narrative in space. ¹¹⁶

Instead of entirely relying an overarching theme to frame an exhibition, the new paradigm would rather emphasize on developing the 'overarching performativity' ¹¹⁷ to guide an exhibition, as curators Dorita Hannah and Sven Mehzoud called it. Narrative is no longer only embedded in text written by traditional curators, but it exists in other dimensions. While the assumption of narrative communication is radically shifted, the authenticity of objects is also being questioned. Theatre theorist Aronson had highlighted that the practice is now shifting towards 'the transaction [processes] between the spectator and the object' ¹¹⁸, where narrative emerges. An exhibition space is not a place presenting objects with encoded stories, but instead, it is a stage providing multiple accesses to a subject matter - this is what narrative is about in scenographic realm, which is the new core concept that scenography is informing contemporary curating.

[...]

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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

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

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.

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)

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

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]

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)

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

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

³⁷ Gordana Fontana-Giusti, Foucault for Architects, (Oxon: Routledge, 2013), p.i

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]

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

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]

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]

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

⁵³ Marketa Horesovska, '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

⁵⁵ Frank Den Oudsten, Space. Time. Narrative: The Exhibition as Post-Spectacular Stage, (Farnham: Ashgate, 2011), p.13, 69

⁵⁶ ibid., p.13, 69

⁵⁷ ibid., p.13

⁵⁸ Expo2000, 'Knowledge, Information, Communication - Swarming with Robots', Expo2000, (2000), http://www.expo2000.de/expo2000/englisch/themenpark/frame wissen e.html [accessed 07/08/13]

⁵⁹ Alexa Färber, 'Exposing Expo: Exhibition Entrepreneurship and Experimental Reflexivity in Late Modernity' in Sharon Macdonald and Paul Basu, Exhibition Experiments, (Oxon: Blackwell Publishing, 2007), p.227

⁶⁰ ibid., p.225

⁶¹ ibid., p.233

⁶² ibid., p.228

⁶³ Uwe R. Brückner, Form Follows Content - Scenography or the Choreographed Space' in Luca Basso Peressut and others (ed.), Places & Themes of Interiors. Contemporary Research Worldwide, (Milan: Franco Angeli, 2008), p.81

⁶⁴ Uwe R. Brückner, Form Follows Content - Scenography or the Choreographed Space' in Luca Basso Peressut and others (ed.), Places & Themes of Interiors. Contemporary Research Worldwide, (Milan: Franco Angeli, 2008), p.82

⁶⁵ Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle, trans. by Donald Nicholson-Smith, (New York: Zone Books, 1995), p.12

⁶⁶ Corporate Scenography, 'Websites of the Previous Festivals', Corporate Scenography, (2013), http://www.in3.ch/en/2012/all-festivals/ [accessed 16/08/13]

⁶⁷ Itunes, 'EXHIBIT! - Scenography in Exhibition Design, Apple TV', Itunes, (2011), https://itunes.apple.com/gb/itunes-u/exhibitl-scenography-in-exhibiton/id417401723 [accessed 15/06/13]

⁶⁸ Itunes, 'EXHIBIT! - Scenography in Exhibition Design, Apple TV', Itunes, (2011), https://itunes.apple.com/gb/itunes-u/exhibitl-scenography-in-exhibiton/id417401723 [accessed 15/06/13]

⁶⁹ Artelier Brückner, 'Philosophy', Artelier Brückner, (2013), http://www.atelier-brueckner.com/ en.html [accessed11/07/13]

⁷⁰ ibid.

⁷¹ Hans Peter Schwarz, 'Forward: Routes to a New Scenography' in Frank Den Oudsten, Space. Time. Narrative: The Exhibition as Post-Spectacular Stage, (Farnham: Ashgate, 2011), p.25

⁷² Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Destination Culture: Tourism, Museums, and Heritage, (London: University of California Press, 1998), p.3

⁷³ Susan Bennett, Theatre & Museums, (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), p.4

⁷⁴ Dorita Hannah and Sven Mehzoud, 'Presentation/ Representation/ Re-presentation: Fragments out of the Dark to a Lived Experience' in Thea Brejzek (ed.), Expanding Scenography: On the Authoring of Space, (Prague: The Arts and Theatre Institute, 2011), p.104

⁷⁵ Darryl Bank, 'Artist-Curator', Curators in Context, (2008), http://curatorsincontext.wikispaces.com/Artist-Curator [accessed 26/06/13]

⁷⁶ Hans Peter Schwarz, 'Forward: Routes to a New Scenography' in Frank Den Oudsten, Space. Time. Narrative: The Exhibition as Post-Spectacular Stage, (Farnham: Ashgate, 2011), p.25

⁷⁷ Christine White, 'The Changing Scenographic Aesthetic', Scenography International, Issue 1, April (2008), http://www.iar.unicamp.br/lab/luz/ld/C%EAnica/Artigos/The%20Changing %20Scenographic%20Aesthetic.pdf [accessed 11/07/13]

⁷⁸ Thea Brejzek, 'From Social Network to Urban Intervention: On the Scenographies of Flash Bobs and Urban Swarms', International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, Vol.6, No.1, (2010), p.112

⁷⁹ Laura Gröndahl, 'Scenographic Strategies and Communication', DREX, (2012), http://t7.uta.fi/drex/DREX/11 TextsAndPublicationsEn files/1 Grondahl.pdf> [accessed 06/07/13]

⁸⁰ Laura Gröndahl, 'Redefining Scenographic Strategies', Inter-disciplinary.net, (2012), http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/critical-issues/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/lauraperpaper.pdf [accessed 06/07/13]

⁸¹ Thea Brejzek, Expanding Scenography. On the Authoring of Space, (Prague: The Arts and Theatre Institute, 2011), p.9

⁸² Frank Den Oudsten, Space. Time. Narrative: The Exhibition as Post-Spectacular Stage, (Farnham: Ashgate, 2011), p.361

⁸³ ibid., p.361

⁸⁴ ibid., p.361

⁸⁵ ibid., p.362

⁸⁶ Pamela Howard, What is Scenography?, (London: Routledge, 2009), p.xxiv

⁸⁷ Kathleen Irwin, 'The Ambit of Performativity: How Site Makes Meaning in Site-Specific Performance' in Dorita Hannah and Olav Harl0f (eds.), Performance Design, (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 2008), p.55

⁸⁸ Vince Dziekan, Virtuality and the Art of Exhibition: Curatorial Design for the Multimedial Museum, (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2012), p.145

⁸⁹ ibid., p.145

⁹⁰ Rudolf Arnheim, The Dynamics of Architectural Form, (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2009), p.169

⁹¹ ibid., p.169

⁹² Vince Dziekan, Virtuality and the Art of Exhibition: Curatorial Design for the Multimedial Museum, (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2012), p.145

⁹³ Serge Von Arx, 'The Inextricable Network of Interrelationships', Norwegian Theatre Academy, (2013), http://www.hiof.no/eng/english/faculties/norwegian-theatre-academy/the-academy/ artistic-leadership-and-staff/scenography-statement& PHPSESSID=v4b4d310gku4815esqmkasm3s4 [accessed 19/07/13]

⁹⁴ Laura Gröndahl, 'Redefining Scenographic Strategies', Inter-Disciplinary.Net, (2012), http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/critical-issues/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/lauraperpaper.pdf [accessed 19/07/13]

⁹⁵ ibid.

⁹⁶ Eamon D'Arcy, 'Scenography from the Inside', Academia.edu, (2013), http://www.academia.edu/2760603/Scenography from the Inside [accessed 19/07/13]

⁹⁷ Bill Hillier and Kali Tzortzi, 'Space Syntax: The Language of Museum Space' in Sharon Macdonald (ed.), A Companion to Museum Studies, (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2011), p.282

⁹⁸ ibid., p.282

⁹⁹ ibid., p.293

¹⁰⁰ Arnold Aronson, 'The Art of Transition: David Rockwell and the Theater' in Arnold Aronson, Looking into the Abyss" Essays on Scenography, (Michigan: The University of Michigan Press, 2005), p.195

¹⁰¹ Arnold Aronson, 'The Art of Transition: David Rockwell and the Theater' in Arnold Aronson, Looking into the Abyss" Essays on Scenography, (Michigan: The University of Michigan Press, 2005), p.188

¹⁰² Theatre Design, 'Scenographic Philosophy', Theatre Design, (2010), http://theatredesigner.wordpress.com/articles/theatre-design-scenography/scenographic- philosophy/ [accessed 21/07/13]

¹⁰³ Riya De Los Reyes, 'Essay - "Iterability Makes Possible Idealization', Curating Lab, (2013), http://curating-lab.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/essay-iterability-makes- possible.html#.UdsYYFPXE6U [accessed 08/07/13]

¹⁰⁴ Coins Weekly, 'Scenography and Numismatics: Interview with Scenographer Prof Eberhard Schlag', Coins Weekly, (2011), www.coinsweekly.com/en/Archive/8?&id=768&type=n [accessed 11/07/13]

¹⁰⁵ ibid.

¹⁰⁶ ibid.

¹⁰⁷ Laura Gröndahl, 'Scenographic Strategies and Communication', DREX, (2012), http://t7.uta.fi/drex/DREX/11 TextsAndPublicationsEn files/1 Grondahl.pdf [accessed 06/07/13]

¹⁰⁸ David Dernie, 'Exhibition Design: The Memory Economy' in Luca Basso Peressut and others (ed.), Places & Themes of Interiors. Contemporary Research Worldwide, (Milan: Franco Angeli, 2008), p.24

¹⁰⁹ John Dewey, A Quest for Certainty: A Study of the Relation of Knowledge and Action, (Whitefish: Kessinger Publishing, 2005), p.171

¹¹⁰ ibid., p.171

¹¹¹ Laura Gröndahl, 'Scenographic Strategies and Communication', DREX, (2012), http://t7.uta.fi/drex/DREX/11 TextsAndPublicationsEn files/1 Grondahl.pdf [accessed 06/07/13]

¹¹² Arnold Aronson, 'The Art of Transition: David Rockwell and the Theater' in Arnold Aronson, Looking into the Abyss" Essays on Scenography, (Michigan: The University of Michigan Press, 2005), p.7

¹¹³ Corinne A. Kratz, 'Rhetorics of Value: Constituting Worth and Meaning through Cultural Display', VisualAnthropology Review, Vol.27, Number 1, Spring (2011), p.25

¹¹⁴ Corinne A. Kratz, 'Rhetorics of Value: Constituting Worth and Meaning through Cultural Display', Visual Anthropology Review, Vol.27, Number 1, Spring (2011), p.29

¹¹⁵ Laura Gröndahl, 'Scenographic Strategies and Communication', DREX, (2012), http://t7.uta.fi/drex/DREX/11 TextsAndPublicationsEn files/1 Grondahl.pdf [accessed 06/07/13]

¹¹⁶ Suzanne MacLeod, Laura Hourston Hanks and Jonathan A. Hale, Museum Making: Narratives, Architectures, Exhibitions, (London: Routledge, 2012), p.112

¹¹⁷ Dorita Hannah and Sven Mehzoud, 'Presentation/ Representation/ Re-presentation: Fragments out of the Dark to a Lived Experience' in Thea Brejzek (ed.), Expanding Scenography: On the Authoring of Space, (Prague: The Arts and Theatre Institute, 2011), p.103

¹¹⁸ Arnold Aronson, 'Postmodern Design' in Jane Collins and Andrew Nisbet (eds.), Theatre and Performance Design: a Reader in Scenography, (New York: Routledge, 2010), p.146