Scenography

CALL FOR PAPERS

Re-Routing Performance / Re-caminant l'escena
IFTR/FIRT International Federation for Theatre Research
Annual Conference Barcelona 2013, SPAIN
22nd – 26th July, 2013

Inspired by the complex rhizome of fluid paths and unequal encounters that have shaped the local cultures of the Mediterranean, 2013 FIRT/IFTR wants to consider the routes of performance. The conference's theme,
"re-routing performance", seeks to provide a forum where the ideas of process, journey, and ongoing redefinition take particular precedence. The conference theme invites us to explore the journeys of theatrical forms and conventions in a variety of historical periods, geographical regions, and cultural communities. Likewise, it encourages us to consider the different paths for creative practice and audience reception. It also calls for a reflection on the changing perspectives regarding theatrical performance, even with respect to defining the very limits of our field. Thus, the routes and journeys that we seek to explore are not only geographical, historical, or sociopolitical, but also creative, intellectual, methodological, and philosophical.
We encourage you visit the conference website for further information on suggested themes and topics http://www.firt2013barcelona.org/theme/. (excerpt from the official conference website)

The Scenography Working Group (SWG) is seeking proposals that will respond to the conference theme,
Re-routing Performance, from a perspective that specifically addresses scenography in all performing arts (including dance, film, puppet and object theatre, performance art, etc.). We are particularly interested in papers and presentational material that will engage with one or more of the following foci:

- Scenographic practice: sources, stimuli, fusion, development, diversification, departure and disintegration
- Paths of transmission in practice and training: from historical and contemporary viewpoints,
in analog and digital communities
- Scenographic conventions and their development, transformation and appropriation into new realities
- Routes of Performance: Scenography on the road in theatrical presentation, touristic performance, paratheatrical events, public entertainments, and migrations or persons and peoples
- Mapping knowledges with scenographic gestures: exhibit design in museums, galleries, and salons
- Commercial and Corporate Scenographies: theatrical design at the intersections of economic exchange
These themes are intended as a guide. Proposals need not be limited to these suggested areas. Contact the conveners of the SWG for further information.
Suggested general themes from the conference website (@ 09/12/12):
Genealogies
Roots and Routes | Genealogical revisions | Comparative analysis
Genealogy vis-à-vis concept of journey
Legacies
Sanctioned legacies | Departures from the source | Transmission
Appropriations
Historical Journeys and Transformations
Development of conventions | Acting schools. Directing schools
Travel and Performance
Travelling troupes | tourist performances | Festival circuits
International touring
Performance and Commerce
Commercial routes and performance | Business and performance

ABSTRACT SUBMMISION PROCEDURE

Abstracts are to be submitted via the abstract submission page. To go directly to this page: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/memServHome?name=IFTR

Please also copy your abstract to Professor David Vivian ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) for distribution to the

conveners of the SWG. In both instances the abstracts must be received by 31 January 2013.

The process for accepting abstracts will be competitive. The conveners of the Working Group, Dr. Dominika Larionow, Dr. Valerie Kaneko-Lucas, and Prof. David Vivian will review all abstracts. A limited selection of presentations will be programmed into the Working Group meeting times. (still being determined at the time of writing this CFP). The working groups are tentatively scheduled to meet throughout the conference period, from Monday, July 22 until Friday, July 26, 2013.

The SWG offers an opportunity to present and engage with a limited number of participants who are both practitioners and theorists. Presenters and observers are welcome to participate. It is expected that observers will be registered for the conference and will be presenting in the general programme. If you wish to participate as an observer please send a brief request to Professor David Vivian ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) so that you may be added to the SWG mailing list and provided access to SWG meeting documentation. The SWG will also convene a business meeting for all members and guests during the conference period.

We invite a range of styles and formats for your presentation, from the more traditional academic writing to theorised, media-rich formats. Each panelist is given a 20 min time to present their paper, including any audiovisual or practical demonstration, plus an additional 10 min for Q&A with the audience. Please, restrict the duration of your paper presentations to 20 min.

Those selected to present at the meetings of the SWG will be asked to make their presentation or paper available to all group members before the conference. The conveners will provide a secure online environment for the distribution of the presentation material. In order to give presenters and observers sufficient time to prepare to engage at the meetings in Barcelona we request that whenever possible all material be posted before 01 July, 2013.

We will also be proposing a panel from the SWG to the main conference program. The panel will be based on the same Working Group call. If you wish to be considered for the panel rather than for presentation in the working group meetings please indicate this clearly in your abstract submission.

GENERAL ASPECTS TO CONSIDER

Abstracts may be submitted until 31st January, 2013.

The maximum length for the abstract submission is 300 words.
Please indicate the equipment requirements for your presentation.

All abstracts, as well as the live panels during the conference, MUST be presented in English or French.
Each abstract corresponds to a certain type of presentation. You will choose a category and specify in the submission which one applies to your abstract. Only one presentation is allowed per person, so you must decide where to send your submission: General Panel, New Scholars Forum or Working Groups.

• Working Groups http://www.firt2013barcelona.org/call-for-papers/working-groups-cfp/

Please note that in order to submit an abstract for consideration you must be a member of IFTR/FIRT
for the year 2013.

Membership registration, conference registration and abstract submission are handled by Cambridge University Press on behalf of IFTR/FIRT.

Participants will be informed of the status of their proposal to the SWG between February 20 and March 01, 2013. Conference registration will open in March 2013, after all abstracts have been received and accepted.

USEFUL LINKS:

- general Call for Papers:
http://www.firt2013barcelona.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/CFP_FIRT_2013_Barcelona_english.pdf

- Appel à Communications en français:
http://www.firt2013barcelona.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/CFP_FIRT_2013_Barcelona_french.pdf

- to join or renew your IFTR/FIRT membership, submit an abstract, or register for the conference: http://journals.cambridge.org/iftr

- you may find additional information about this Working Group here:
http://www.firt-iftr.org/working-groups/item/87

We look forward to seeing you in Barcelona in 2013!

Dr. Dominika Larionow This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Dr. Valerie Kaneko-Lucas This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Prof. David Vivian This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Co-Convenors of the Scenography Working Group IFTR/FIRT

This working group's research focuses upon the history, theory, aesthetics and practice of scenography through a specific program of meetings, presentations and publication. The group also aims to nurture and develop new contributions to practice-led research by providing opportunities for scenographers and designers to discuss their work and exchange ideas in an international academic forum. Our research investigates scenic elements, costume, make-up, sound design, lighting design, masks, puppets and objects, and considers their proxemic relationship to performers and audiences in traditional and non-traditional spaces. Such research considers both contemporary practice and influences of scenic practices upon subsequent theatre developments. Through theme-specific paper presentations, we aim to develop opportunities for a two-tier publishing program (web and print) and an aesthetic/theoretical/philosophical investigation that is both distinct from and inclusive of technological developments for performance.

Work Plan

Our research during the next four years will include:

• examination of regional identity construction and transmission through scenographic practice and research
• dissemination of methodologies of scenographic practice: e.g., metaphoric, poetic, political, spatial and linguistic
• exploration and development of theories and methodologies to articulate scenographic discourses in the performance event
• potential collaborations with Scenography International, the History and Theory Commission of OISTAT and the IFTR Theatre Architecture Working Group

Publications

• The publishing program includes:
• participation in the advisory board for the Scenography Reader (Routledge)
• selected papers of the yearly conference program prepared for e-distribution
• proposed volume for 2011, provisionally entitled Scenography: Staging the Nation
• We continue plans to conclude the publishing collaboration with the Theatre Institute in Prague, the University of Lodz (PL) and Brock University (CA). The edited conference proceedings of the 2007 Prague meeting are expected to be published under the title The New Space of Authenticity in 2011, in time for our planned conference collaboration with the PQ11.

Group members have recently participated in the 2007 Prague Quadrennial and IFTR/FIRT conferences in Seoul (2008), Lisbon (2009: theme The Politics of Theatre Space: Censorship and other Constraints, 12 papers), and Munich (2010: theme: Stage Spaces and Modernity, 13 papers). In July 2010 members also participated with the conference Scenography Stages the Nation (London UK: Regent's College and The Society for Theatre Research).

Convenors:

Professor David Vivian, Brock University, Canada:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Dr Dominika Larionow, University of Lodz, Poland:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Dr Valerie Kaneko Lucas, Ohio State University, USA:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

B Barcelona, 2013