SCALED SCENOGRAPHY: RAPID STAGE-MOCKUP CREATION
The following text is a reference of one of The Future School’s initiatives and participation of The Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space 2023. At PQ.cz – Result driven workshops.
by Francisco Martínez – The Future School 2023
What is Scaled Scenography?
The scale is a technical parameter to make the dimensions of a design project manageable by the designer during the creation process, and assimilable to advance criteria for implementation. It is also the homologation of the forms of a certain presentation or event to contexts of greater or lesser spatial or social scale.
How creation can be Rapid?
The rapid design concept has been traditionally used for machine-aided prototyping. However, the goal is to make the co-creation process agile and expedite the design decision-making between designers and performing artists. This process should focus on actions instead of relying on machinery, and prioritize social and methodical aids in the design stage before producing any prototype. This stage, known as iterations or study models, is essential to approximate possible form and spatial solutions by reproducing elemental features. It allows the production team to suggest and preview improvements and variations to an initial concept, adapting it to their needs quicker.
To achieve this, it will be necessary to know and practice the traditional techniques in order to adapt to what works better for each designer and specific industry. The abstract drafting, flat views, or drawing of the perspective will set the starting point for any further spatial mockup and also be an inviting method for every enthusiast. The understanding of certain concepts as isometric and the effective scaled drawings will let anyone ready to handcraft a simple set of silouhettes and plan intersections that can be lit and digitally enhanced to approximate the exploring spatial concepts of each creation.
The creation aspects and results
Over the known challenges of fabrication, handcrafting and elaboration, there is the poetic act of communication, which can have many layers and possible meanings. This is an aspect that we will explore by studying a variety of artists that explore the concept of Scaled Scenography over their diverse formats of visual or spatial art. During the experimental sessions we all will handcraft from elemental to more detail spatial concepts, and enhance their presentation with digital post-production.
(images) results samples – workshop – at the 1° Encuentro de las Artes y las Culturas, Bélgica Castro Sierra, Cultura-UMCE, Santiago de Chile. January 2023.
ABOUT THE PRAGUE QUADRENNIAL – PQ23
“The Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space was established in 1967 to bring the best of design for performance, scenography, and theatre architecture to the front line of cultural activities to be experienced by professional and emerging artists as well as the general public.” – quoted from pq.cz
“The theme of the 15th edition of PQ in 2023 is RARE; in the sense of unique and raw realities that artists create. PQ 2023 will present art springing out of ideas, materials, artistic approaches, and design practices that connect to the human level from within your environment, with its genius loci and unique situation. In the current state of precarity, uncertainty, and epochal change, we call on performance designers, scenographers, and performance practitioners to use their RARE imagination and creativity to help us envision what the world and theatre could look like in the post-pandemic future. Find out more about the artistic concept here.” – quoted pq.cz
