2015 » Slovakia » Student Section

The Aura of Scenography

What is the aura of scenography like? This multimedia installation by scenographer Michal Lošonský, director Teodor Kuhn and composer Lenka Novosedliková, looks for the possible answer. The spatial frame is created by master’s students from the Academy of Performing Arts.

It’s a political game, and what will be installed… is now unclear like the weather at that time. The beginning of summer.

“Aura” is the key word of my Ph.D. research. This term was previously used in the work of philosopher Walter Benjamin and in the work of theorist and architect Peter Eisenman. In my research, I define “aura” as the concept / essence / foundation of scenography.

When designing a stage, every scenographer (consciously or unconsciously) forms the answer to the questions “What is scenography” and “What is its aura like”.

Pragmatists might call it the original style of the Artist. In this short text, I will not try to persuade you or explain my theory. The only thing I want is to show you the importance of my research.

How does aura arise? Aura is present in every piece of art. It is created by its author during the creative process. It is a key to the author’s way of thinking about scenography, his way of seeing the world, his tastes, education etc. It is a sign of work’s authenticity as well as of the author’s honesty. It seems unnecessary to be dealing with aura in particular, because it either arises or not anyway. And that is true.

I started to deal with aura purely for personal reasons. I wanted to legitimize my own creative work as “scenographic”. When I design architecture, scenography, movies and various events, or while designing interiors and graphics, I apply the same individual method to my work. Let’s call it a scenographic approach to work. Then everything that I do could be called scenography. I would own a method for working “in a scenographic way” and could even start to teach it.

But instead of “producing” new scenographers, I would be only be “producing” copies of myself. Because it was not my answers, but my questions that helped me to become a scenographer.

At the Kafka House, visitors will see a comparison of auras from the past, present and future. What, actually, is scenography?