The Salon of Czech Scenography is a showcase and a platform for shared reflection on scenography in its broadest sense and various contexts, traditionally organised by the Czech Organisation of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians (ČOSDAT). It is a performative, multi-genre event and a report from the world of scenography, as well as an opportunity for dialogue on the forms and contexts of contemporary art.

In 2024, the Salon will take place in four different venues, with four different concepts and in collaboration with several partner organisations.

A Time for Shadows: The Salon of Czech Scenography in Olomouc

4 – 6 September 2024, Olomouc

Organized by ČOSDAT together with the Department of Theatre and Film Studies of the Faculty of Arts of UP – Centre for Performativity Research, PerformCzech and the Praktik Exhibition space

The Olomouc Salon consists of a three-day meeting, the preparation of a scenographic zine and a series of smaller exhibitions and discussions. Following the form of the last Salon, i.e. the RELATIONS FUNDUS UTOPIA project, the aim of the Olomouc part of the Salon of Czech Scenography is to address scenography as process work. Instead of focusing on what scenography itself is and what it looks like in the Czech Republic, we shift our interest to what scenography “does”, how it can activate or even manipulate public space, and what its agency is in the case of an exhibition situation.

To support the emphasis on process, dialogue, education and (self-)reflection in relation to contemporary scenography and those who create and reciprocate it, an essential component of the Olomouc part of the Salon of Czech Scenography is the self-education workshop and the general emphasis on creating a calm space and sharing skills among creators. Therefore, the intention of each interconnected event is to reflect on what contemporary scenography looks like, how it is created, who creates it and how we can talk about it.

The aim of the Olomouc presentation of contemporary scenography is also to create conditions for a longer-term rethinking of the hierarchical geographical dimension of theatre culture in the Czech Republic through the exhibition and live events (discussion, lecture). Olomouc, however, should not become a mere “exotic” façade, but a temporary and porous centre of Czech scenography. We therefore see this year’s Salon of Czech Scenography in Olomouc as a “pre-show” or “preparation” for a longer-term visibility of this discipline, which has a great tradition in the Czech Republic thanks to the activities of individual departments at DAMU and JAMU and a show like PQ, but which needs to look at this heritage critically and reassess it.

The concept was developed by Amálie Bulandrová, curator and co-director of the Fine Arts I at UMPRUM, Prague and Martin Bernátek, theatre scholar and head of the Performance Section of the Department of Theatre and Film Studies at UP.