NEW THEATRE INSTITUTE OF LATVIA

contemporary performing arts in Latvia and abroad

The exhibition “The Beginning” by the students of Scenography Department at the Latvian Academy of Arts which won the Gold Medal for promising Student Talent of at Prague Quadrennial of  Performance Design and Space, is currently being shown in Riga until September 30.

“The Beginning” is curated by professor emeritus Andris Freibergs who was honored at PQ 2015 event in Prague this June and awarded with the Scenography Mentor prize for “work that has inspired generations of scenographers”. The exhibition in Prague was design by Monika Pormale and produced by new Theatre Institute of Latvia.

The introduction of “The Beginning” from PQ 2015 programme:

At the Art Academy of Latvia, we call our first-year scenography studies “small tasks” even though they are a long-term investment in the students’ creative thinking. The tasks are similar to the instructions directors give to acting students, asking to enact specific situations and circumstances on stage – cold, hot, slippery. The difference here is that scenography students begin with tasks that encourage them to think within the theatre space. I expect ideas that don’t require big resources because I believe that, in poverty, the path of the imagination is wider and longer. How to visually represent the presence of the sea, how to create the sense of flying, how to build a stairway to heaven, what does the Juliet’s balcony or Hamlet’s chair look like? These exercises help students to understand the language of theatre; they make it necessary to “reinvent the wheel”. They confirm the idea that, in theatre, everything is possible. Eventually, these small tasks give students a sense of freedom because they are like letters, words and sentences you don’t have to think about once you have mastered them. Now you can focus all your attention on the “big story” called scenography.

Participants: Anna Ansone, Rūdolfs Baltiņš, Māra Broka, Reinis Dzudzilo, Liene Pavlovska, Evija Pintāne, Dace Pudāne, Līva Puļķe, Einārs Timma, Gerda Šadurska.

Exhibition opening hours:
Tuesday, Wednesady, Friday, Saturday: 11.00–18.00 (closed between 14.30–15.00)
Thursday: 11.00–19.00 9 (closed between 14.30–15.00)
Sunday, Monday: closed

Free entrance.

Address:
Aula of the Latvian Academy of Culture
Kalpaka bulvāris 13, Rīga

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