Who produces scenography history?

20.08.2018

Day 4. Monday at work. So, who produces scenography history or histories these days? Quick answer: Internationally acclaimed academics and academic practitioners working in a Western context but striving to be global. Yes. This we see in for example: Scenography expanded (2017) and The Routledge Companion to Scenography (2017). Excellent volumes, but what is produced in scenographic environments in 'peripheral' (from the perspective of Western and European centralism) areas such as the Nordic region? Not much. Indeed, here very few academics write about scenography, and very few practicing scenographers write about their work. In terms of this, (and quite obviously so because I was invited to write the book's preface) I would like to mention Time here becomes space: Scenography (2018, there is also a Swedish edition). Written and created by Swedish scenographer Lars-Åke Thessman this book is a practitioner's highly qualified multimodal testemony. Contributors: Sören Tranberg, Astrid von Rosen, Eva Sundler Malmnäs, David Radok, Torkel Blomkvist. More here: https://www.artandtheory.org/?isbn=9789188031624#. I think the book really opens up for critical discussions on the historiography, practice and theorization of scenography in our digital, material, affective, political, unfair and utterly complex age. Read and get back to me!