Open Call for Fragments II: The Magic of Scale
This Open Call is now closed. Thank you to everyone who submitted.
Triga Creative is seeking professional performance designers and theatre artists working in Canada to submit scale models or miniatures for Fragments II: The Magic of Scale, a special exhibition that will take place at the Prague Quadrennial, 8–18 June 2023. As the curatorial team for the Canadian professional exhibition, produced in partnership with the Associated Designers of Canada, Triga is particularly interested in artists whose work engages with place, a specific site, environment or genius loci - the distinctive spirit of a place.
“Models, maquettes, mock-ups, thumbnails – any three-dimensional miniature representations of reality are fascinating. They provoke our imagination, stir up our fantasies, and invite us to contemplate different fictitious worlds. As children, we play with dolls, toy cars, houses, and railways, as adults, we admire models of cities in museums. There is something special about the possibility to explore an object from all sides, to get closer to it and appreciate it in its intricate detail as well as in its relation to other objects. Stepping into the world of a miniature or engaging with it provides a new relationship with reality. Scale becomes crucial here as it is the magic of scale that allows us to see relationships among bodies and objects from a different perspective.
In scenography and performance design, the practical purpose of scale models is to facilitate communication between members of the creative team. Models are tools that enable us to convey ideas in a collaborative process and test design choices in scale that is manageable in terms of physical labor and expense. Scale can be used dramaturgically here, as it helps to suggest the relationships between characters, create an emotional impact on the audience, and radically dictate the way a performer navigates the given space. Conventionally, models and maquettes are seen as a part of a bigger whole of a performance. Once the show is over, they represent the material traces of it, evoking its memory. However, removed from the original context of the performance, scaled models can become work of art in themselves, taking on their own life beyond their service to performance design.
Fragments II calls for entries of three-dimensional scale models of sets, costumes, lighting, projections, make up design, wig design, prop design and any other components of performance design, whether realized or unrealized in performance within the last 8 years. We want to celebrate exceptional craftsmanship and exhibit scale models which transcend their original practical purpose and become themselves works of art. We are interested in the after-life of models in the wider sense of the word. “ – Klára Zieglerová, Fragments II Curator
PQ’s Artistic Concept: RARE
“For PQ 2023, we would like to invite you to share the RARE: 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.
This is a unique moment to use our art, imagination, creativity, and ability to create environments that others may come to enjoy in the future – at PQ 2023 and beyond. Since we have all been deprived of meeting in the same physical space for quite some time, let’s turn PQ 2023 into the RARE opportunity to move from virtual spaces into specific places offering an in-person experience, in which physicality and materiality of scenography become central: where your senses and predicaments will be taken into account.” - Markéta Fantová, PQ Artistic Director
If you are interested in submitting work for Fragments II: The Magic of Scale please submit a short statement of interest to Triga Creative. Please include visual documentation of your scale object including project details, overall dimensions and whether it will require modifications prior to travel and exhibition. Please credit the work of your collaborators if applicable.
Submissions can be made to hello@trigacreative.com with the subject line: Statement of Interest - PQ Fragments II.
Submission Deadline: May 1, 2022
Thank you!
Shannon Lea Doyle, Alexandra Lord, and Michelle Tracey
Triga Creative