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HKU Theater
Master Scenography
HKU Theater
Master Scenography
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Course leader
Graduates
Hilda Moucharrafieh
Henny Dörr
YiLing Hung
Anja Podreka
Iro Karra
Maria Vera Alvarez
Course coordinator
Dalia Khalifé
Rita Hoogland
Katarína Máliková
Anna
MASTER SCENOGRAPHY A FRESHMAN AND A GRADUATE OF THE MASTER SCENOGRAPHY TELL THEIR STORY. WHAT ARE THE EXPECTATIONS FOR THE UPCOMING YEARS? ARE THERE DREAMS OF HOPE AND GLORY? AND HOW DOES ONE LOOK BACK AT TIME SPENT AT HKU? WISTFUL OR JUST RELIEVED?
Sam Bachy BEFORE In 2014 Sam Bachy received his bachelor degree in Fine Arts. After teaching English on the French island of Réunion for a year, Sam decided he wanted to apply for his master. From fine art to scenography? How does that work? ‘During my bachelor course I was working on the development of installations. I was particularly interested in immersive spaces. When I collaborated with someone who was experimenting with theatrical space, in Finland last year, I was starting to get very excited about scenography.’
What would you like to learn during this course? ‘I don’t want to specialize in one particular skill. But what I would like to learn is how I can implement performance or narratives in my work. Works are not just static objects. How does one activate the viewer or visitor? I would like to learn how scenography can contribute in this way.’ Do you have any dreams regarding the future? ‘Oh man, it’s too early to really say anything about that. But I’m already experiencing that I’m getting to know the professional field. Professionals aren’t just giving us a lecture, we are working together with them. I hope I can continue to work together with people like that, after I received my degree!’
GREAT ADVISE
‘ Use the tools you learned to apply during your education. And never forget that tunnel vision can be great, if you really want to go for something!’ Alexandra Dragne Alexandra Dragne AFTER In 2014 the Master of Scenography course moved from Groningen to Utrecht. Alexandra, adventurous as she is, tagged along without a shred of doubt.’ How did you experience this transition? ‘I’m very positively minded by nature, so that’s how I saw the transition basically. Of course I had to adapt after such a change, but the central location of Utrecht made that I saw it as a great advantage. The larger Dutch cities are very close, as well as other art schools. Because of it, I developed a broader scope of the professional field.’
How do you look back at your time at HKU? ‘It was an incredible dynamic time. Because I was relatively new to the field of theatre – I studied interior design previously – I met a lot of interesting people. I worked together on several projects, and I did stuff I would never have done if I didn’t follow this particular course. To be honest, only when I got my master’s degree, only then I realized to the full extend what I’d really experienced.’
HKU Theater
Master Scenography
HKU Theater
Yiling Hung
YILING HUNG YiLing Hung
23-02-1986 | iro_karra@yahoo.gr | irokarra.wordpress.com Nationality: Greek
Previous • Athens Conservatory Drama School; • Theatrical Studies at The National & Kapodistrian University of Athens. My dissertation in the faculty of theatre studies was a research about the theatrical life of the island of Syros from 1910 to 1940.
KHÔRA
Master Thesis CIRCUMSTANTIALISM RESEARCH DOCUMENT (35min film) Introduction: I am writing as the observer. It narrates the artistic research and, at the same time, it is part of it. Being aware creates distance and so, the field of observation expands. It is a film on the act of observation, related to Circumstantialism (: meta-movement which refers to reality as a circumstantial situation). This film is invalid, or not. This film could function as a wink, as a what if. What if you watch it?
SPECIALISATION: Thanks to my background in architecture I developed a project-based perspective on my works, learning how to built up a work from a conceptual sketch phase, while using my sensibility of space and the knowledge of diverse materials. These tools have supported me to conduct research while continuously reflecting between making projects and analysing projects. AMBITION: Having completed my studies, I have started working as an independent researcher and maker. The studio is called and registered under the name Laboratelier. My vision for Laboratelier is that it is a platform for artists and designers that develop their projects within the following principles: making is seen as a labor work; art or design is dealt with as in a scientific laboratory; projects and research reflect on social, cultural, performative, philosophical, spatial or public-participating contexts. MASTER SCENOGRAPHY: The program led me into the professional field of theatre. By seeing many different forms of performances and witnessing their after-discussions, I was able to develop my own definition of ‘scenography’.
Master Thesis Artistic Research Document The research is about three elements in performative works: time, performer and space. I have developed a tool: a 2-dimensional quadrant to help me to analyse selected works. Time is on the X-axis; real time is at the one side and fictive time is at the other side. Performer is on the Y-axis; human performer is at the bottom and nonhuman performer is at the top. On each axis,
there are 4 transitions in between the two sides. The research document can be reached through: www.yilinghung.com Final Project KHÔRA Khôra means space. I give a presentation of my research in a performative way. The space is built during the presentation. The white wooden stands are representing the elements in my research. They are related to eachother in different levels. By connecting with ropes, those stands slowly form a space while I move them one after one into this empty square. The visitors are invited to walk through the space of my research with me.
Anna
Previous • Umeå school of architecture, Laboratory of Immediate Architectural Intervention, Sweden (2013-2014); • Shih-Chien University, department of architecture, Taiwan (2007-2012).
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Iro Karra
IRO KARRA
KHÔRA
14-12-1987 | joejessred@gmail.com | yilinghung.com Nationality: Taiwanese
Master Scenography
Final Project Anna Anna is a performative installation inspired by The Attempts of M. Crimp. A camera obscura construction is the frame of looking through of the performer, to interact with the spectator during the performance. The latter is invited to position himself on the 2D square opposite to the performer’s eye. An amplifier, headphones and two microphones connect the two participants and enable them to communicate in privacy. The performance questions the act of self-observation while the performer functions as the reflective surface. Anna
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HKU Theater
Master Scenography
HKU Theater
Dalia Khalifé
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Katarína Máliková
KATARÍNA MÁLIKOVÁ
07-06-1992 | dalia.khalife@gmail.com | cargocollective.com/daliakhalife cargocollective.com/nicolaibosko | Nationality: French
01-10-1986 | blond.eye@gmail.com | blondeye.com deleteresearchmodify.wordpress.com Katarína Máliková Nationality: Slovak
KAMER 017 – KANTOOR EDITION
SPECIALISATION: As a visual artist and scenographer I am focusing the performative qualities of silence, a silent space and the interaction of spectators in such a created silent environment. Our behaviour and feelings are influenced by space more than we are willing to admit. And therefore I am interested in finding a space where people would not be disturbed and could arrive to their inner journey. AMBITION: I would like to extend my research on silence towards therapeutic possibilities of created silent spaces and acoustic ecology. MASTER SCENOGRAPHY: I learnt how to develop my own project as an independent artist/ researcher. As well I found new ways of teamwork with my peers. My organization and planning skills has been improved, as we were engaged in some collaborative projects. Previous • Royal Academy of Art The Hague, Graphic design; • University of Ostrava Czech Republic, Faculty of Art, Graphic Design.
Loud Thoughts on Silence
NOW+HERE=NOWHERE
Master Thesis Final Projects My fascination for materiality, tactility, and • NDSM – BERG zooming in at the delicate point of contact What if you are given the chance to between two elements directed my interest re-experience Holland, through a radical in art and labor. I see art as an activity, an mountain? • KAMER 017 – KANTOOR EDITION articulation of forms, an endless process of creation, a labor. There is no static form. Performative mixed-media Installation and Everything is working. My research is on going other artistic forms in absurd, unexpected in my collaboration under the name Nicolai and mis- placed contexts. An attempt to fake Bosko. utopias.
NDSM - BERG
Master Scenography
DALIA KHALIFÉ
NDSM - BERG
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Projects • Synesthesia, Invisible Štiavnica, Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia, 2015; • Kubinia, work in collaboration of selected students for student PQ section Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space, Czech republic, 2015; • Curating Us, Gelderlandfabriek, Culemborg, Netherlands, 2015; • Memory plays us, Dutch Design Week, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 2014. Master Thesis Loud Thoughts on Silence In my research I am focused on the inner/ outer silent space and the interaction of spectators in such a created presence. I want to take you on a silent journey through your body, SOUND, SPACE and TIME where we unfold different forms of silence. I am interested in finding the clue for creation unconditional space where people could arrive at their inner empty space. Final Project NOW+HERE=NOWHERE From external to internal, from noise to silence to sacred. A private space for you to arrive at the inner journey. Merging of the senses with place, NOW. HERE is taken care of you to become boundless and weightless, to experience a dreamy origin of presence. You are the space. You arrive to NOWHERE.
Master Scenography
HKU Theater
Hilda Moucharrafieh
Anja Podreka
HILDA MOUCHARRAFIEH
ANJA PODREKA
22-08-1986 | hilda.moucharrafieh@gmail.com thenarrativecollective@gmail.com | thenarrativecollective.com Nationality: Lebanese
18-09-1987 | anjapodreka@yahoo.com | anjapodreka@gmail.com anjapodreka.wordpress.com Anja Podreka | Nationality: Slovenian
Final project
Master Thesis Nature vs. human It is a research of ‘walking and mapping’, modern dance, ritual and spectatorship. A document is presenting performative technics and methods to express similarities and connections between nature and human. Furthermore, it represents natural elements as protagonists and, human mind and spirit as its parallel. Through my research I’ve come to understand ‘The Geometry of life’, which is a basic of the Earths evolution and development.
The research follows a performative method which sits at the core of my artistic practice, where knowledge is revealed through actions, histories and memories of the body. To what extent there is such a thing as individual identity while social, economical and political systems of power colonise identity? The mask, in this sense, is both a metaphor and a reality.
Selected Projects Skype call with Jeanne d’Arc; Meeting Cities: Beirut – Amsterdam; Choice Without Option; I AM T/HERE NOW. Master Thesis Superheroes Wear Masks The conducted research opens discussions about subjectivities of performing the self through decontextualisation and recontextualisation of identities in subjective histories and contemporary narratives.
Final Project Aqua - hominum An interactive dance performance of water and human. Spectators are invited to participate in the water/purification ritual, to celebrate the grief and water as an element of life and as the universal matter. Aqua - Hominum
Previous Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design, American University of Science and Technology, Lebanon.
Final Project The NarrativeCollective performs My graduation exhibition consisted of six works curated with an aim to build an interactive narrative that communicates my method of working. A Manifesto Towards the End of Existentialism which is a text I wrote in chalk on the floor amidst growing weeds about my motivation and purpose of making work. Illusion: Homeland made of eight large helium balloons. Each balloon was suspending two eggs – one resting on the ground and the other floating in air. Throughout the exhibition, the balloons were slowly deflating the letters were moving further and lowering to the ground, carrying with them these fragile and interrupted forms of life.
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SPECIALISATION: As a young spatial artist I am interested and inspired by nature and its correlations with human. In my artistic research and pieces, I am trying to make people understand we are all one. As a scenographer, I am interested for ways and technics to bring people together, to create space and time for their inner and exterior senses. Multidisciplinarity is a necessity also when choosing material and tools to express my idea. AMBITION: My role as an environmental artist is not only to show natures beauty but also to help my participants to get a better understanding of themselves within understanding their connection with the Earth. My desire is to create experiences in space and time, to help communities, myself and our environment. MASTER SCENOGRAPHY: To keep my mind open for creative and inspiring ideas!
SPECIALISATION: My artistic practice and research is anchored by the wish to be in two places at the same time and a strong resistance to being fixed in one position. This duality is manifested in projects where I negotiate positions between the virtual and the physical or the historical and the contemporary AMBITION: I got accepted for a 10-month fellowship programme at Ashkal Alwan in Lebanon, which would provide me with substantial challenge on the academic and critical level to develop my practice further, in addition to generating work and collaborations relating to Lebanon and the Arab region. MASTER SCENOGRAPHY: Through the programme I got an access into the theatre and performing arts. Issues such as spectatorship, visuality, curatorship, performativity, constructed reality and subjectivity guided my discourse and investigation on issues of spatial. But most importantly I had the time to question my position as a political body in space and ways to communicate that with the other.
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Master Scenography
Nature vs.human
HKU Theater
Aqua - Hominum
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Master Scenography
HKU Theater
Maria Vera Alvarez
MARIA VERA ALVAREZ
EXPO
Make Space
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MAKE SPACE GRADUATION SHOW 2016
A Manifesto Towards the End of Existentialism
14-08-1986 | maria.vera.alvarez@gmail.com | nicolai.bosko@gmail.com cargocollective.com/mariaveraalvarez | cargocollective.com/nicolaibosko Maria Vera Alvarez | Nationality: Spanish
SPECIALISATION: “We must be free as regards all definitive intuitions if we are to follow the daring of poets (as we shall) who invite us to the finesses of experience of intimacy, to ‘escapades’ of imagination.” G. Bachelard The Poetics of Space, p.215. AMBITION: “In order to advance, I walk the treadmill of myself Cyclone inhabited by immobility. But within no more boundaries” J. Tardieu Les Temoins invisibles, p.36. MASTER SCENOGRAPHY: “After the ‘explosion of unreality’ (I am back again at my usual table/ On the cultivated earth/ The one that yields corn and flocks/I recognized the faces about me/ With their lights and shades of truth.” J. Supervielle Gravitations, pp.183-185.
NOW+HERE=NOWHERE
Anna
KAMER 017 – KANTOOR EDITION
Previous • Facultad de Bellas Artes, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; • Minor in Sculpture School for Applied Arts in La Palma, Madrid. Projects • Video works: Flat mountain, Mountain of tires, Lunch on the boat, Weathervane, Dancing with Horses, Deep Conversation, Hurry-mornings Amsterdam, City performers, Yillig & I- I &II, Alex- Mirror Tree, Never end, Silence Song, Walk Den Haag, LIGHT and PLAY series; • Love Letters are for Dinosaurs, Performance design in collaboration with Andrea Zavala still image, but the elements will, at some Folache, SNDO Amsterdam; point, perform on the scene. I am researching • Family Dinner, Intervention on the Public ways in which the spectator could be Space, Amsterdam; performer and collaborator in the work, • Burning Table, Video Work at Culemborg, as Nicolas Bourrriaud’s theory of relational final show Curating Us; aesthetics. My research is on going in my • Meet my Studio, Loods and surroundings; collaboration under the name Nicolai Bosko. Nicolai Bosko experiments: Intratuin Intervention’s video work, Kamer 017 Final Projects performance-installation, Sausages on the • NDSM – BERG making video work. What if you are given the chance to re-experience Holland, through a radical Master Thesis mountain? My work describes my fascination for the • KAMER 017 – KANTOOR EDITION image and everyday life situations. I explored Performative mixed-media installation and the creation of scenographies through other artistic forms in absurd, unexpected framing environments around me. I see them and mis- placed contexts. An attempt to as forms of moving image: the framing is a fake utopias.
Master Scenography
KAMER 017 – KANTOOR EDITION
HKU Theater
KHÔRA
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