SCENOFEST was established in 1994 as an international Festival of Scenography with Pamela Howard as the director, which was held annually in London, Utrecht and Prague from 1994 – 2001. In 1999, the former General Secretary of OISTAT, Chris Lievaart, organized a workshop for students and professionals to accompany the PQ and its exhibits. In 2003, under the Chairmanship of Michael Ramsaur, the Education Commission decided that its work should be to adopt projects that would have a positive and visible outcome, and thus took up those ideas and organized the OISTAT Scenofest at PQ. The Scenofest in 2007 has grown enormously in scale to include not only the central hall in Vystaviste but also three other venues within Prague:The Alfred Deved- vore Theatre, the NoD and the Eko Museum, whilst also planning a programme of street theatre performances and installation in the very centre of Prague. Over the 10 days of PQ’07 hundreds of lecturers, workshops, perfor- mances, tours, critiques and conversations have taken place, with a central focus on the Tower of Babel and a thematic exhibition on the classic play “The Birds” by Aristophanes. The Scenofest 07 has welcomed thousands of students, young professionals’ participation, as well as senior recognized designers, educators and technicians to have spoken and led workshops. This is a very special gift indeed from one generation to the next.
The OISTAT Scenofest 2003 has had a prestigious programme of seminars held by international guest speakers and a thematic exhibition on “King Lear” aimed at challenging theatre design students to present new concepts for this universal play. Every day, there were demonstrations from schools who presented Design as Performance, a fast growing aspect of scenography
where the design students were also the performers. The SCENOFEST Stage also served as sound laboratory and light laboratory for many presentations and workshops focused on Lighting and Sound design.
Scenofest 2007
The OISTAT Scenofest 2007 organized by OISTAT Education Committee in cooperation with the Prague Quadrennial was held from June 14-24 at the Central Hall of Výstaviště, (Industrial Palace) in Prague. There were a record-breaking of 23,000 visitors from 79 countries visiting PQ’07 and more than 80 workshops, 100 performances and presentations, 10 lectures and 24 PQ tours which made-up the fabric of Scenofest.
- Scenofest 2007 Photo Gallery
- Reflection from Scenofest Project Leader Sean Crowley (UK)
Scenofest 2011
In 2011, Scenofest was held at Prague Academy of the Performing Arts as well as specific sites in the centre of Prague. It included workshops for over 1,500 students in scenography, lighting, digital media, projections, sound design, costumes, puppetry, technical theatre, and many other disciplines.
