2015 Costume Design Group Meeting Minutes

Prague, 18th June 2015

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The Business Meeting of the Costume Design Group in Prague during PQ 2015 was chaired by Lise Klitten, Head of the OISTAT Costume Design Group, with the active contribution of CDG working team: Simona Rybáková, Sofia Pantouvaki and Rosane Muniz. The program put emphasis on informing new and current attendees about CDG's activities as well those linked with the CDG. The meeting also focused on CDG working structure, operations and communication systems for the future, and the election of the CDG new Head.
 

1.WELCOME
Lise Klitten, CDG Head, welcomed all attendees, wished them a successful meeting.



2. INFO ABOUT CDG DINNER
Simona Rybáková (Czech OISTAT member) informed us about a CDG dinner which would take place after the business meeting in the Restaurant Století Karolíny Světlé 320/21 (www.stoleti.cz). She highlighted that sharing a meal together is an important way for new and established members to informally share ideas about the business meeting, as well as to get to know one another. A list of everyone interested in joining the dinner was created.



3.BRIEF OF CDG FOR NEW MEMBERS 
Sofia Pantouvaki presented the OISTAT official website and provided the new members with instructions on how to orientate themselves in the CDG section and to navigate the source materials. She also briefly informed everyone about the type of projects, activities and events of the group.


4.THE LAST MEETINGS
- São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2014
Rosane Muniz presented a brief about the Performance Design, Education and Research Commissions Meetings, held during the E-SCAPES Conference at São Paulo (SP), curated by herself with Aby Cohen, and organized with the three Commission chairs, Reija Hirvikoski, Ian Evans, and Dorita Hannah. This meeting was followed by the Costume Design Group program in the city of Rio de Janeiro (RJ), a trip focusing on costume design organized by Rosane Muniz. One hundred and thirty OISTAT members were present in SP and 29 CDG members went to RJ. The Minutes from the meeting in Brazil can be read on OISTAT's website.

- Helsinki, March 2015
Simona Rybáková presented a brief about a CDG Meeting held at Aalto University at the occasion of Critical Costume 2015 conference and exhibition. This meeting served as a platform for discussions and the exchange of information about CDG and its activities; members also discussed and prepared the program for the Business Meeting in Prague. This gathering also helped participants to connect to different networks and acquire new contacts. Fifteen members were present. The Minutes from the meeting in Finland can be read at OISTAT's website.
 
Simona Rybáková also informed members about the small celebration dinner of the 20th Anniversary of CDG. The OISTAT Costume designers organized a working group in Las Vegas in 1995 (Las Vegas 20th-23rd March, 1995 / Helsinki 21st March, 2015). Together with one of the founding members of CDG, Maija Pekkanen, Simona Rybáková and Sofia Pantouvaki commemorated the date. Documents recording the founding of Costume Design Group were shared with the CDG group by Maija Pekkanen and will be published on the CDG web pages.


Maija Pekkanen with 20 tulips
 
- Critical Costume conference and exhibition 2015
Sofia Pantouvaki presented a report about the international conference and exhibition of costume design entitled “Critical Costume 2015” held at the School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Aalto University, from the 25th to the 27th March 2015 in Helsinki, Finland. The event was curated by Sofia Pantouvaki and organized by the Costume in Focus Research Group. It was a jointly academic and artistic event, as a celebration of new costume practice and concepts, and also a forum for discussion and exchange of ideas. More than 200 proposals for presentations were received; 93 were presented, from 25 countries and 30 nationalities. The exhibition included 38 exhibitors of costume art and costume-based artistic research. The exhibition catalogue can be found and downloaded for free in PDF format at https://www.academia.edu/12085943/Critical_Costume_2015_New_Costume_Practices_and_Performances.


5.FREQUENT  ROTATING  EVENTS
A section of the CDG Business Meeting in Prague was dedicated to a series of events related to OISTAT as well as to costume in general which rotate in regular time frames.  The CDG and its members are frequent active in these events.

- Prague Quadrennial
Prague Quadrennial (PQ) is organised every four years in Prague by the Ministry of Culture in the Czech Republic and The Theatre Institute.

Simona Rybáková informed members about PQ'15 costume activities. She affirmed PQ always focuses on costume from a different perspective and it will always be a platform for CDG projects and meetings. This year, the main costume project was named TRIBES, and received an impressive response by the international community of costume designers and performance artists.  A rich photo documentation and commentary can be found on PQ'15 website:
- http://www.pq.cz/en/program/tribes
- http://www.pq.cz/galerie

As an additional activity for CDG members and costume related participants of PQ15, Simona Rybáková arranged a special tour to the Czech costume store for film productions “Barrandov Studio a.s.” (Kříženeckého nám.322, 152 00 Praha 5 / fax +420251815598 / fundus@barrandov.cz / www.fundus.barrandov.CZ). An international group had the opportunity to see one of the biggest costume stores in central Europe, with many original garments as well as vintage costumes from movies, such as  Amadeus, Avalon, Narnia etc.

- World Costume Festival

Rolando de Leon informed members about World Costume Festival 2013, which was held in Vigan, Philippines; the event was attended by a small number of CDG members who also acted as jury members. There is a possibility that this event could occur every three years. A power point presentation about this past event is in process for publication on the OISTAT website (CDG).

There is an invitation for a CDG meeting in the Philippines on the 21st-25th November, 2016, but it is not still confirmed and the program has not been announced in detail yet.

- World Stage Design
World Stage Design is an OISTAT exhibition combined with a programme of events, organised by OISTAT every four years in various world- wide locations, selected after a call for proposals.

Sofia Pantouvaki presented the CDG program during the previous event, World Stage Design 2013, held in Cardiff in September 2013. A special costume program, entitled "Costume in Action", was co-curated by Donatella Barbieri and Sofia Pantouvaki and included many paper presentations, discussions, workshops and lectures. CDG contributed to this programme with a Pecha kucha evening which included seven presentations by CDG members under the theme “Shakespeare at the Sewing Machine”.

CDG also organised a day trip to the Fashion Museum of Bath; this event was attended by a great number of participants. This day also included a session of lectures.
Two CDG members got the first and second prize of WSD2013: Simona Rybákova (1st) and Marja Uusitalo (2nd), on the left.


Costume Design Group arriving in Cardiff after the trip to Bath

The next World Stage Design will happen in Taipei, Taiwan, from the 1st to the 9th July, 2017.

- Critical Costume
Critical Costume is a costume event that usually includes an academic conference and an exhibition and takes place every two years in various locations.

Sofia Pantouvaki briefly referred to the last edition which was held in Helsinki in March 2015 and was presented earlier at the business meeting. CDG members can join this congress and also contribute to the exhibition by responding to the call for presentations.  Information can be reached directly through the mailing list of Critical Costume, which CDG members can join by writing directly to the founding members.

The next edition of Critical Costume will be in 2017; the location is not yet confirmed.


6.ONGOING PROJECTS
- Costume at the Turn of the Century
Laura Crow, USA regional curator, presented a brief about the exhibition, “Costume at the Turn of the Century: 1990-2015” held at the A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum in Moscow, Russia on the 15th June 2015 – 23rd August 2015. (Due to its success, the exhibition was later extended until September 10th, 2015.) Laura Crow gave a brief about the first official opening in Moscow (June15th, 2015) and invited all members to join the second opening, held on June 29th, 2015.  Igor Roussanoff, chief curator of the exhibition, presented some practical information for CDG members who were going to travel to Moscow after PQ. He also announced that he would show a picture presentation of this exhibition in Prague during PQ'15 on  June 20th on the OISTAT celebration day in Náprstek museum, June 23rd  at the Glam-Gallas Palace  and  June 24th at the Colloredo-Mansfeld  Palace .

This presentation and info about the exhibition will be published on the CDG web.

CDG members were regional curators for the costume entries from their countries.

Laura Crow also presented the parallel CDG program that would take place in Moscow after the second official opening of the exhibition, to include a backstage tour at the Bolshoi; visits to exhibitions of Russian Symbolists Painters, the Tretyakov Gallery Art Museum, and more events. She also provided information about the trip to St. Petersburg (to include visits at the Hermitage Museum, Costume Collection; Peter the Great’s Summer Palace, etc.), that would be held after the Moscow exhibition and excursion.

- Costume Methodologies - Building Methodological Tools for Research in the Field of Costume Design
Sofia Pantouvaki presented the research project for costume design which she directs; the project is based at Aalto University in Finland, with a four year duration from September 2014 to August 2018. The project is about artistic research in costume design, building the foundations for future research in costume design, establishing tools and methods for researching costume, and training artist-researchers.

CDG is a partner and can take a more active role in the future during the regular meetings, with workshops, presentations, talks and discussions, giving a feedback to colleagues, artists, researchers, and students, or leading short courses and workshops. An example is the workshop “Digital Character Design” supervised by Simona Rybáková at Aalto University in Helsinki, in March 2015.


7.GUIDELINES FOR CDG MEETINGS
Rosane Muniz briefly presented some guidelines to help next meetings' organizers find support for CDG members. She also presented guidelines to create more diversified programing. One example is to propose that universities and educational institutions partner with the CDG and invite CDG members as lecturers or workshop facilitators which could become part of a CDG event. A document will be made by CDG team and will be available in the OISTAT website for consulting.


8.FUTURE MEETINGS
At the moment there are several invitations for the future meetings:
- USITT is inviting Performance Design Commission and its groups (Costume Design, Space Design, Lighting Design and Sound Design) for their annual conference from 16th - 18th March 2016 at Salt Lake City, USA.
- Rolando de Leon is inviting CDG to Dapitan city in Philippines from 21th - 25th November 2016.
- WSD 2017 will be held in Taiwan. Additional program for CDG is being planned.
- No invitation for 2018 yet.
- A meeting will be held in Prague in 2019 during PQ19.


9.WEBSITE DOCUMENTATION (ARCHIVES)
There was not much time to discuss this topic in detail on the bigger CDG forum during the CDG business meeting. Therefore, a later separate discussion took place between Simona Rybáková (who was elected the new Head at the meeting) and Margaret Mitchell, who offered to help revising the website and improving the visuals and the communication with CDG members. She suggested to start with:

Assessing the website and determining three things:
- what needs to be updated;
- what needs to be added;
- whether or not CDG needs to rearrange the structure or just add buttons to existing structure.

She will:
- propose revisions for the website for CDG new team. Discussions and amending will happen by email or voting at the next meeting;
- find out from OISTAT the process of adding content;
- review the website and ask for revisions twice a year.

She also advised that she will be happy to edit content from non native English speaking contributors.


10.WEB GALLERY - NEW CALL
Lise Klitten talked about the CDG Web Gallery, which CDG would like to extend.

Note: Instructions for sending your work to be uploaded on the website are in the current Newsletter.


11.WORDS FROM THE FORMER HEAD
Lise Klitten thanked the whole group for the wonderful cooperation and she expressed her wish to continue contributing to the group as an active member. Former Head and later Vice-Head of CDG Laura Crow thanked Lise for her service, friendship and effort on behalf of the whole group. Lise then asked Wan Jung Wei from OISTAT Headquarters to open the election of the new Head.

Before the election the candidate for new head Simona Rybáková presented her future ideas and team, all of which was published in her statement on the OISTAT web site in advance:
What I see as vital for the development of the Costume Design Group activities are:
- Well organized meetings in which reflects the place; particularities and needs of the hosting country. With interesting and beneficial meetings to as many participants as possible;
- Supporting CDG activities: connecting universities, conferences and symposiums which focus in the history and research of costume, but also on costume design in its contemporary form.
This could bring financial resources encouraging more participants to join. Today we already have a few of our colleagues who are making such a link;
- Permanently updated website


For an effective functioning of the group I intend to see a clear organizational structure:
-Head leadership: organizes meeting (together with vice positions), prepare and leads meetings and all the communication to and from the group;
-Vice head of projects: head ́s deputy in the head's absence. Special focus on projects;
-Vice head of research: head ́s deputy in the head's absence. Special focus on research;
-Secretary: takes the minutes of the meetings;
-Web manager: cooperates with everyone to constantly update the web content;
-Project leaders: for each new project.

 
12.ELECTION OF THE NEW HEAD
The election was opened and Simona Rybáková as the sole candidate was elected unanimously.

Based on the call sent in March to all CDG members asking about their interest to cooperate with the new head in any role, Lise Klitten received some positive responses by e-mail.

- Rosane Muniz (Brazil) expressed her interest to work as Vice head of projects;
- Sofia Pantouvaki (Greece/Finland) expressed her interested to work as Vice head of research;
- Virginia Vogel (USA) offered to take the role of Secretary;
- Lise Klitten (Denmark) offered to be Project leader for Public Relations.
- Tina Matulessi (Belgium) offered to coordinate a costume conservation project.

As a working group has more flexible rules in relation to the Commissions status, we have no need for formal elections for these positions. As of the election held in 18th June, during PQ15, the CDG will work for the next four years in the following structure:

Simona Rybáková        Head of CDG;
Rosane Muniz             Vice head of projects (head ́s deputy in the head's absence);
Sofia Pantouvaki         Vice head of research (head ́s deputy in the head's absence);
Margaret Mitchell         Web adviser: edits content from non native English speaking contributors;
Lise Klitten                 Project leader for PR;
Virginia Vogel             Secretary: takes the minutes of the meetings.


Sofia Pantouvaki, Lise Klitten, Margaret Mitchell, Simona Rybáková, Rosane Muniz and Gini Vogel

Tina Matulessi's proposal will be studied with the new team and discussed in the next CDG meeting.

Laura Crow raised a question about the absence of a previous vice head for Asia in the CDG. Simona Rybáková replied that she will work with the two vice heads not based on their geographic origins but on their focus such as projects and research. An exception will be made in the case of Kazue Hatano who, thanks to her strong connections to Asia and her long-term experience in CDG, will hopefully help as an adviser.

 
13.  20th CDG ANNIVERSARY & HONORARY MEMBERS
The new Head, Simona Rybáková, announced that CDG will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the group on the OISTAT Day, 20th June 2015. For that occasion, the two Vice Heads and she, with essential help from Šimon Caban in editing, prepared a short film called "People, Places, Activities" and a presentation about the 20-year history of this extraordinary group. Everyone was invited to come and enjoy the Celebration day. This presentation is also in the process of being published on the CDG web.

After discussion during the meeting in Brazil 2014 about the honorary members, the CDG group realized that several members are still active and in the group since the very first meeting, during the USITT Las Vegas conference, in 1995. These members are:

Maija Pekkanen       Finland
Kazue Hatano         Japan
Laura Crow             USA
Virginia Vogel          USA
Alexandra Bonds     USA


Laura Crow, Gini Vogel, Sandy Bonds, Kazue Hatano and Maija Pekkanen

After the adjournment of the the business meeting these ladies were called by the new and former heads and the new vice heads to the stage in Náprstkovo museum, during the OISTAT Celebration Day and they received some small gifts and their framed group photo.

 
Costume Design Group during the OISTAT Celebration Day

Meeting adjourned at 6pm.
Minutes written by Simona Rybáková, Sofia Pantouvaki and Rosane Muniz
Revised by Margaret Mitchell