2019 Costume Design Sub-commission Meeting Minutes

Download the Minutes in PDF

The annual OISTAT Costume Design Sub-Commission meeting occurred on Saturday, June 15 in Studio Alta, Room H31,during the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space 2019.The meeting began at 10:15am and was chaired by Simona Rybáková, Head of the OISTAT Costume Design Sub-Commission, with the Vice-Heads Sofia Pantouvaki and Rosane Muniz.

AGENDA
1. Welcome
Simona Rybáková, Head of the Costume Design Sub-Commission, welcomed new and existing members together with Rosane Muniz, Vice-Head for Projects and Sofia Pantouvaki, Vice-Head for Research. The leadership commented on the many ways that costumes were successfully represented throughout all branches of the PQ, including but not limited to the PQ Talks, Formations, Fragments, Costumes Live!, Workshops, Live show: Taboo Collection and in the Exhibitions of Countries and Regions.
PDC/C members in the PQ program included (in alphabetical order by first name): April Viczko, Chrisi Karvonides-Dushenko, Christina Lindgren, Donatella Barbieri, Fruzsina Nagy, Hyun Sook Kim, Igor Roussanoff, Juli Balazs, Jana Preková, Marie Jirásková, Mona Magalhães, Pamela Howard, Renato Bolelli Rebouças, Rosane Muniz, Sabine Snijders, Sabrina Notarfrancisco, Simona Rybáková, Sofia Pantouvaki, Susan Tsu, Suzanne Osmond.
Special mentions were given to costume designer Jerildy Bosch of Mexico, who won an Award for Excellence in Performance Design and Donatella Barbieri, who won the Best Publication Award for her book Costume in Performance: Materiality, Culture and the Body. Costume designer Fruzsina Nagy, who worked on Hungary’s national exhibit, was also congratulated for winning The Best Exhibition in the Exhibition of Countries and Regions Award.
Sabrina Notarfrancisco kindly agreed to write the minutes.
 
 
2. Brief of PDC/C for new members
Sofia Pantouvaki provided an overview of the Costume Design Sub-Commission’s mission and work. More information is available on the OISTAT website: News and Mission
 
 
3. Past Activities 
Rosane Muniz presented a slide show of past PDC/C meetings and shared information about the activities Flashtalks, Roundtables, Fieldtrips, and Workshops held in:
2017 Taipei, Taiwan (World Stage Design 2017) 2018 Madrid, Spain 2018 Cardiff, UK (OISTAT 50) 2019 Prague, Czech Republic (PQ`19) Ms. Muniz also encouraged non-English speakers to join the group and stressed that there are many ways to overcome language barriers, especially given the visual nature of costume. This subject is a PDC/C ongoing project that started in Madrid (2018) with the roundtable ‘Costume and Translation’, continued in Cardiff (2018) and intended to be developed in future PDC/C events.
 
 
4. Ongoing/Future Projects
a. Critical Costume (with significant contribution by PDC/C members)
Sofia Pantouvaki gave information about outside networks supported by PDC/C such as the biennial Critical Costume (CC) conference and exhibition. CC provides opportunities for researchers to present peer-reviewed papers and practitioners to share work in the form of exhibits and Flashtalks. Christina Lindgren, organizer of Critical Costume 2020, announced that the next conference will focus on the theme of “Costume Agency”. Designers and performers will consider the agency of costume in performance and how costume can generate a performance. More information about the event at . A timeline of Critical Costume conferences:
2020  21-23 August, in Oslo, Norway. Theme: Costume Agency
2018  Surrey, UK. Theme: Costume Ethics
2015  Aalto University, Finland, Theme: Methodologies of Costume Practice, Research, and Digital Technology
2013  Edge Hill University, UK. Theme: History and Technology
 
b. Prague Quadrennial (Key project with important participation of PDC/C members)
Rosane Muniz provided information about the PDC/C’s ongoing involvement with the Prague Quadrennial. A timeline of PQ’s most recent costume programming:
2019 Costume Live!, PQ Talks, Workshops, Taboo Catwalk Concert
2015 Tribes, PQ Talks, Workshops
2011 Extreme Costume, Costume Talks
 
c. World Stage Design 2021 (Key project led by PDC/C members)
April Viczko reported on World Stage Design 2021, which will take place on August 5-15, 2021 at the University of Calgary. The theme of the event is “Ecoscenography” and the OISTAT commissions are invited to submit programming ideas for Scenofest. There is both indoor and outdoor space that can be used for landscape, scenography, and costume conservations at the University of Calgary which houses several performance venues and a costume shop. A timeline of past and upcoming WSD costume programming:
2021 TBA (Calgary, Canada)
2017 Costume Talks, Research Seminar, Workshops (Taipei, Taiwan)
2013 Costume in Action (Cardiff, Wales)
 
d. Innovative Costume of the 21st Century: The Next Generation (Supported by PDC/C)
Chief Curator Susan Tsu shared information about the Innovative Costume of the 21st Century: The Next Generation exhibition which opened in three Moscow museums in June 2019. Ms. Tsu thanked the curators for their work and patience throughout the process and shared images from the exhibit catalogue which features 760 pages of designs, from 250 young costume designers, representing 47 countries and regions. The Artistic Director of the project, Igor Roussanoff, invited those interested in hosting the exhibit to contact him and Susan Tsu for more information.
 
e. Studies in Costume and Performance Journal (Supported by PDC/C)
Sofia Pantouvaki shared information about the Studies in Costume and Performance journal and invited members to submit articles as well as visual essays, a format suitable for designers. The latest issue (Volume 4, Issue 1) has reflections on the Extreme Costume exhibit, book reviews, and more. If something interesting happens in your country about costume, please contact Ms. Pantouvaki about the possibility of contributing a review to future issues.
 
f. World of Wearable Art (WOW) Costume Show (With participation of PDC/C members)
Laura Crow has organized a PDC/C fieldtrip to Wellington, New Zealand, from 25 - 30 September 2019, with extended trips to North Island 1 - 7 October and South Island 8-14 October. During the tour, participants will attend the World of Wearable Art costume show, visit the WETA film workshop, the Lord of the Rings site, and more. Please contact Laura Crow at laura.crow.usa@gmail.com for details.
 
g. Mexico City Meeting 2020 (Organized by PDC/C)
Sofia Pantouvaki informed that our member Jorge Sandoval has started organizing a meeting for May 2020 with a partner institution in Mexico City. This PDC/C will be held on 25-27 May 2020 in Mexico City (with possible other activities before or after these dates) in Mexico City. Jorge Sandoval is organizing the event in collaboration with other Mexican designers. The detailed programme related to this meeting is in progress and more details will come as soon as they become available.
 
h. Cairo Meeting 2020 (Organized by OISTAT)
Rosane Muniz announced that OISTAT is planning a meeting in Cairo, in October of 2020. There will be a costume component to the meeting and Naiema Agamy has offered to plan a trip to Luxor for PDC/C members who would like to attend.
 
 
5. Elections (OISTAT Headquarters)
OISTAT president Bert Determann and General Manager Wan-Jung Wei took over the meeting to announce the Costume Design Sub-Commission election. After explaining the election process and answering questions, they yielded the floor to candidates Qin Wenbao of China and Simona Rybáková of the Czech Republic. After the candidates gave their presentations, the floor was opened to discussion.

Following a spirited debate in which the members expressed themselves about the candidates, Mr. Determann and Ms. Wei distributed ballots to eligible voters. They explained that to qualify as a voter, members must have attended a minimum of two PDC/C business meetings in the past ten years.
Simona Rybáková won the election and will lead the group for four more years (her second and final term) and Ms. Muniz and Ms. Pantouvaki agreed to continue as vice-heads. Ms. Rybáková thanked Mr. Qin for being a great representative of Asia and expressed her hope for future collaboration within the group. Mr. Qin congratulated Ms. Rybáková on her win, stating that as a strong advocate for the younger generation, he hopes his relationship with PDC/C will benefit both the eastern and western worlds.
 
 
6. Discussion

• Mariaelena Roque stated that PDC/C should expand to a wider and stronger team.
• Igor Roussanoff advocated for the necessity of change in PDC/C.
• Canan Goknil would like to see more cultures represented.
• Laura Crow is interested in maintaining and expanding visual expressions of costume in meetings and on the OISTAT website.
• Laura Crow suggested that someone organize a “coat of many colors” project for WSD 2021 in which participants bring coats from different countries to create an uber-marionette that can be used as a shelter. Those interested in organizing this project should write a proposal and send it to PDC/C mail address: pdc_costume@oistat.org.
• Marina Raytchinova requested that all upcoming programming be emailed to members soon.
• Richard Bryant, from the University of Trinidad of Tobago, encouraged the PDC/C to visit Trinidad for Carifesta (https://carifesta.net/) an event that coincides with the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival in August and to contact him at richard.bryant@utt.edu.tt if there is a project that we would like to share with students in Trinidad.
• Christina Lindgren explained further the project Costume Agency, which will be the theme for Critical Costume 2020. The materials shown included a filming of numerous versions of the same scene from Hedda Gabler in which Hedda changes into a different costume, followed by an interview with the actors; more information can be accessed on the website . Costume educators wishing to discuss costume agency with actors, directors, and designers are welcome to use the clips in their teaching.
• Mariaelena Roque advocated for continued workshops and collaboration, citing her successful work with Susan Tsu during their PQ Tribes costume workshop.
• Concern was expressed by Lise Klitten that the Excellence in Performance Design Award won by costume designer Jerildy Bosch of Mexico did not explicitly state excellence in costume design. Jury member Sofia Pantouvaki explained that pre-described categories were too limiting for the many excellent, and unpredictable, design disciplines on view, but Bosch’s award for specifically for her costume design work as noted in the accompanying statement. It was proposed that a compromise for future PQs might be to include the design category in the award stickers on the exhibition floor.
• Rosane Muniz reminded attendees of the expansive costume offerings at PQ, as evidenced by the 8-page “Costume Programme Highlights” schedule created and distributed by the PDC/C leadership in advance of PQ.

Download “PQ Costume Programme Highlights by OISTAT” in PDF

Adjourn
The meeting concluded at 12:48pm.