Volume 3, Issues 1&2: Drawing & Design
The editors, Arnold Aronson and Jane Collins have pleasure in calling for submissions to the journal Theatre and Performance Design Volume 3, Issues 1&2 spring and summer 2017. The volume will consist of general articles on scenography but we are also interested in receiving articles that address the specific theme of Drawing and Design.
' Drawing' is at once medium and process, performative act and idea, it is sign, symbol and diagram. It is a space of negotiation for both established meanings and what is yet to be known, defined and articulated. It is a medium for analysis, for the acquisition and facilitation of understanding. It is observational tool and recording practice.' Flavia Loscialpo[1]
There is a substantial canon of writing about drawing in fine art but relatively little on drawing in theatre and performance. In the 2017 spring and summer issues of the journal we are keen to explore how drawing works across the full range of scenographic practices. As a means of making ideas concrete and as a discursive tool drawing is instrumental in theatre, costume and performance design, spatial design and architecture. Articles might consider; how precisely does drawing work as 'a space of negotiation' in these practices? What kind of drawings do designers make and how are they evaluated? In a recent edition of the journal David Bisaha, with reference to the New Stagecraft movement early in the last century, has argued that ''Renderings' depiction of composed dramatic moments afforded designers greater control and autonomy over the completed stage picture''' [2] What is the status of drawing as scenographic artefact and process in contemporary theatre and performance practice? As work has moved beyond theatre buildings and into diverse sites, both urban and rural, have performance scores and maps replaced ground plans and renderings? What materials and tools, including the digital, do designers use to draw? What kind of drawings do sound and lighting designers make? How might a close analysis of the drawings of designers from the past help us to understand the visual culture and the professional context in which they were made? Can a close study of different approaches to drawing help us to understand the evolving role of the designer?
We welcome articles on drawing of between 5000-8000 words. Contributions from practitioners talking about their own use of drawing, articles on CAD and its applications as well as visual essays that explore the currency of drawing as design practice past, present and future. In addition we continue to encourage submissions on issues relating to scenography in general.
Submissions to Nick Tatchell, Editorial Assistant: [email protected]
Deadline: October 31st 2016
[1] Drawing and The Body, Exhibition Catalogue KG52 Gallery, Kammakargatan 52, Stockholm, 18April -14 May 2011published by The Swedish School of Textiles, University of Boras and London College of Fashion, University of the Arts, London.
[2] Bisaha, David. 2015. Robert Edmund Jones' scenic rendering as design artefact and professional tool. Theatre and Performance Design 1 (3): 220-235 (p.220)