THE SPACE WITHIN THE SPACE: Scenography in Slovenia before 1991

The Space within the Space is an exhibition about the beauty and diversity of theatre scenography. It is a story of planning the magical theatre world and space. It is a tale of plans, design sketches, stage drafts and models used to build sets. It tells us about their dialogue with the stage space, and the relationships between visual styles, architecture, drama texts and the final realisation onstage. The exhibition leads us through the forms of stage sets, amidst the techniques, genres, styles, and shows us the development of stage design as it appeared in our theatres.

The exhibition The Space Within the Space marks the first retrospective exhibition to provide a comprehensive historic, stylistic, visual and theatrical overview of Slovenian scenography. Using original models, drafts in a variety of techniques, sketches, blueprints and performance photos, among them, the smallest stage design draft in the size of a postal stamp, the exhibition portrays the works of contemporary and older stage designers, the development of performance spaces in Slovenian theatre, and the development of scenography as a discipline per se. As most of the older-generation scenographers were also important visual artists, the exhibition takes the opportunity to concentrate on the theatrical segment of their work, which has thus far been much less explored (for example, the works of Ivan Vaupotič, Maksim Gaspari, Avgust Černigoj, Gabrijel Stupica and others). The exhibition contextualises scenography in the history of Slovenian and European fine arts and theatre.

Slovenian scenographers create actual spaces, filled with imagination and connected with theatre texts and performing concepts, in which the actors feel comfortable, and the audience can immerse into the presented idea and the aesthetic of the performance. Throughout history, scenographers and their art have followed the new guidelines appearing in the contemporary fine arts and architecture, Slovenian and international. Often, they were even the first to research certain artistic styles.

The attractive, interactive, and visually rich exhibition captivates theatre, art history and fine arts experts, as well as the general public, and provides a new perspective of the theatre and fine arts history in Slovenia along with copious amounts of new information.

The exhibition was set up by the Slovenian Theatre Institute (SLOGI) in collaboration with the National Gallery of Slovenia in Ljubljana, where it was on display.

Exhibition producer: Slovenian Theatre Institute, in collaboration with the National Gallery of Slovenia

Author: Ana Kocjančič, MA

Designer: Andrej Stražišar

The installation was set-up with the technical help of SNT Opera and Ballet Ljubljana.

Impressions from the opening of the exhibition

Hosting of the exhibition in Maribor, 4th October – 9th November 2019