From modest Victorian beginnings to legendary cultural venue, the Roundhouse has an enviable heritage. The Grade II* listed building is now home to a bold and exciting programme of live music, theatre, dance, circus, installations and new media. Since it’s opening, The Roundhouse has built a reputation for putting young people at the heart of everything they do.

http://www.roundhouse.org.uk/

 

With over 55 academic staff, together with visiting artists and lecturers, the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama contains the largest grouping of theatre/ performance specialists in the UK, who make a major contribution to research in their various fields. Central offers undergraduate, postgraduate and research degrees in a vast range of disciplines and is the only drama college designated by the Higher Education Funding Council for England as the Centre of Excellence in Training for Theatre.

 

Royal Central is a proud partner in the Prague Quadrennial ‘Shared Space’ project, leading on the design and delivery of the ‘SpaceLab’ component.

http://www.cssd.ac.uk/

 

Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space is the world’s largest event dedicated to theatre architecture and scenography, perceiving it as an open category with strong interdisciplinary discourse. Continuously mapping and exhibiting the world’s best in the field of scenography and performance design for nearly 50 years, the Prague Quadrennial now heads towards the 13th edition in June 2015.  www.pq.cz

 

With the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union.

About SpaceLab London

 

Held in the frame of the Shared Space Project, this event belongs to the SpaceLab – an essential educational platform to deepen the knowledge and practice of scenography beyond the normal school curriculum and to provide a meeting point for students with leading academics in the field. Participants were invited to a London Gathering on May 22nd 2014 as part of the student run ‘Accidental Festival’ at London’s Roundhouse.

 

‘Accidental Scenography’

Taking inspiration from the weather theme of the ‘shared space’1, join us to share provocations on the theme of ‘accidental scenography’ in terms of:

-     The weather within us – embracing ‘failure’ & accident

-     The weather outside – architectures of shared space

-     The weather within– atmosphere and audiences

 

Metaphors of journeys are embedded in our descriptions of learning experiences but an increasingly audit based culture means that there is little room for serendipity as we are judged on ‘outputs’ rather than the route taken.  The one day symposium took place at the start of a three day student created ‘Accidental Festival,’ inviting participants on a literal and metaphorical journey around London in a mobile ‘shared space’ - an old Routemaster bus. Each academic was invited to bring a student or graduate to share the journey, mixing up the pairs so that siting side by side with students and academics from across Europe and beyond we can share thinking about the future of scenographic education …and what we want it to look like.

 

3 minute provocation were prepared by students and educators and were shared with passengers via the ‘on board tour guide speaker system’ or at one of the stops made along the way. The group visited a number of London ‘sites’ during the day, some of which invited participants to see work in progress by students. The symposium ended back at the Roundhouse to celebrate the opening of launch of the 9th Accidental Festival at the Roundhouse Camden and the work that would be presented as part of 'SpaceLab.'