We are happy to announce that in October of this year we are presenting our fourth laboratory of experimental visual theater, Kosmos LAB. The free english-language workshop is intended for Lithuanian theatre professionals. Lighting designers, set designers, directors, artists-researchers, playwrights, choreographers, stage technicians, etc. who want to get to know the art of light, its possibilities and secrets more deeply. The lecturer of the Kosmos LAB ’22 is Dr. Yaron Abulafia (PhD). Yaron is the world-famous lighting designer, set designer, artist-researcher, curator of exhibitions, educator. Furthermore, he’s the author of the book “The Art of Light on Stage: Lighting in Contemporary Theatre” .
We must see light art as a separate field of art that needs to be studied
Over the past 20 years, Yaron Abulafia has composed more than 250 performances, performative installations, and concerts of various genres in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
“We contact Yaron Abulafia after reading his book, The Art of Light on Stage: Lighting in Contemporary Theatre. Speaking, Yaron asked, “Do lighting designers in Lithuania work with a director, playwright and set designer from the very beginning? Why is the lighting designer perceived as a technique that colors an already created work and not an artist?” This question turned out to be unanswered. So instead of an answer, we could only invite him to ask a question in Lithuania.
In Yaron’s opinion, light on stage can be both a character, and a set design, and a physical space, and one of the main engines for the development of dramaturgy or the narration of history. To achieve a professional, engaging and surprising non-verbal theatre of images that combines different types of art on an equal footing, we need to focus on every stage component and every profession of theatre makers. Kosmos LAB’22 is focusing on light. “We must see light art as a separate field of art that needs to be studied”. Says Žilvinas Vingelis, artistic director, director, LMTA doctoral student. He, together with Darius Vizbaras, the director of Kosmos Theatre, organizes the laboratory.
Dr. Yaron Abulafia
Dr. Yaron Abulafia (Netherlands-Israel) is an internationally renowned innovative painter of lights and scenography, characterized by a unique visual aesthetic and poetic perception of light as space. The vivid painterly and sculptural qualities of Yaron’s works reveal the outstanding dramaturgical role of light in the context of modern theater and break the usual stereotypes of theatrical lighting. In 2016, as part of his research, Dr. Y. Abulafia wrote a book dedicated to light art, The Art of Light on Stage: Lighting in Contemporary Theatre, published by the publishing house Routledge, and the foreword was written by the Italian director Romeo Castellucci.
The book has become one of the main sources of European theater schools for light studies. In the opinion of critics, this is the first book to examine the latest trends in the light art of contemporary and post-drama theater. The art of light itself is studied from a semiotic and phenomenological perspective, considering cognitive studies and the history of art. Yaron earned a PhD degree from the Department of Arts, Culture and Media at Groningen State University in the Netherlands.
A master’s degree in scenography from the Frank Mohr Institute (Netherlands). A bachelor’s degree in theater studies from the University of Tel Aviv (Israel). Yaron is the curator of the prestigious exhibition WORLD STAGE DESIGN (WSD), which took place in 2022 in Calgary, Canada. He’s one of the ambassadors of the Prague Quadriennial (PQ). It’s the largest global event dedicated to the best examples of theatrical scenography and architecture.
Participate
By public invitation, we invite you to participate in these creative workshops by lighting participants (especially!), set designers, directors, choreographers, costume designers, playwrights working in the fields of dance, opera and drama theater. Artists-researchers, architects, stage technicians and others who want to deepen and expand their knowledge in the field of light art are also welcome. Selected participants according to their professions are going to be formed into 3-4 teams that will work directly with Yaron Abulafia.
Professional master classes will take place from 6 October to 10 November 2022. (with prep online lectures)
Apply for Kosmos LAB’22 till September 30. We will announce the participants on 3rd of October. The participants of the workshop will be selected by Dr. Yaron Abulafia and the team of KOSMOS THEATRE.
Only those persons who undertake to participate in all project activities can participate.
Schedule of the laboratory’s creative workshop:
October 6 – 11:00-14:00 online lecture with Dr. Y. Abulafia. Topic: acquaintance, discussion of the agenda of the workshop, introductory theoretical lecture, team task.
October 12 –12:00-16:00 (an hour for each group) individual online meetings of all teams with Dr. Y. Abulafia. Each team, together with the lecturer, develops the task received.
October 20, 12:00-16:00 (an hour for each group) – individual online meetings of all teams with Dr. Y. Abulafia. Each team, together with the lecturer, develops the received task and prepares for a live meeting on November 6.
November 6 – Live meeting of participants with Dr. Y. Abulafia at the Arts Printing House (Šiltadaržio str. 6, Vilnius). Discussion of the progress of the task and preparation for the workshop of the great hall.
On November 7-9, practical all-day workshops in the Great Hall of the Arts Printing House (Šiltadaržio str. 6, Vilnius) will be held.
November 10 – an open lecture by Dr. Yaron Abulafia to the Lithuanian theater community: artist practitioners, theater and film theorists, and artists-researchers. The exact time and place of the lecture will be announced in mid-October on Kosmos Theatre’s social account. The lecture is free of charge.
PARTLY FUNDED BY
