Souffleur, what is the meaning of 'Scenography'?
© M Leuven, foto: Miles Fischler
SOUFFLEUR
SCENOGRAPHY
“Souffleur (de; m/f; pl: souffleurs): prompter. One who whispers the actor his/her lines.’’ According to the Dutch-language dictionary Van Dale, a souffleur or prompter is someone who helps you remember something you already know. We thought it would be a nice title for this new section: in it, M’s employees provide explanations and background to professional terms that may sound familiar to your ears, but that you may not know the meaning of (or maybe you no longer remember).
© M Leuven, foto: Miles Fischler
Kristof Vande Walle, production leader: “I always explain it this way: what scenery is for a play, scenography is for an exhibition. In a museum, the works of art are actors. The scenographer makes sure that you see them in the right setting, with the right lighting, in the right circumstances.
“In contemporary art, the artist and the curator usually determine the scenography: the order of the works, the use of space, the dynamics … In the autumn, we have an exhibition of the German artist Thomas Demand, and for him the architecture of the museum is clearly part of the scenography. For example, we have to make a few new doorways in temporary walls, and they have to look exactly like the existing doorways.”
“In the case of old art, we decide on the scenography internally, or we use an external agency. In general, a lot of time goes into such a design, with proposals that go back and forth until it’s absolutely right. The final decisions are made by the curator, the scenographer and the project leader.
“The works we show are the starting point, and then we look: which display cases and pedestals should be installed, where do we place the walls … For most exhibitions, all the furniture is newly made. Here at M we try to re-use as much as possible, but it’s not easy: every exhibition is unique.”
