Visual dramaturgy : interview with Knut Ove Arntzen

Abstract

Knut Ove Arntzen is a professor of Theatre Studies at the Department of Linguistics, Literary and Aesthetics Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Bergen, Norway. His research is oriented towards theoretical and practical concepts of visual dramaturgy as well as post-mainstream developments in contemporary European theatre. Knut Ove Arntzen publishes findings in many international periodicals and books as well as presents his work to students and other theatre researchers as a visiting professor at European universities, for example in Lithuania, Belgium and Germany. He has participated in many international conferences (University of Glasgow, Amsterdam, Copenhagen), cooperated with Gordana Vnuk in seminars at the Eurokaz festival and presented several lectures about new theatre developments, post-mainstream and site specific/ ambient theatre in Germany, Austria, and Finland. Recently, Knut Ove Arntzen have written and edited together with John Keefe a new book called Staging and Re-cycling: Retrieving, Reflecting and Re-framing the Archive (2020) that explores the various ways in which dramaturgical and academic materials, once published or presented, may be ‘resurrected’ to a new life. Knut Ove Arntzen was awarded the HEDDA Honorary Prize 2020 for outstanding achievements in Norwegian performing arts. Knut Ove Arntzen had been planning to visit the Department of Theatre Studies at Masaryk University at the beginning of April 2020 and to give a lecture concerning the concept of Visual Dramaturgy. Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, the lecture was postponed until Autumn 2020, and the following interview was consequently carried out as an e-mail conversation in May/July 2020. Amálie Bulandrová, scholar at the Department of Theatre Studies, asked Professor Arntzen to respond to several questions regarding the concept of Visual Dramaturgy. We are looking for the upcoming seminar with Knut Ove Arntzen which will take place online on the 16th of November 2020 and the possibility of discussing in greater detail some of the issues outlined below.