Difference between revisions of "Josef Svoboda"

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Born 1920 in Cáslav. Died 2002 in Prague. Training at the Central School of Housing Industry in Prague. Shortly after World War II took scenography courses at the Prague Conservatory and studied architecture at the Academy of Applied Arts in Prague; participated in the founding of the Grand Opera of the May 5 Theater. He became the theater´s chief stage designer; as well as collaborating with the Theatre of Satire and the Studio of the National Theatre. In 1948, he joined the staff of the National Theatre; initially as stage designer and, as of 1951, as the head of its artistic and technical operations. Until, he remained loyal to the National Theatre; in 1992, managing director of the independent Lantern Magic Theater, where he had also served as artistic director since 1973. At Brussels, in 1958, he won three medals for his work displayed in the Czechoslovak pavilion, and his several kinetic and film projects were among the most popular attractions at Expo 67, Montreal.
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'''Josef Svoboda''' (10 May 1920, Čáslav, Czechoslovakia - 8 April 2002, Prague, Czech Republic) was a Czech stage designer and teacher. He was one of the creators of [[Laterna magika]].
  
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In the May 5 Theatre with the director [[Alfréd Radok]] he began a series of experimentations, the result of which was the founding of the [[Laterna magika]], the creation of the «polyekran» (multiple screens), and other audiovisual forms. During the second half of the 20th century, hardly any prominent director could be found worldwide with whom Svoboda would not have collaborated. These particular artists include A. Delcampe, J. Dexter, C.H. Drese, A. Everding, G. Friedrich, G. Strehler, L. Olivier, R. Petit, J.-C. Riber, and others. Yet he was honoured more abroad than in his home country.
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{{TOC limit|3}}
  
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Other works: [[Diacran]] (1958), [[Polyecran]] (Expo 1967 Montreal), [[Polyvision]] with [[Jaroslav Frič]] (1967).
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==Life and work==
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''Sourced from [http://web.archive.org/web/20080624112634/http://www.laterna.cz/ensemble.php?lang=en&p=svoboda&info=1 ''laterna.cz''].''
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After completing his secondary studies; he apprenticed as a cabinet-maker. Following a master´s course; he enrolled in the Central School of Housing Industry in Prague. However; he was drawn to the theatre; where while in his home town and later in Prague he acquired his first practical experiences. Shortly after World War II he enrolled in scenography courses at the Prague Conservatory and studied architecture at the Academy of Applied Arts in Prague.
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One of the predominant characteristics of Josef Svoboda was his consistent confrontation of theory and practice; in 1945; during his studies he participated in the founding of the Grand Opera of the May 5 Theatre. He became the theatre´s chief stage designer; as well as collaborating with the Theatre of Satire and the Studio of the National Theatre. In 1948; he joined the staff of the National Theatre; initially as stage designer and; as of 1951; as the head of its artistic and technical operations. Until 1992; he remained loyal to the National Theatre; when he left - and became the managing director of the independent Laterna Magika Theatre; where he had also served as artistic director since 1973.
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In the May 5 Theatre he met his two principal directors - [[Alfréd Radok]] and Václav Kašlík. His collaboration with Radok refined his sense of the director´s concept of scenography and of the functional incorporation of the stage design into the context of the other components of a theatre production. Their common desire for discovery led them to a series of experimentations; the result of which was the founding of [[Laterna Magika]]; the creation of the [[Polyecran]] (multiple screens); and other audiovisual forms. Svoboda´s cooperation with opera director Václav Kašlík inspired his love for music; which helped to introduce a number of excellent operatic works to theatres both at home and abroad. During the nineteen-sixties; he met other outstanding directors; among them Otomar Krejča and Miroslav Macháček; resulting in yet other outstanding works staged at the National Theatre in Prague; and; in Krejča´s case; at the Divadlo za branou in Prague; as well as numerous theatres around Europe. In the nineteen-eighties; Svoboda´s collaboration with stage director Evald Schorm in Laterna Magika signalled a major change in the orientation of this unique theatre.
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Josef Svoboda created stage designs for more than 700 theatre performances in his own country and abroad. During the second half of the 20th century; hardly any prominent director could be found worldwide with whom Svoboda would not have collaborated. These particular artists include A. Delcampe; J. Dexter; C.H. Drese; A. Everding; G. Friedrich; G. Strehler; L. Olivier; R. Petit; J.-C. Riber; and others. He was at all times appreciated more abroad than in his home country; obtaining awards and titles; such as Dr.h.c. at the Royal College of Arts in London (1969); International Theatre Award in New York (1976); Chevalier de l´Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in Paris (1976); Doctor of Fine Arts at Denison University and Western Michigan University in the U.S.A. (1978-1984); a prize of the U.S. Institute for Theater Technology in the U.S.A. (1986); the title The Royal Industry Designer in London (1989); the French Légion d´Honneur in 1993; and Dr.h.c. at the Université Catholique de Louvaine-la-Neuve in 2001.
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Svoboda enjoyed the young generation; he gave his experiences at the Academy of Applied Arts in Prague; where he brought up a strong generation of Czech scenographers; and also at institutes and universities throughout the world. Only one dream he failed to fulfil - that of designing and building a theatre in Prague; one that could materialise his ample theatre experiences and demands.
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Selected works: Laterna magika (Expo 1958 Brussels), [[Polyecran]] (Expo 1958 Brussels), [[Diacran]] (1958), [[Polyvision]] (with [[Jaroslav Frič]], 1967).
  
 
==Laterna Magika and Polyecran==
 
==Laterna Magika and Polyecran==
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''Sourced from [[#Burian1970|Burian 1970: 133-138]].''
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Of the two primary projection systems or forms devised by Svoboda, Laterna Magika and Polyekran, the latter is relatively simpler, and although its evolution is difficult to disentangle from that of Laterna Magika, it was Polyekran that contributed to the final form of Laterna Magika, rather than the other way round, according to both Svoboda and Alfred Radok, Svoboda's creative partner. For these reasons, Polyekran (literally, "multi-screen") will be described first.
 
Of the two primary projection systems or forms devised by Svoboda, Laterna Magika and Polyekran, the latter is relatively simpler, and although its evolution is difficult to disentangle from that of Laterna Magika, it was Polyekran that contributed to the final form of Laterna Magika, rather than the other way round, according to both Svoboda and Alfred Radok, Svoboda's creative partner. For these reasons, Polyekran (literally, "multi-screen") will be described first.
  
 
'''Polyekran''', one of Svoboda's contributions to the Brussels World's Fair of 1958, is fundamentally a pure projection form; it is not combined with live acting or scenic elements. Its origin was related to Svoboda's response to the development of various wide-screen techniques of the 1950's; in contrast to such techniques, all of which attempted to eliminate the impression of a screen and to give the spectator the sensation of being part of the picture, Polyekran deliberately emphasizes the presence of the screen, or, rather, screens. Its principle is a simultaneous and synchronous projection of slides and film on several screens during which the images on the individual screens are in dramatic interplay with each other in the creation of a total, organic composition. Svoboda adds:  
 
'''Polyekran''', one of Svoboda's contributions to the Brussels World's Fair of 1958, is fundamentally a pure projection form; it is not combined with live acting or scenic elements. Its origin was related to Svoboda's response to the development of various wide-screen techniques of the 1950's; in contrast to such techniques, all of which attempted to eliminate the impression of a screen and to give the spectator the sensation of being part of the picture, Polyekran deliberately emphasizes the presence of the screen, or, rather, screens. Its principle is a simultaneous and synchronous projection of slides and film on several screens during which the images on the individual screens are in dramatic interplay with each other in the creation of a total, organic composition. Svoboda adds:  
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<blockquote>Polyekran offers the possibility of free composition, a free shaping and creation on several screens. Images of real objects and people are projected, but the relationships among them are not realistic, but rather supra-realistic, perhaps surrealistic. Essentially, it's the principle of abstract and pure collage, which is an old and basic technique of theatre. "Op art" is perhaps simply a more recent name for it. In any case, the contrast of varied things on stage is basic to theatre; the objects thereby acquire new relationships and significance, a new and different reality.</blockquote>
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<blockquote>"Polyekran offers the possibility of free composition, a free shaping and creation on several screens. Images of real objects and people are projected, but the relationships among them are not realistic, but rather supra-realistic, perhaps surrealistic. Essentially, it's the principle of abstract and pure collage, which is an old and basic technique of theatre. 'Op art' is perhaps simply a more recent name for it. In any case, the contrast of varied things on stage is basic to theatre; the objects thereby acquire new relationships and significance, a new and different reality."</blockquote>
  
 
Technically, the elements of the Brussels production consisted of seven screens of different size and shape suspended at different angles from horizontal steel wires in front of a black velvet backdrop. Eight automatic slide projectors and seven film projectors, synchronously controlled by electronic tape, threw images upon these screens. The visual collage was accompanied by stereophonic sound (also carried on the electronic tape), the total ten-minute performance being thematically unified by its depiction of the context of the annual Prague Spring Music Festival.
 
Technically, the elements of the Brussels production consisted of seven screens of different size and shape suspended at different angles from horizontal steel wires in front of a black velvet backdrop. Eight automatic slide projectors and seven film projectors, synchronously controlled by electronic tape, threw images upon these screens. The visual collage was accompanied by stereophonic sound (also carried on the electronic tape), the total ten-minute performance being thematically unified by its depiction of the context of the annual Prague Spring Music Festival.
  
 
In describing the relation between Polyekran and Laterna Magika, Svoboda says:  
 
In describing the relation between Polyekran and Laterna Magika, Svoboda says:  
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<blockquote>In comparison with Polyekran, which is totally a film spectacle and technically a concern of film, Laterna Magika is theatre with living actors, singers, dancers, musicians. . . . On the one hand we used familiar scenographic techniques such as slides and film projection. New expressive possibilities were added by panoramic film and projection with multi-exposure on several screens at once. A second feature is the use of mobile screens that are joined to the performance of a live actor.<br>(Svoboda, quoted in "O svetelnem divadle," Informacni Zpravy Scenograficke Laboratore (Sept. 1958), P. 5.)</blockquote>
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<blockquote>"In comparison with Polyekran, which is totally a film spectacle and technically a concern of film, Laterna Magika is theatre with living actors, singers, dancers, musicians. ... On the one hand we used familiar scenographic techniques such as slides and film projection. New expressive possibilities were added by panoramic film and projection with multi-exposure on several screens at once. A second feature is the use of mobile screens that are joined to the performance of a live actor."<br>(Svoboda, quoted in "O svetelnem divadle," Informacni Zpravy Scenograficke Laboratore (Sept. 1958), P. 5.)</blockquote>
  
 
Commenting on the essential non-autonomy of each medium, film and living actor, in Laterna Magika, Svoboda added, "The play of the actors cannot exist without the film, and vice-versa-they become one thing, a synthesis and fusion of actors and projection. Moreover, the same actors appear on stage and screen, and interact with each other. The film has a dramatic function."  
 
Commenting on the essential non-autonomy of each medium, film and living actor, in Laterna Magika, Svoboda added, "The play of the actors cannot exist without the film, and vice-versa-they become one thing, a synthesis and fusion of actors and projection. Moreover, the same actors appear on stage and screen, and interact with each other. The film has a dramatic function."  
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Laterna Magika becomes, in effect, a new, hybrid medium, the potential force and expressiveness of which are perhaps suggested best in some remarks by Marshall McLuhan made without reference to Laterna Magika, when he spoke of "true hybrid energy": "The hybrid or the meeting of two media is a moment of truth and revelation from which new form is born. . . . The moment of the meeting of media is a moment of freedom and release from the ordinary trance and numbness imposed on them by our senses."
 
Laterna Magika becomes, in effect, a new, hybrid medium, the potential force and expressiveness of which are perhaps suggested best in some remarks by Marshall McLuhan made without reference to Laterna Magika, when he spoke of "true hybrid energy": "The hybrid or the meeting of two media is a moment of truth and revelation from which new form is born. . . . The moment of the meeting of media is a moment of freedom and release from the ordinary trance and numbness imposed on them by our senses."
  
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Like Polyekran, '''Laterna Magika''' was devised for the Brussels Fair of 1958, where it enjoyed a spectacular success. It consisted of three film and two slide projectors, synchronously controlled, plus a device that enabled deflection of one projection beam to any desired spot, including a moving screen. In a stage space measuring approximately 50' x 24' x 20' were arranged eight mobile screens with special, highly directional reflecting surfaces; they could rise, fall, move to the side, fold up, rotate, appear and disappear in precise rhythm with the actors. The stage itself was provided with a moving belt and special scissor traps to accommodate the need for virtually instantaneous live action in response to the film. One of the screens, moreover, was equipped with a diaphragmatic framing curtain that could alter both the size and shape of the screen. And the total presentation was enhanced by multi-speaker stereophonic sound.
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Like Polyekran, Laterna Magika was devised for the Brussels Fair of 1958, where it enjoyed a spectacular success. It consisted of three film and two slide projectors, synchronously controlled, plus a device that enabled deflection of one projection beam to any desired spot, including a moving screen. In a stage space measuring approximately 50' x 24' x 20' were arranged eight mobile screens with special, highly directional reflecting surfaces; they could rise, fall, move to the side, fold up, rotate, appear and disappear in precise rhythm with the actors. The stage itself was provided with a moving belt and special scissor traps to accommodate the need for virtually instantaneous live action in response to the film. One of the screens, moreover, was equipped with a diaphragmatic framing curtain that could alter both the size and shape of the screen. And the total presentation was enhanced by multi-speaker stereophonic sound.
  
 
Jan Grossman, himself a theatre director as well as a critic in Prague, was involved with the theoretical groundwork of Laterna Magika; his remarks on the new form elaborate some of its potentials:  
 
Jan Grossman, himself a theatre director as well as a critic in Prague, was involved with the theoretical groundwork of Laterna Magika; his remarks on the new form elaborate some of its potentials:  
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<blockquote>Laterna Magika offered the dramatist, film scenarist, poet, and composer a new language: a language that is more intense, sharply contrasting, and rhythmic; one which can captivatingly project statistics as well as ballet, documents as well as lyric verse, and is therefore capable of absorbing and artistically working over the density and dynamics, the multiplicity and contrariety of the world in which we live."<br>
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<blockquote>"Laterna Magika offered the dramatist, film scenarist, poet, and composer a new language: a language that is more intense, sharply contrasting, and rhythmic; one which can captivatingly project statistics as well as ballet, documents as well as lyric verse, and is therefore capable of absorbing and artistically working over the density and dynamics, the multiplicity and contrariety of the world in which we live."<br>
 
(Grossman, "0 kombinace divadla a filmu," Laterna Magika, ed. J. Hrbas (Prague, 1968), p. 76.)</blockquote>
 
(Grossman, "0 kombinace divadla a filmu," Laterna Magika, ed. J. Hrbas (Prague, 1968), p. 76.)</blockquote>
  
 
Alfred Radok, director of Laterna Magika, suggested its special quality in this way: "Above all, Laterna Magika has the capacity of seeing reality from several aspects. Of 'extracting' a situation or individual from the routine context of time and place and apprehending it in some other fashion, perhaps by con- fronting it with a chronologically distinct event." (Radok, quoted by Grossman, p. 77.)  
 
Alfred Radok, director of Laterna Magika, suggested its special quality in this way: "Above all, Laterna Magika has the capacity of seeing reality from several aspects. Of 'extracting' a situation or individual from the routine context of time and place and apprehending it in some other fashion, perhaps by con- fronting it with a chronologically distinct event." (Radok, quoted by Grossman, p. 77.)  
  
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That Laterna Magika was not without its special problems, however, became evident even while it was experiencing its greatest success. For example, the filmed portions had to be prepared far in advance of their integration with the live performers, which meant that many artistic decisions had to be made and became binding long before there was any way of knowing how they might work out months later. A more profound problem was that the film virtually enslaved the live performer, whose margin of variability in performance ap- proached zero because the film was a prefabricated element to which the per- former must inflexibly adapt. Svoboda put it this way: "It means that Laterna Magika is to a certain extent deprived of that which is beautiful about theatre: that each performance can have a completely different rhythm, that the quality of a performance can be better or worse, that a production can expand its limits."  (Svoboda, "Problemy sceny Laterny Magiky," Laterna Magika, p. 103. Svoboda managed to overcome this problem to some extent in a few subsequent productions by employing live TV transmission onto screens during the course of the performance: e.g., Nonno's Intoleranza (Boston, 1965) and Orff's Prometheus (Munich, 1968).)
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That Laterna Magika was not without its special problems, however, became evident even while it was experiencing its greatest success. For example, the filmed portions had to be prepared far in advance of their integration with the live performers, which meant that many artistic decisions had to be made and became binding long before there was any way of knowing how they might work out months later. A more profound problem was that the film virtually enslaved the live performer, whose margin of variability in performance ap- proached zero because the film was a prefabricated element to which the per- former must inflexibly adapt. Svoboda put it this way: "It means that Laterna Magika is to a certain extent deprived of that which is beautiful about theatre: that each performance can have a completely different rhythm, that the quality of a performance can be better or worse, that a production can expand its limits."  (Svoboda, "Problemy sceny Laterny Magiky," Laterna Magika, p. 103. Svoboda managed to overcome this problem to some extent in a few subsequent productions by employing live TV transmission onto screens during the course of the performance: e.g., [[Luigi Nono]]'s ''Intoleranza'' (Boston, 1965) and Carl Orff's ''Prometheus'' (Munich, 1968).)
  
 
Again, on a more fundamental level, Laterna Magika never experienced the ultimate test of presenting a work that was written especially for it; that is, a work other than revue or cabaret entertainment. In its original version, as an entertaining propaganda piece for Czechoslovakia, it was a success. Its original creators had hopes of eventually using the form for Shakespeare or explorations of challenging contemporary realities, for example the Eichmann case, but managerial and administrative elements viewed Laterna Magika in terms of economics and politics, as a source of profit and an instrument of propaganda, with the result that its subsequent artistic career was aborted; its several sequels rarely rose above tourist level entertainment.
 
Again, on a more fundamental level, Laterna Magika never experienced the ultimate test of presenting a work that was written especially for it; that is, a work other than revue or cabaret entertainment. In its original version, as an entertaining propaganda piece for Czechoslovakia, it was a success. Its original creators had hopes of eventually using the form for Shakespeare or explorations of challenging contemporary realities, for example the Eichmann case, but managerial and administrative elements viewed Laterna Magika in terms of economics and politics, as a source of profit and an instrument of propaganda, with the result that its subsequent artistic career was aborted; its several sequels rarely rose above tourist level entertainment.
  
 
==The Creation of the World (Diapolyekran)==
 
==The Creation of the World (Diapolyekran)==
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One other noteworthy and recent variant of Svoboda's projection techniques is the Diapolyekran system, which had its first public exposure at the Montreal Expo 67 as a ten-minute feature entitled '''The Creation of the World'''. It, too, employs a multi-screen, multi-projection (only slides) technique reminis- cent of Polyekran in its pure film, non-actor features, but in a tighter, shallower, and more stable form. As the illustration suggests, the projection screens form a wall composed of cubes, one-hundred and twelve in all. Each cube has two automatic slide projectors mounted at its rear, capable of flashing five images per second, even though the actual rate was considerably slower; a total of thirty-thousand slides were used, and the whole operation was computerized. Moreover, each cube was capable of sliding forward or backward approximately twelve inches, thus providing a surface in kinetic relief for the projections. The basic technique is of course a collage or montage that allows for a great range of visual effects: the entire wall of cubes may unite to present one total, conventionally coherent picture, or else literally distintegrate that picture into fragments, or, indeed, present a surrealistic collage of disparate images. And all of this occurs in a dynamic, rhythmic flow ideally suited to projecting process as well as startling, abrupt confrontation. The original presentation was an eloquent, sensitive expression of wonder at the miracle and mystery of creation, evolution, and civilization.
 
  
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''Sourced from [[#Burian1970|Burian 1970: 138]].''
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Svoboda's Diapolyekran projection system had its first public exposure at the Montreal Expo 67 as a ten-minute feature entitled ''The Creation of the World''. It, too, employs a multi-screen, multi-projection (only slides) technique reminiscent of Polyekran in its pure film, non-actor features, but in a tighter, shallower, and more stable form. As the illustration suggests, the projection screens form a wall composed of cubes, one-hundred and twelve in all. Each cube has two automatic slide projectors mounted at its rear, capable of flashing five images per second, even though the actual rate was considerably slower; a total of thirty-thousand slides were used, and the whole operation was computerized. Moreover, each cube was capable of sliding forward or backward approximately twelve inches, thus providing a surface in kinetic relief for the projections. The basic technique is of course a collage or montage that allows for a great range of visual effects: the entire wall of cubes may unite to present one total, conventionally coherent picture, or else literally distintegrate that picture into fragments, or, indeed, present a surrealistic collage of disparate images. And all of this occurs in a dynamic, rhythmic flow ideally suited to projecting process as well as startling, abrupt confrontation. The original presentation was an eloquent, sensitive expression of wonder at the miracle and mystery of creation, evolution, and civilization.
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==Publications==
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* Josef Svoboda, [https://sci-hub.st/http://www.jstor.org/stable/1125277 "Laterna Magika"], ed. Erika Munk, trans. Kelly Morris, ''The Tulane Drama Review'' 11:1, Autumn 1966, MIT Press, pp. 141-149.  [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1125277] {{en}}
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* K. Koutský, J. Kozel, J. Smetana, J. Svoboda, "Nová dílna pro Laternu magiku", ''Interscéna'' 2:2–3, 1981-1982, pp 52-72. {{cz}}
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* Josef Svoboda, ''Tajemství divadelního prostoru'', Prague: Odeon 1990. [https://uloz.to/file/obPMlA84jb7H/ ] {{cz}}
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** ''The Secret of Theatrical Space'', ed. & trans. Jarka M. Burian, New York: Applause Theatre Books, 1993. [http://western-scenic-design-11.wdfiles.com/local--files/october-18/Burian.pdf Excerpt]. {{en}}
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==Catalogues==
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* ''Josef Svoboda'', Prague: Národní divadlo, 1961, [110] pp. {{cz}}
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* Ernst Schröder, E. Killy, ''Josef Svoboda'', Berlin: Akademie der Kunste, 1980. {{de}}
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* ''Josef Svoboda, scenografiske arbejder'', Århus: Århus kunstbygning, 1982, 40 pp. {{da}}
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* ''Josef Svoboda scénographe'', ed. Giorgio Ursini Uršič, trans. Ingrid Trobitz, Paris: Union der Theater in Europa, 1992, 109 pp. {{fr}}
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** ''Josef Svoboda, Szenograph'', ed. Giorgio Ursini Uršič, trans. Ingrid Trobitz, Paris: Union der Theater in Europa, 1992, 109 pp. {{de}}
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* ''SvobodaMagika. Polyvisioni sceniche di Josef Svoboda'', eds. Massimo Puliani and Alessandro Forlani, Macerata: Macerata Ópera, 2006. With a CD. [https://books.google.no/books?id=t_tfTz-8gT0C&printsec=copyright] {{it}}
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* ''Josef Svoboda. Escenógrafo. El mundo en un espejo'', ed. Girogio Ursini Ursic, Madrid: Teatro Fernán Gómez, Centro de Arte, 2009. Review: [https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=3990361 Kriúkova] (Acotaciones). [https://www.teatrofernangomez.es/actividades/josef-svoboda-el-mundo-en-un-espejo Exhibition]. {{es}}
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==Interviews==
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* ''Scénografie mluví: Hovory Jarky Buriana s Josefem Svobodou'', ed. B. Příhodová, Brno: MUNI, and Josef Svoboda – scénograf o.p.s., 2014. {{cz}}
  
 
==Literature==
 
==Literature==
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* Jarka M. Burian, "Josef Svoboda: Theatre Artist in an Age of Science" In: ''Educational Theatre Journal'', Vol. 22, No. 2 (May, 1970), pp. 123-145. Published by The Johns Hopkins University Press. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/3205717]
 
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* Josef Svoboda, Kelly Morris and Erika Munk, "Laterna Magika" In: ''The Tulane Drama Review'', Vol. 11, No. 1 (Autumn, 1966), pp. 141-149. Published by MIT Press  [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1125277]
 
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* Vit Havránek, "Zdenek Sykora and Josef Svoboda", in: ''Lanterna magika: New technologies in Czech art of the 20th century'', Praha: KANT, 2002. [http://www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/page.php?NumPage=140]
 
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* Jan Grossmann, "Josef Svoboda", in: ''Lanterna magika: New technologies in Czech art of the 20th century'', Praha: KANT, 2002. [http://www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/page.php?NumPage=140]
 
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* Svatopluk Malý, [http://www.namu.cz/item.php?item=184 ''Vznik, rozvoj a ústup multivizuálních programů''], Akademie múzických umění, Prague, 2010. (Czech) [http://cinepur.cz/blog.php?article=168 review]
 
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* http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.techculture.org/2012_mar/etc_freeze.html
 
  
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== External links==
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* Hokes, [http://data.idnes.cz/g/kavarna/expo58/00.html Expo 58: Příručka pro pracovníky], May 1958. {{cz}}
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* http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/artist/svoboda/biography/
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* http://www.laterna.cz/ensemble.php?lang=en&p=svoboda&info=1
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* Jindřich Santar, ''EXPO 58: světová výstava v Bruselu'', Prague: Státní nakladatelství krásné literatury a umění, 1961. {{cz}}
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* http://www.olats.org/pionniers/pp/svoboda/practicien.php (French)
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* [https://www.nytimes.com/1961/02/07/archives/magic-lantern-opens-in-london-a-czechoslovak-production-uses-live.html "‘Magic Lantern’ Opens in London. A Czechoslovak Production Uses Live Performers and a Filmed Background"], ''New York Times'', 7 Feb 1961, p 39. {{en}}
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* Allen Hughes, [https://www.nytimes.com/1964/08/04/archives/theater-a-musical-spectacle-from-czechoslovakia-laterna-magika.html "Theater: A Musical Spectacle from Czechoslovakia; Laterna Magika Opens at Carnegie Hall. Movies, Stereo Sound and Actors Combine"], ''New York Times'', 4 Aug 1964, p 21. {{en}
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* [https://fresques.ina.fr/europe-des-cultures-en/fiche-media/Europe00042/joseph-svoboda-s-work-as-a-stage-designer.html "Joseph Svoboda's work as a stage designer"], ORTF, Dec 1966, 3m. Video. Conversation with the commissioner of the exhibit dedicated to the work of Josef Svoboda, and a presentation of several stage models and the principle of the magic lantern. {{fr}} with {{en}} subs
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* Bohumil Svoboda (ed.), ''Laterna magika - sborník statí'', Prague: ČSF - Filmový ústav, 1968. {{cz}}
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* Denis Bablet, ''Josef Svoboda'', Paris: La Cité, 1970, 340 pp; new ed., rev., Lausanne: l'Âge d'homme, 2004, 238+xlviii pp. {{fr}}
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** ''La scena e l'immagine. Saggio su Josef Svoboda'', trans. Clara Lusignoli, Turin: Einaudi, 1970. {{it}}
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*{{a|Burian1970}}Jarka M. Burian, [[Media:Burian Jarka M 1970 Josef Svoboda Theatre Artist in an Age of Science.pdf|"Josef Svoboda: Theatre Artist in an Age of Science"]], ''Educational Theatre Journal'' 22:2, Johns Hopkins University Press, May 1970, pp 123-145. Excerpts from Burian's ''The Scenography of Josef Svoboda''. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/3205717] {{en}}
 +
 
 +
* Jarka M. Burian, "Josef Svoboda’s American University Tour 1972", ''Theatre Design & Technology'' 9, 1973, pp 7–12, 55–58. {{en}}
 +
 
 +
* V.J. Berjozkin, ''Teatr Josefa Svobody'', Moscow: Izdatelstvo Isobrazitelnogo Isskustva, 1973. {{ru}}
 +
 
 +
* Jarka M. Burian, ''[https://muse.jhu.edu/book/77787 The Scenography of Josef Svoboda]'', Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1974, 202 pp. {{en}}
 +
** [https://muse.jhu.edu/chapter/2706249 "Projections and Synthesis"], pp 77-91. On Polyekran, Laterna Magika, and Diapolyekran.
 +
 
 +
* Věra Ptáčková, ''Josef Svoboda'', Prague: Divadelní ústav, 1983, 200 pp. {{cz}}
 +
 
 +
* Alena Báliková, ''Laterna magika / Die Laterna magika / The Magic Lantern / La lanterne magique, 1958-1983'', Prague: Laterna magika, 1984, [46] pp.
 +
 
 +
* Jarka M. Burian, "Josef Svoboda and Laterna Magika’s Latest Productions", ''TD&T'' 24, 1988, pp 18–27. {{en}}
 +
 
 +
* Jarka M. Burian, "Laterna Magika as a Synthesis of Theatre and Film: Its Evolution and Problematics", ''Theatre History Studies'' 17, 1997, pp 33–62. {{en}}
 +
 
 +
* Vít Havránek, "V prostoru", in ''Akce, slovo, pohyb, prostor. Experimenty v umění šedesátých let'', ed. Vít Havránek, Prague: Galerie hl. města Prahy, 1999, pp 178–198. {{cz}}
 +
 
 +
* Vít Havránek, "Zdenek Sykora and Josef Svoboda", in ''Lanterna Magika: New Technologies in Czech Art of the 20th Century / Nouvelles technologies dans l´art tcheque du XX siecle'', Prague: KANT, 2002. [http://www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/page.php?NumPage=140]
 +
 
 +
* Jan Grossmann, "Josef Svoboda", in ''Lanterna Magika: New Technologies in Czech Art of the 20th Century / Nouvelles technologies dans l´art tcheque du XX siecle'', Prague: KANT, 2002. [http://www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/page.php?NumPage=140]
 +
 
 +
* Marc Boucher, [http://web.archive.org/web/20090502222742/http://www.olats.org/pionniers/pp/svoboda/svoboda.php "Josef Svoboda, 1920-2002, scénographe tchèque"], ''Leonardo OLATS'', Apr 2002. {{fr}}
 +
 
 +
* Vít Havránek, [[Media:Havranek_Vit_2003_Laterna_Magika_Polyekran_Kinoautomat.pdf|"Laterna Magika, Polyekran, Kinoautomat"]], in ''Future Cinema: The Cinematic Imaginary after Film'', Karlsruhe: ZKM, and Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003. {{en}}
 +
 
 +
* Věra Ptáčková, "Josef Svoboda", ''Divadelní revue'' 2, Prague, 2003, pp 33-61. {{cz}}
 +
 
 +
* Jaroslav Halada, [http://web.archive.org/web/20050426194331/http://www.expo2005.cz/en/magazine/magazine_200507/article_06.shtml "Czechoslovaks at World Expositions—Part VII Expo ’58 in Brussels"], ''Expo 05'', 2005. {{en}}
 +
 
 +
* Václav Janeček, Štěpán Kubišta, ''Laterna Magika aneb "Divadlo zázraků"'', Prague: Národní divadlo, 2006, 379 pp. [https://www.narodni-divadlo.cz/cs/e-shop/laterna-magika-aneb-divadlo-zazraku-cs-3433 Publisher]. {{cz}}
 +
 
 +
* Emilie Benešová, ''EXPO '58: příběh československé účasti na Světové výstavě v Bruselu'', Prague: Národní archiv, 2008. {{cz}}
 +
 
 +
* Krystyna Wanatowiczová, [https://www.idnes.cz/zpravy/archiv/expo-58-kdyz-nam-patril-svet.A080613_190409_kavarna_bos "Expo 58: když nám patřil svět"], ''Mladá fronta DNES'', 18 Jun 2008. {{cz}}
 +
 
 +
* Jan H. Vitvar, Karolína Vitvarová-Vranková, "Expo 58: báječný den za oponou", ''Respekt'' 19, 28 Apr-4 May 2008, p 37. {{cz}}
 +
 
 +
* Vít Havránek, "Laterna Magika a Polyekran na Expo 58 a jejich místo v dějinách mediální interaktivity", in ''Bruselský sen: Československá účast na světové výstavě Expo 58 v Bruselu a životní styl 1. poloviny 60. let'', eds. D. Kramerová and V. Skálová, Prague: Arbor vitae, 2008, pp 156-163. [http://www.arborvitae.cz/knihy/bruselsky-sen-ceskoslovenska-ucast-na-svetove-vystave-expo-58-v-bruselu-a-zivotni-styl-1-poloviny Publisher]. [https://www.obalkyknih.cz/file/toc/358526/pdf TOC]. {{cz}}
 +
 
 +
* Martin Bernátek, [http://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/115580 "Laterna tragika: inscenační principy laterny magiky a polyekranu v 'královopolské laterně magice'"], ''Theatralia'' 12:1-2, 2009, pp 138-147. {{cz}}
 +
 +
* Daniela Bambasova, [https://doi.org/10.3917/bipr.032.0137 "La Tchécoslovaquie à Bruxelles en 1958: la face cachée d'un succès international"], ''Bulletin de l'Institut Pierre Renouvin'' 2, 2010, pp 137-148. [https://ipr.pantheonsorbonne.fr/sites/default/files/inline-files/32_0_0.pdf#page=137] {{fr}}
 +
 
 +
* Svatopluk Malý, ''Vznik, rozvoj a ústup multivizuálních programů'', Prague: Akademie múzických umění, 2010. [https://namu.cz/vznik-rozvoj-a-ustup-multivizualnich-programu Publisher]. Review: [http://cinepur.cz/blog.php?article=168 Blažíček] (Cinepur). {{cz}}
 +
 
 +
* Eva Stehlíková, [https://digilib.phil.muni.cz/_flysystem/fedora/pdf/115544.pdf "The Laterna Magika of Josef Svoboda and Alfréd Radok"], ''Theatralia'' 14:1, Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2011, pp 173-191. {{cz}}
 +
 
 +
* Helena Albertová, ''Josef Svoboda – Scénograf'', Prague: Institut umění - Divadelní ústav, 2012, 430 pp. With DVD. {{cz}}
 +
 
 +
* Karen J. Freeze, [https://sci-hub.st/10.1353/tech.2012.0043 "Czechoslovak Theater Technology under Communism: Ambassador to the West"], ''Technology and Culture'' 53:2, Apr 2012, pp 442–460. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/41475506] {{en}}
 +
 
 +
* Eugenio Bargueño Gómez, [http://polired.upm.es/index.php/ardin/article/view/1845 "Josef Svoboda: la luz construida"], ''ArDIn.  Arte, Diseño e Ingeniería'' 1, 2012, pp 27-42. {{es}}
 +
 
 +
* Kateřina Svatoňová, "Technický fragmentárně-imersní prostor: Sítě, jež si spolu hrají", ch. in Svatoňová, ''Odpoutané obrazy: Archeologie českého virtuálního prostoru'', Prague: Academia, 2013, pp 204-235. [https://dspace.cuni.cz/bitstream/handle/20.500.11956/8470/150009965.pdf#page=150] {{cz}}
 +
 
 +
* Nebojša Tabački, ''Kinetische Bühnen. Sean Kenny und Josef Svoboda : Szenografen als Wiedererfinder des Theaters'', Bielefeld: Transcript, 2014, 239 pp. {{de}}
 +
 
 +
* [[Lucie Česálková]], [[Kateřina Svatoňová]], ''Diktátor času: (De)kontextualizace fenoménu Laterny magiky'', Prague: Národní filmový archiv, and Prague: Filozofická fakulta UK, 2019, 412 pp. [https://laterna-research.cz/ Project website]. [https://www.eshop.nfa.cz/diktator-casu Publisher]. Reviews: [http://25fps.cz/2019/diktator-casu-dekontextualizace-fenomenu-laterny-magiky/ Neděla] (25fps), [https://filmadoba.eu/mezi-magikou-a-salbou-odpoutane-obrazky-a-vystava-nas-pomocnik/ Slovák] (Film a doba), [http://www.iliteratura.cz/Clanek/42149/cesalkova-lucie-svatonova-katerina-diktator-casu Jaroš] (iLiteratura). {{cz}}
 +
** ''The Dictator of Time. (De)contextualizing the Phenomenon of Laterna Magika'', trans. Tereza Chocholová, Prague: Národní filmový archiv, and Prague: Filozofická fakulta UK, 2019, 402 pp. [https://laterna-research.cz/?page_id=915 Project website]. [https://www.eshop.nfa.cz/the-dictator-of-time Publisher]. {{en}}
 +
 
 +
* Jan Černíček, "Hudební historie Laterny magiky", ''Iluminace'' 31:3, 2019, pp 61–88. [https://www.eshop.nfa.cz/iluminace-3-2019] {{cz}}
 +
 
 +
* ''Theatre and Performance Design'' 6(3): "Josef Svoboda", eds. Arnold Aronson and Jane Collins, Dec 2020, pp 197-297. [https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rdes20/6/3] {{en}}
 +
** Lucie Česálková, Kateřina Svatoňová, [https://sci-hub.st/10.1080/23322551.2020.1848211 "Scenographic Engineer Josef Svoboda and Laterna Magika as a Creative Laboratory under State Socialism"], pp 243-262. [https://doi.org/10.1080/23322551.2020.1848211] {{en}}
 +
 
 +
* [[Kateřina Svatoňová]], Libuše Heczková, "Laterna Magika During the Period of Normalization: A Case of Cultural Dislocation and Defence", in ''After Utopia: Czechoslovak Normalization Between Experiment and Experience, 1968-1989'', eds. Christiane Brenner, Michal Pullmann, and Anja Tippner, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2022, pp 315–232. {{en}}
 +
 
 +
* [http://western-scenic-design-11.wikis.bgc.bard.edu/october-18 more]
 +
 
 +
== Links==
 +
* [http://www.svoboda-scenograph.cz/ Josef Svoboda – scénograf, o.p.s.]
 +
* [https://laterna-research.cz/ Extensive research project into Laterna magika], led by Kateřina Svatoňová and Lucie Česálková, 2016-2019. [https://www.dum-umeni.cz/en/laterna-magika-de-construction-and-re-invention/t5732 Exhibition]. {{cz}}/{{en}}
 +
* [https://www.narodni-divadlo.cz/cs/soubory/laterna-magika Laterna magika], National Theatre, Prague
 +
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20080513074908/http://www.laterna.cz/index.php?lang=en Artistic ensemble of Laterna magika]. (archived)
 +
* [http://archive.olats.org/pionniers/pp/svoboda/svoboda.php Profile on Leonardo OLATS]
 
* [http://www.usitt.org/bookstore/downloads/SvobodaRegister.pdf Register of Josef Svoboda's scenographic design]
 
* [http://www.usitt.org/bookstore/downloads/SvobodaRegister.pdf Register of Josef Svoboda's scenographic design]
 +
* [https://www.gask.cz/en/exhibitions/josef-svoboda-scenographer Josef Svoboda - Scenographer], exhibition, 2020
 +
* https://www.peroni.com/ext_panel_immagine.php?imgid=106854
 +
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Svoboda Wikipedia]
  
 
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Latest revision as of 11:03, 14 July 2023

Josef Svoboda (10 May 1920, Čáslav, Czechoslovakia - 8 April 2002, Prague, Czech Republic) was a Czech stage designer and teacher. He was one of the creators of Laterna magika.

Life and work[edit]

Sourced from laterna.cz.

After completing his secondary studies; he apprenticed as a cabinet-maker. Following a master´s course; he enrolled in the Central School of Housing Industry in Prague. However; he was drawn to the theatre; where while in his home town and later in Prague he acquired his first practical experiences. Shortly after World War II he enrolled in scenography courses at the Prague Conservatory and studied architecture at the Academy of Applied Arts in Prague.

One of the predominant characteristics of Josef Svoboda was his consistent confrontation of theory and practice; in 1945; during his studies he participated in the founding of the Grand Opera of the May 5 Theatre. He became the theatre´s chief stage designer; as well as collaborating with the Theatre of Satire and the Studio of the National Theatre. In 1948; he joined the staff of the National Theatre; initially as stage designer and; as of 1951; as the head of its artistic and technical operations. Until 1992; he remained loyal to the National Theatre; when he left - and became the managing director of the independent Laterna Magika Theatre; where he had also served as artistic director since 1973.

In the May 5 Theatre he met his two principal directors - Alfréd Radok and Václav Kašlík. His collaboration with Radok refined his sense of the director´s concept of scenography and of the functional incorporation of the stage design into the context of the other components of a theatre production. Their common desire for discovery led them to a series of experimentations; the result of which was the founding of Laterna Magika; the creation of the Polyecran (multiple screens); and other audiovisual forms. Svoboda´s cooperation with opera director Václav Kašlík inspired his love for music; which helped to introduce a number of excellent operatic works to theatres both at home and abroad. During the nineteen-sixties; he met other outstanding directors; among them Otomar Krejča and Miroslav Macháček; resulting in yet other outstanding works staged at the National Theatre in Prague; and; in Krejča´s case; at the Divadlo za branou in Prague; as well as numerous theatres around Europe. In the nineteen-eighties; Svoboda´s collaboration with stage director Evald Schorm in Laterna Magika signalled a major change in the orientation of this unique theatre.

Josef Svoboda created stage designs for more than 700 theatre performances in his own country and abroad. During the second half of the 20th century; hardly any prominent director could be found worldwide with whom Svoboda would not have collaborated. These particular artists include A. Delcampe; J. Dexter; C.H. Drese; A. Everding; G. Friedrich; G. Strehler; L. Olivier; R. Petit; J.-C. Riber; and others. He was at all times appreciated more abroad than in his home country; obtaining awards and titles; such as Dr.h.c. at the Royal College of Arts in London (1969); International Theatre Award in New York (1976); Chevalier de l´Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in Paris (1976); Doctor of Fine Arts at Denison University and Western Michigan University in the U.S.A. (1978-1984); a prize of the U.S. Institute for Theater Technology in the U.S.A. (1986); the title The Royal Industry Designer in London (1989); the French Légion d´Honneur in 1993; and Dr.h.c. at the Université Catholique de Louvaine-la-Neuve in 2001.

Svoboda enjoyed the young generation; he gave his experiences at the Academy of Applied Arts in Prague; where he brought up a strong generation of Czech scenographers; and also at institutes and universities throughout the world. Only one dream he failed to fulfil - that of designing and building a theatre in Prague; one that could materialise his ample theatre experiences and demands.

Selected works: Laterna magika (Expo 1958 Brussels), Polyecran (Expo 1958 Brussels), Diacran (1958), Polyvision (with Jaroslav Frič, 1967).

Laterna Magika and Polyecran[edit]

Sourced from Burian 1970: 133-138.

Of the two primary projection systems or forms devised by Svoboda, Laterna Magika and Polyekran, the latter is relatively simpler, and although its evolution is difficult to disentangle from that of Laterna Magika, it was Polyekran that contributed to the final form of Laterna Magika, rather than the other way round, according to both Svoboda and Alfred Radok, Svoboda's creative partner. For these reasons, Polyekran (literally, "multi-screen") will be described first.

Polyekran, one of Svoboda's contributions to the Brussels World's Fair of 1958, is fundamentally a pure projection form; it is not combined with live acting or scenic elements. Its origin was related to Svoboda's response to the development of various wide-screen techniques of the 1950's; in contrast to such techniques, all of which attempted to eliminate the impression of a screen and to give the spectator the sensation of being part of the picture, Polyekran deliberately emphasizes the presence of the screen, or, rather, screens. Its principle is a simultaneous and synchronous projection of slides and film on several screens during which the images on the individual screens are in dramatic interplay with each other in the creation of a total, organic composition. Svoboda adds:

"Polyekran offers the possibility of free composition, a free shaping and creation on several screens. Images of real objects and people are projected, but the relationships among them are not realistic, but rather supra-realistic, perhaps surrealistic. Essentially, it's the principle of abstract and pure collage, which is an old and basic technique of theatre. 'Op art' is perhaps simply a more recent name for it. In any case, the contrast of varied things on stage is basic to theatre; the objects thereby acquire new relationships and significance, a new and different reality."

Technically, the elements of the Brussels production consisted of seven screens of different size and shape suspended at different angles from horizontal steel wires in front of a black velvet backdrop. Eight automatic slide projectors and seven film projectors, synchronously controlled by electronic tape, threw images upon these screens. The visual collage was accompanied by stereophonic sound (also carried on the electronic tape), the total ten-minute performance being thematically unified by its depiction of the context of the annual Prague Spring Music Festival.

In describing the relation between Polyekran and Laterna Magika, Svoboda says:

"In comparison with Polyekran, which is totally a film spectacle and technically a concern of film, Laterna Magika is theatre with living actors, singers, dancers, musicians. ... On the one hand we used familiar scenographic techniques such as slides and film projection. New expressive possibilities were added by panoramic film and projection with multi-exposure on several screens at once. A second feature is the use of mobile screens that are joined to the performance of a live actor."
(Svoboda, quoted in "O svetelnem divadle," Informacni Zpravy Scenograficke Laboratore (Sept. 1958), P. 5.)

Commenting on the essential non-autonomy of each medium, film and living actor, in Laterna Magika, Svoboda added, "The play of the actors cannot exist without the film, and vice-versa-they become one thing, a synthesis and fusion of actors and projection. Moreover, the same actors appear on stage and screen, and interact with each other. The film has a dramatic function."

Laterna Magika becomes, in effect, a new, hybrid medium, the potential force and expressiveness of which are perhaps suggested best in some remarks by Marshall McLuhan made without reference to Laterna Magika, when he spoke of "true hybrid energy": "The hybrid or the meeting of two media is a moment of truth and revelation from which new form is born. . . . The moment of the meeting of media is a moment of freedom and release from the ordinary trance and numbness imposed on them by our senses."

Like Polyekran, Laterna Magika was devised for the Brussels Fair of 1958, where it enjoyed a spectacular success. It consisted of three film and two slide projectors, synchronously controlled, plus a device that enabled deflection of one projection beam to any desired spot, including a moving screen. In a stage space measuring approximately 50' x 24' x 20' were arranged eight mobile screens with special, highly directional reflecting surfaces; they could rise, fall, move to the side, fold up, rotate, appear and disappear in precise rhythm with the actors. The stage itself was provided with a moving belt and special scissor traps to accommodate the need for virtually instantaneous live action in response to the film. One of the screens, moreover, was equipped with a diaphragmatic framing curtain that could alter both the size and shape of the screen. And the total presentation was enhanced by multi-speaker stereophonic sound.

Jan Grossman, himself a theatre director as well as a critic in Prague, was involved with the theoretical groundwork of Laterna Magika; his remarks on the new form elaborate some of its potentials:

"Laterna Magika offered the dramatist, film scenarist, poet, and composer a new language: a language that is more intense, sharply contrasting, and rhythmic; one which can captivatingly project statistics as well as ballet, documents as well as lyric verse, and is therefore capable of absorbing and artistically working over the density and dynamics, the multiplicity and contrariety of the world in which we live."
(Grossman, "0 kombinace divadla a filmu," Laterna Magika, ed. J. Hrbas (Prague, 1968), p. 76.)

Alfred Radok, director of Laterna Magika, suggested its special quality in this way: "Above all, Laterna Magika has the capacity of seeing reality from several aspects. Of 'extracting' a situation or individual from the routine context of time and place and apprehending it in some other fashion, perhaps by con- fronting it with a chronologically distinct event." (Radok, quoted by Grossman, p. 77.)

That Laterna Magika was not without its special problems, however, became evident even while it was experiencing its greatest success. For example, the filmed portions had to be prepared far in advance of their integration with the live performers, which meant that many artistic decisions had to be made and became binding long before there was any way of knowing how they might work out months later. A more profound problem was that the film virtually enslaved the live performer, whose margin of variability in performance ap- proached zero because the film was a prefabricated element to which the per- former must inflexibly adapt. Svoboda put it this way: "It means that Laterna Magika is to a certain extent deprived of that which is beautiful about theatre: that each performance can have a completely different rhythm, that the quality of a performance can be better or worse, that a production can expand its limits." (Svoboda, "Problemy sceny Laterny Magiky," Laterna Magika, p. 103. Svoboda managed to overcome this problem to some extent in a few subsequent productions by employing live TV transmission onto screens during the course of the performance: e.g., Luigi Nono's Intoleranza (Boston, 1965) and Carl Orff's Prometheus (Munich, 1968).)

Again, on a more fundamental level, Laterna Magika never experienced the ultimate test of presenting a work that was written especially for it; that is, a work other than revue or cabaret entertainment. In its original version, as an entertaining propaganda piece for Czechoslovakia, it was a success. Its original creators had hopes of eventually using the form for Shakespeare or explorations of challenging contemporary realities, for example the Eichmann case, but managerial and administrative elements viewed Laterna Magika in terms of economics and politics, as a source of profit and an instrument of propaganda, with the result that its subsequent artistic career was aborted; its several sequels rarely rose above tourist level entertainment.

The Creation of the World (Diapolyekran)[edit]

Sourced from Burian 1970: 138.

Svoboda's Diapolyekran projection system had its first public exposure at the Montreal Expo 67 as a ten-minute feature entitled The Creation of the World. It, too, employs a multi-screen, multi-projection (only slides) technique reminiscent of Polyekran in its pure film, non-actor features, but in a tighter, shallower, and more stable form. As the illustration suggests, the projection screens form a wall composed of cubes, one-hundred and twelve in all. Each cube has two automatic slide projectors mounted at its rear, capable of flashing five images per second, even though the actual rate was considerably slower; a total of thirty-thousand slides were used, and the whole operation was computerized. Moreover, each cube was capable of sliding forward or backward approximately twelve inches, thus providing a surface in kinetic relief for the projections. The basic technique is of course a collage or montage that allows for a great range of visual effects: the entire wall of cubes may unite to present one total, conventionally coherent picture, or else literally distintegrate that picture into fragments, or, indeed, present a surrealistic collage of disparate images. And all of this occurs in a dynamic, rhythmic flow ideally suited to projecting process as well as startling, abrupt confrontation. The original presentation was an eloquent, sensitive expression of wonder at the miracle and mystery of creation, evolution, and civilization.

Publications[edit]

  • Josef Svoboda, "Laterna Magika", ed. Erika Munk, trans. Kelly Morris, The Tulane Drama Review 11:1, Autumn 1966, MIT Press, pp. 141-149. [1] (English)
  • K. Koutský, J. Kozel, J. Smetana, J. Svoboda, "Nová dílna pro Laternu magiku", Interscéna 2:2–3, 1981-1982, pp 52-72. (Czech)
  • Josef Svoboda, Tajemství divadelního prostoru, Prague: Odeon 1990. [2] (Czech)
    • The Secret of Theatrical Space, ed. & trans. Jarka M. Burian, New York: Applause Theatre Books, 1993. Excerpt. (English)

Catalogues[edit]

  • Josef Svoboda, Prague: Národní divadlo, 1961, [110] pp. (Czech)
  • Ernst Schröder, E. Killy, Josef Svoboda, Berlin: Akademie der Kunste, 1980. (German)
  • Josef Svoboda, scenografiske arbejder, Århus: Århus kunstbygning, 1982, 40 pp. (Danish)
  • Josef Svoboda scénographe, ed. Giorgio Ursini Uršič, trans. Ingrid Trobitz, Paris: Union der Theater in Europa, 1992, 109 pp. (French)
    • Josef Svoboda, Szenograph, ed. Giorgio Ursini Uršič, trans. Ingrid Trobitz, Paris: Union der Theater in Europa, 1992, 109 pp. (German)
  • SvobodaMagika. Polyvisioni sceniche di Josef Svoboda, eds. Massimo Puliani and Alessandro Forlani, Macerata: Macerata Ópera, 2006. With a CD. [3] (Italian)
  • Josef Svoboda. Escenógrafo. El mundo en un espejo, ed. Girogio Ursini Ursic, Madrid: Teatro Fernán Gómez, Centro de Arte, 2009. Review: Kriúkova (Acotaciones). Exhibition. (Spanish)

Interviews[edit]

  • Scénografie mluví: Hovory Jarky Buriana s Josefem Svobodou, ed. B. Příhodová, Brno: MUNI, and Josef Svoboda – scénograf o.p.s., 2014. (Czech)

Literature[edit]

  • Jindřich Santar, EXPO 58: světová výstava v Bruselu, Prague: Státní nakladatelství krásné literatury a umění, 1961. (Czech)
  • "Joseph Svoboda's work as a stage designer", ORTF, Dec 1966, 3m. Video. Conversation with the commissioner of the exhibit dedicated to the work of Josef Svoboda, and a presentation of several stage models and the principle of the magic lantern. (French) with (English) subs
  • Bohumil Svoboda (ed.), Laterna magika - sborník statí, Prague: ČSF - Filmový ústav, 1968. (Czech)
  • Denis Bablet, Josef Svoboda, Paris: La Cité, 1970, 340 pp; new ed., rev., Lausanne: l'Âge d'homme, 2004, 238+xlviii pp. (French)
    • La scena e l'immagine. Saggio su Josef Svoboda, trans. Clara Lusignoli, Turin: Einaudi, 1970. (Italian)
  • Jarka M. Burian, "Josef Svoboda’s American University Tour 1972", Theatre Design & Technology 9, 1973, pp 7–12, 55–58. (English)
  • V.J. Berjozkin, Teatr Josefa Svobody, Moscow: Izdatelstvo Isobrazitelnogo Isskustva, 1973. (Russian)
  • Věra Ptáčková, Josef Svoboda, Prague: Divadelní ústav, 1983, 200 pp. (Czech)
  • Alena Báliková, Laterna magika / Die Laterna magika / The Magic Lantern / La lanterne magique, 1958-1983, Prague: Laterna magika, 1984, [46] pp.
  • Jarka M. Burian, "Josef Svoboda and Laterna Magika’s Latest Productions", TD&T 24, 1988, pp 18–27. (English)
  • Jarka M. Burian, "Laterna Magika as a Synthesis of Theatre and Film: Its Evolution and Problematics", Theatre History Studies 17, 1997, pp 33–62. (English)
  • Vít Havránek, "V prostoru", in Akce, slovo, pohyb, prostor. Experimenty v umění šedesátých let, ed. Vít Havránek, Prague: Galerie hl. města Prahy, 1999, pp 178–198. (Czech)
  • Vít Havránek, "Zdenek Sykora and Josef Svoboda", in Lanterna Magika: New Technologies in Czech Art of the 20th Century / Nouvelles technologies dans l´art tcheque du XX siecle, Prague: KANT, 2002. [5]
  • Jan Grossmann, "Josef Svoboda", in Lanterna Magika: New Technologies in Czech Art of the 20th Century / Nouvelles technologies dans l´art tcheque du XX siecle, Prague: KANT, 2002. [6]
  • Věra Ptáčková, "Josef Svoboda", Divadelní revue 2, Prague, 2003, pp 33-61. (Czech)
  • Václav Janeček, Štěpán Kubišta, Laterna Magika aneb "Divadlo zázraků", Prague: Národní divadlo, 2006, 379 pp. Publisher. (Czech)
  • Emilie Benešová, EXPO '58: příběh československé účasti na Světové výstavě v Bruselu, Prague: Národní archiv, 2008. (Czech)
  • Jan H. Vitvar, Karolína Vitvarová-Vranková, "Expo 58: báječný den za oponou", Respekt 19, 28 Apr-4 May 2008, p 37. (Czech)
  • Vít Havránek, "Laterna Magika a Polyekran na Expo 58 a jejich místo v dějinách mediální interaktivity", in Bruselský sen: Československá účast na světové výstavě Expo 58 v Bruselu a životní styl 1. poloviny 60. let, eds. D. Kramerová and V. Skálová, Prague: Arbor vitae, 2008, pp 156-163. Publisher. TOC. (Czech)
  • Svatopluk Malý, Vznik, rozvoj a ústup multivizuálních programů, Prague: Akademie múzických umění, 2010. Publisher. Review: Blažíček (Cinepur). (Czech)
  • Helena Albertová, Josef Svoboda – Scénograf, Prague: Institut umění - Divadelní ústav, 2012, 430 pp. With DVD. (Czech)
  • Kateřina Svatoňová, "Technický fragmentárně-imersní prostor: Sítě, jež si spolu hrají", ch. in Svatoňová, Odpoutané obrazy: Archeologie českého virtuálního prostoru, Prague: Academia, 2013, pp 204-235. [9] (Czech)
  • Nebojša Tabački, Kinetische Bühnen. Sean Kenny und Josef Svoboda : Szenografen als Wiedererfinder des Theaters, Bielefeld: Transcript, 2014, 239 pp. (German)
  • Jan Černíček, "Hudební historie Laterny magiky", Iluminace 31:3, 2019, pp 61–88. [10] (Czech)
  • Kateřina Svatoňová, Libuše Heczková, "Laterna Magika During the Period of Normalization: A Case of Cultural Dislocation and Defence", in After Utopia: Czechoslovak Normalization Between Experiment and Experience, 1968-1989, eds. Christiane Brenner, Michal Pullmann, and Anja Tippner, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2022, pp 315–232. (English)

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