Biennale Awards

Award ceremony, 5 September, 18:00h, park in front of the Rectorate

An important task of the Biennale of Scene Design is to relaunch the valuation of creative work related to scene design, primarily in theater, as well as different segments of contemporary scene production in Serbia and the region. The Biennale’s panel of expert judges will present awards and accolades, in line with the categories that were established in 1997, and which maintain high standings in professional circles.

The Bi! awards and accolades are guided by the principles and values that were defined in the establishment of the Biennale in 1997: to shed light on theatre production, as well as on the production of events that include elements of scene design but are not included in the usual award categories (scenography, costume, scene music, etc.). At the same time the Biennale promotes so-called invisible people, those working in the background, but the makers of theatre, positioning them at the same level as the authors. The new, renewed Biennale continues this tradition, while acknowledging all the changes that have occurred in the meantime, both in the professions that “manufacture” the elements of scene design, and in the practices of scene design themselves.

The regional Selection Team consisted of: Janko Ljumović, producer and professor (Podgorica, Cetinje); Anja Pirnat, producer (Ljubljana); Mirna Rustemović, dramaturge (Zagreb); Besfort Idrizi, actor and director (Bitola); Asja Krsmanović, dramaturge (Sarajevo); and Darinka Mihajlović a.k.a. Selena Orb, costume designer (Belgrade, Novi Sad). Through intensive work over the course of several months, they picked 12 productions for the selection for judging.

The chosen productions are:

1. Kaspar, directed by Miloš Lolić, Yugoslav Drama Theater – JDP, Belgrade; 
2. Blood Wedding, directed by Igor Vuk Torbica, Serbian National Theatre, Novi Sad, Festival “Theatre City”, Budva;
3. The Caucasian Chalk Circle, directed by Paolo Mađeli, Sarajevo National Theatre, Sarajevo;
4. My Factory, directed by Selma Spahić, Bosnian National Theatre Zenica, Zenica; 
5. The Bacchae – Brief Review of the Break-up, directed by Igor Vuk Torbica, National Theatre Bitola, Bitola;
6. Mind the Gap, directed by Romano Nikolić, National Theatre of Croatia Varaždin, Varaždin; 
7. Scorched, directed by Nina Rajić Kranjac, Slovene National Theatre – SNG, Ljubljana;
8. Anna Karenina, directed by Mirko Radonjić, Empty Space Drama Studio, Podgorica, and Royal Theatre Zetski Dom, Cetinje;
9. Audience by Václav Havel, directed by Agon Myftari, Qendra Multimedia, Priština;
10. The Healing of the Cricket, directed by Ivana Đilas, Slovene National Theatre – SNG, Nova Gorica;
11. Cement – Belgrade, directed by Sebastijan Horvat, Belgrade Drama Theatre – BDP, Belgrade;
12. The Brothers Karamazov, directed by Oliver Frljić, Zagreb Youth Theatre – ZKM, Zagreb.

The panel of judges consisted of: Radivoje Dinulović, architect (Belgrade, Novi Sad), Filip Jovanovski, architect, scenographer and visual artist (Skopje, Bitola); and Marko Botić, dramaturge, theatrologist, musician and theatre critic (Zagreb, Split). Having watched ten performances (two were no longer on the repertoire), the judges reached the following unanimous decisions.

The BiSD 2022 Grand Prix is presented to the authorial team of Toon Tellegen’s The Healing of the Cricket, directed by Ivana Djilas and produced by the Slovene National Theatre Nova Gorica.

The BiSD 2022 Award for Total Scene Design is presented to the authorial team of Federico García Lorca’s Blood Wedding, directed by Igor Vuk Torbica and coproduced by the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad and Festival “Theatre City”, Budva.

The BiSD 2022 Special Award (ex aequo) is presented to the authorial team of The Brothers Karamazov, based on the text by Fyodor Dostoevsky, directed by Oliver Frljić, and produced by the Zagreb Youth Theatre.

The special award is presented for creative interweaving of scene design with the fixed spatial elements of the theatre stage.

The BiSD 2022 Special Award (ex aequo) for the authorial and performance team of Anna Karenina, based on the text by Leo Tolstoy, directed by Mirko Radonjić, and coproduced by Zetski Dom Royal Theatre from Cetinje, Montenegro, and the Empty Space Drama Studio from Podgorica.

The special award is presented for creative unity of the authorial and performing teams, considered as a critical component element of scene design.