zeppelin magazine | no #55

Baroque, hedonistic, playful, inspired by childhood memories, from simplest toys to most innocent feelings, Dragos Buhagiar is not afraid of being a nostalgic. He stopped building walls a long time ago: he turned himself into space-generating objects, objects interacting with the actor, playing the game, defining, challenging or getting into drama. He says a scenographer should really be specific, by no means opulent, actually assisting the director and the actors to develop a theme.

Interview by Mariana Celac
Photo: Irina Vencu, the Liviu Ciulei archive
English translation: Magda Teodorescu

Mariana C.: Some years ago, we met at a Festival of Architecture Film in the French Institute. Then, you chaired a jury that awarded the first prize to a film (directed by two colleagues, a filmmaker, and an architect) about architecture and power. I think it was ten years ago. Lots of events have happened since then; a new generation of architects came “to the fore.”

There wasa ticking, then the steps of some dancers endlessly rotating, an old lady winking at someone who was coming, gushes of light from a fountain decomposing in rogvaiv, some tune I must have heard once… and darkness. I have just described the outlines of a sensorial suggestive experience, and, certainly, I conjured up many memories. Though it was rather blurred, yet tangible, that was Darren Almond’s installation If I had you (try the GOOGLE) I experienced four years ago at Palazzo della Ragione in Milan.