The theatre space as essayistic space: on Infini 1-15 by Decoratelier

Abstract

ABSTRACT I will introduce the notion of the ‘theatre space as an essayistic space' by exploring and unfolding Infini 1-15 (2015) by Decoratelier. As a scenographer and founder of Decoratelier, Jozef Wouters invited 15 artists from various disciplines to create an infini, a backdrop on which a view or a landscape is painted, in response to the question: ‘Which space should we depict in theatre at the present time?' Scenography, for Wouters, is not a medium but a way of working. It becomes a strategy that creates the possibility to start an encounter and a dialogue with what already exists: the architecture of a specific space. Within this dialogue, scenography becomes ‘a negotiation in space, between the space it refers to and the space that there is'. The form of Infini 1-15, the kind of dialogue that the performance establishes, and Wouters' practice with Decoratelier prior to the performance resonate with the form of the essay. In my contribution for this special issue, I explore how the form of the essay applies to Wouters’ understanding of scenography and how his approach can help us to conceive of theatre space as an essayistic space.