Pub Date : 2021-10-02DOI: 10.1080/23322551.2021.2004787
T. Brejzek, J. Collins
When Pandora, the first human woman created by Hephaestus, out of curiosity opened the box Zeus had gifted her, all evils, plagues and diseases escaped from the box swiftly and took hold in the worldly realm. What remained in the opened box, however, stubbornly, and resisting to leave, was elpis, hope. And hope, in the classical Greek sense of the expectation of a positive – or negative – future outcome is what is needed today in the face of the rapid human destruction of the environment. Hope is needed to resist ever-growing consumerism, ever-faster consumption and a reliance on fossil fuels. Hope is what thousands of people – driven by a young and angry generation – articulate through peaceful yet committed marches through the cities of this world. Hope is what propels positive change. Not a passive, contemplative hope but rather a critical hope that questions and interrogates the present and that demands action. Critical hope is what fuels this special double issue on ecological design in scenography. Ecological or sustainable design, overall, aims to minimise a product’s negative impact on the environment from its production to its consumption. In the context of an expanded scenography comprising set, scenery, props, costumes, analogue and digital sound, image production and lighting, ecological design decisions are especially interconnected and require close collaboration between artists, workshops and industry throughout the lifecycle of a production. The Australian academic and designer Tanja Beer seemed the obvious choice to curate this special issue on ecological design in scenography, in that Beer not only coined the term ‘ecoscenography’ but also, as a practitioner, has begun to explore its manifestations in terms of materialities, aesthetics, coand participative design and community engagement. International in its scope, this issue introduces various approaches to ‘ecoscenography’ and various theoretical articulations that speak to its significance. The questions asked by the contributors and the critical reflections on their practices carry enormous merit in their propositional nature and their approach of ‘small steps’ towards ecological responsibility in scenography. This merit lies in an understanding of the significance of an (often unspectacular) design process and the many imperfections and failures that come with entering new territory. As editors, we are excited by the courage and creativity shown by ‘ecoscenographers’ and look forward to following their future projects closely. We are also hoping that by fostering the discourse on ecological ethics in the field of artistic spatial design through this special issue, we contribute to its dissemination and proliferation, both theoretically and in practice. This issue’s Report from... takes up its main theme with a conversation between veteran British scenographer Pamela Howard and Jane Collins at Howard’s unconventional residence in Selsey Bill, a reconfigured railway carriage
{"title":"Editors' Introduction","authors":"T. Brejzek, J. Collins","doi":"10.1080/23322551.2021.2004787","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23322551.2021.2004787","url":null,"abstract":"When Pandora, the first human woman created by Hephaestus, out of curiosity opened the box Zeus had gifted her, all evils, plagues and diseases escaped from the box swiftly and took hold in the worldly realm. What remained in the opened box, however, stubbornly, and resisting to leave, was elpis, hope. And hope, in the classical Greek sense of the expectation of a positive – or negative – future outcome is what is needed today in the face of the rapid human destruction of the environment. Hope is needed to resist ever-growing consumerism, ever-faster consumption and a reliance on fossil fuels. Hope is what thousands of people – driven by a young and angry generation – articulate through peaceful yet committed marches through the cities of this world. Hope is what propels positive change. Not a passive, contemplative hope but rather a critical hope that questions and interrogates the present and that demands action. Critical hope is what fuels this special double issue on ecological design in scenography. Ecological or sustainable design, overall, aims to minimise a product’s negative impact on the environment from its production to its consumption. In the context of an expanded scenography comprising set, scenery, props, costumes, analogue and digital sound, image production and lighting, ecological design decisions are especially interconnected and require close collaboration between artists, workshops and industry throughout the lifecycle of a production. The Australian academic and designer Tanja Beer seemed the obvious choice to curate this special issue on ecological design in scenography, in that Beer not only coined the term ‘ecoscenography’ but also, as a practitioner, has begun to explore its manifestations in terms of materialities, aesthetics, coand participative design and community engagement. International in its scope, this issue introduces various approaches to ‘ecoscenography’ and various theoretical articulations that speak to its significance. The questions asked by the contributors and the critical reflections on their practices carry enormous merit in their propositional nature and their approach of ‘small steps’ towards ecological responsibility in scenography. This merit lies in an understanding of the significance of an (often unspectacular) design process and the many imperfections and failures that come with entering new territory. As editors, we are excited by the courage and creativity shown by ‘ecoscenographers’ and look forward to following their future projects closely. We are also hoping that by fostering the discourse on ecological ethics in the field of artistic spatial design through this special issue, we contribute to its dissemination and proliferation, both theoretically and in practice. This issue’s Report from... takes up its main theme with a conversation between veteran British scenographer Pamela Howard and Jane Collins at Howard’s unconventional residence in Selsey Bill, a reconfigured railway carriage","PeriodicalId":37207,"journal":{"name":"Theatre and Performance Design","volume":"20 1","pages":"147 - 148"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85654754","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-02DOI: 10.1080/23322551.2021.2003157
A. Y. Eldhose
This visual essay explores Organic Theatre, a new approach to performance making that combines outdoor theatre with agricultural practices – a project initiated by theatre activist S.N. Sudheer with the cultural organization Wide Inspiration Wide Aspiration (WIWA) in Kerala, South India (2016–present). Organic Theatre’s scenography parallels the cultivation period of a crop and evolves as part of the agrarian process. As the theatre project develops, so too does the transformation of the landscape, from a barren countryside to that of a thickly sprouted field. The unfolding of theatrical and agrarian activities in Organic Theatre contributes to the social and ecological vitality of place. As well as conducting classes on organic farming with the local community, the project also focuses on telling stories of agrarian culture – through singing songs and dancing – which evolves alongside the propagation of organic produce. The theatrical activity begins as the seeds sprout, where the agrarian spaces, thatched houses and the banks of water reservoirs quickly become spaces of social interaction for the villagers, irrespective of gender and caste. Through its creative as well as productive blend of cultural and agricultural practices, Organic Theatre provides space for positive social and ecological interactions across Kerala’s local communities. All photos are courtesy of Wide Inspiration Wide Aspiration (WIWA).
{"title":"The unfolding of theatrical and agrarian activities in Organic Theatre","authors":"A. Y. Eldhose","doi":"10.1080/23322551.2021.2003157","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23322551.2021.2003157","url":null,"abstract":"This visual essay explores Organic Theatre, a new approach to performance making that combines outdoor theatre with agricultural practices – a project initiated by theatre activist S.N. Sudheer with the cultural organization Wide Inspiration Wide Aspiration (WIWA) in Kerala, South India (2016–present). Organic Theatre’s scenography parallels the cultivation period of a crop and evolves as part of the agrarian process. As the theatre project develops, so too does the transformation of the landscape, from a barren countryside to that of a thickly sprouted field. The unfolding of theatrical and agrarian activities in Organic Theatre contributes to the social and ecological vitality of place. As well as conducting classes on organic farming with the local community, the project also focuses on telling stories of agrarian culture – through singing songs and dancing – which evolves alongside the propagation of organic produce. The theatrical activity begins as the seeds sprout, where the agrarian spaces, thatched houses and the banks of water reservoirs quickly become spaces of social interaction for the villagers, irrespective of gender and caste. Through its creative as well as productive blend of cultural and agricultural practices, Organic Theatre provides space for positive social and ecological interactions across Kerala’s local communities. All photos are courtesy of Wide Inspiration Wide Aspiration (WIWA).","PeriodicalId":37207,"journal":{"name":"Theatre and Performance Design","volume":"41 1","pages":"220 - 226"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79560194","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-02DOI: 10.1080/23322551.2021.2002069
Jane Collins
{"title":"Report From… Selsey Bill Jane Collins in conversation with Pamela Howard","authors":"Jane Collins","doi":"10.1080/23322551.2021.2002069","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23322551.2021.2002069","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":37207,"journal":{"name":"Theatre and Performance Design","volume":"21 1","pages":"227 - 233"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88198703","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-02DOI: 10.1080/23322551.2021.2003155
A. von Rosen
In recent decades, international scenography studies has emerged as a vital academic and creative domain. Key works such as Joslin McKinney and Scott Palmer’s Scenography Expanded: An Introduction to Contemporary Performance Design (2017) and Arnold Aronson’s The Routledge Companion to Scenography (2017) demonstrate that the concept of scenography has moved beyond the theatre to include potentially any setting. In particular, more or less new ways of theorizing scenography have led to a shift from asking what scenography ‘is’ to asking what it ‘does’ as an active, relational, co-creative and holistic agent of performance. However, this move away from understandings of scenography as mute and static background in the theatre, towards an expanded understanding of scenography, has also resulted in conceptual unclearness and frustration. For example, it is debated whether designers of set, lighting, costume, sound, video and so forth actually can be said to create scenography if it is conceptualized as a relational event happening in time and space. Another issue up for debate is the risk of the concept of scenography becoming useless if it expands to encompass potentially anything. It is in this complex, contested as well as celebratory landscape that Rachel Hann’s Beyond Scenography (2019) makes a seminal, academic contribution. Hann, in Beyond Scenography, focuses on the anglophone adoption of scenography, from the 1960s to today. In resonance with recent theoretical developments, she states that the ‘book is an argument for what scenography does: how assemblages of scenographic traits orientate, situate, and shape staged events’ (I). Structured in nine sections, the book consists of an introduction, seven chapters and a conclusion, each introduced with a sentence from Hann’s manifesto, worth quoting at length since it neatly summarizes her theoretical quest:
{"title":"Beyond scenography","authors":"A. von Rosen","doi":"10.1080/23322551.2021.2003155","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23322551.2021.2003155","url":null,"abstract":"In recent decades, international scenography studies has emerged as a vital academic and creative domain. Key works such as Joslin McKinney and Scott Palmer’s Scenography Expanded: An Introduction to Contemporary Performance Design (2017) and Arnold Aronson’s The Routledge Companion to Scenography (2017) demonstrate that the concept of scenography has moved beyond the theatre to include potentially any setting. In particular, more or less new ways of theorizing scenography have led to a shift from asking what scenography ‘is’ to asking what it ‘does’ as an active, relational, co-creative and holistic agent of performance. However, this move away from understandings of scenography as mute and static background in the theatre, towards an expanded understanding of scenography, has also resulted in conceptual unclearness and frustration. For example, it is debated whether designers of set, lighting, costume, sound, video and so forth actually can be said to create scenography if it is conceptualized as a relational event happening in time and space. Another issue up for debate is the risk of the concept of scenography becoming useless if it expands to encompass potentially anything. It is in this complex, contested as well as celebratory landscape that Rachel Hann’s Beyond Scenography (2019) makes a seminal, academic contribution. Hann, in Beyond Scenography, focuses on the anglophone adoption of scenography, from the 1960s to today. In resonance with recent theoretical developments, she states that the ‘book is an argument for what scenography does: how assemblages of scenographic traits orientate, situate, and shape staged events’ (I). Structured in nine sections, the book consists of an introduction, seven chapters and a conclusion, each introduced with a sentence from Hann’s manifesto, worth quoting at length since it neatly summarizes her theoretical quest:","PeriodicalId":37207,"journal":{"name":"Theatre and Performance Design","volume":"1 1","pages":"240 - 241"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89413526","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-02DOI: 10.1080/23322551.2021.1996105
Kathryn Kelly, Tessa Rixon, Jeremy Neideck, S. Pike, A. Brumpton
ABSTRACT Weaving together the collective experience of several Australian scenographers and dramaturgs, this article examines how performance-making practices and scenographic design processes can be reshaped by our deepening understanding of the ecology that surrounds us. As practitioner-scholars, we are trying to consider how new ‘practice actions’ in scenography can be increasingly ecologically responsive. This is a very particular endeavour in Australia where landscape is contested, First Nations claims are ignored, and denial of the climate emergency is official government policy. Over a decade ago, British artists and environmental activists Paul Kingsnorth and Dougald Hine founded the Dark Mountain project by publishing a Manifesto that warned of an impending, headlong rush into the abyss of ecocide. Heeding their call as our starting provocation, this article offers two case studies that demonstrate possible ecoscenographic approaches in Australian performance-making. While the case studies raise as many questions as they provide answers, they demonstrate how keeping environmentalism at the forefront of creativity can help us shape a more-than-human future in an ecologically fragile world.
{"title":"Dark Mountain: scenography for the end of the world and a more-than-human future","authors":"Kathryn Kelly, Tessa Rixon, Jeremy Neideck, S. Pike, A. Brumpton","doi":"10.1080/23322551.2021.1996105","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23322551.2021.1996105","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT\u0000 Weaving together the collective experience of several Australian scenographers and dramaturgs, this article examines how performance-making practices and scenographic design processes can be reshaped by our deepening understanding of the ecology that surrounds us. As practitioner-scholars, we are trying to consider how new ‘practice actions’ in scenography can be increasingly ecologically responsive. This is a very particular endeavour in Australia where landscape is contested, First Nations claims are ignored, and denial of the climate emergency is official government policy. Over a decade ago, British artists and environmental activists Paul Kingsnorth and Dougald Hine founded the Dark Mountain project by publishing a Manifesto that warned of an impending, headlong rush into the abyss of ecocide. Heeding their call as our starting provocation, this article offers two case studies that demonstrate possible ecoscenographic approaches in Australian performance-making. While the case studies raise as many questions as they provide answers, they demonstrate how keeping environmentalism at the forefront of creativity can help us shape a more-than-human future in an ecologically fragile world.","PeriodicalId":37207,"journal":{"name":"Theatre and Performance Design","volume":"59 1","pages":"163 - 179"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84080366","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-02DOI: 10.1080/23322551.2021.1996108
Tanja Beer
In the 12 years I have spent exploring sustainability in the performing arts, nothing has inspired me more than the concept of regenerative development and the creative projects that speak to this movement. Regenerative development is a place-based and community-orientated approach to sustainability that emphasises socio-ecological potential (du Plessis 2012). The term ‘regenerative’ focuses on ‘enhancing life in all its manifestations – humans, other species, ecological systems – through an enduring responsibility of stewardship’ (Cole 2012, 1). This holistic approach reconsiders limited notions of sustainability from one of moderation and restraint, to one of possibility and abundance, where local contexts, communities and place-specific aspirations take centre stage. Reframing sustainability as a notion of socio-ecological opportunity has been a crucial part of my development of The Living Stage – ‘a global initiative that combines stage design, horticulture and community engagement to create recyclable, biodegradable, edible and biodiverse performance spaces’ (Beer 2015) (Figure 1). The Living Stage was a response to my desire to adopt regenerative strategies that engender ‘thrive-ability’, where the aim is not only mitigating waste and environmental impact, but also seeking to create positive environmental and social outcomes. The project, which essentially combines theatre making with gardening, has been inspired by a number of creative projects and practitioners, many of whom exist outside of the performing arts, but have no less impacted my thinking and practice. I highlight a few key protagonists here.
在12年的时间里，我一直在探索表演艺术的可持续性，没有什么比再生发展的概念和与这一运动相关的创意项目更能激励我了。再生发展是一种以地方为基础、以社区为导向的可持续发展方法，强调社会生态潜力(du Plessis 2012)。“再生”一词的重点是“通过持久的管理责任来增强生命的所有表现形式——人类、其他物种、生态系统”(Cole 2012, 1)。这种整体方法重新考虑了可持续性的有限概念，从适度和克制转变为可能性和丰富，在这种情况下，当地环境、社区和特定地点的愿望成为中心舞台。将可持续性重新定义为社会生态机会的概念是我开发The Living Stage的关键部分——“这是一项结合舞台设计、园艺和社区参与的全球倡议，旨在创造可回收、可生物降解、可食用和生物多样性的表演空间”(Beer 2015)(图1)。Living Stage是我对采用再生策略以产生“繁荣能力”的愿望的回应。其目标不仅是减少浪费和环境影响，而且还寻求创造积极的环境和社会成果。这个项目本质上是将戏剧制作与园艺结合起来，它受到了许多创造性项目和从业者的启发，其中许多人存在于表演艺术之外，但对我的思考和实践产生了同样的影响。我在这里强调几个关键的主角。
{"title":"Regenerative inspiration for ecoscenography","authors":"Tanja Beer","doi":"10.1080/23322551.2021.1996108","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23322551.2021.1996108","url":null,"abstract":"In the 12 years I have spent exploring sustainability in the performing arts, nothing has inspired me more than the concept of regenerative development and the creative projects that speak to this movement. Regenerative development is a place-based and community-orientated approach to sustainability that emphasises socio-ecological potential (du Plessis 2012). The term ‘regenerative’ focuses on ‘enhancing life in all its manifestations – humans, other species, ecological systems – through an enduring responsibility of stewardship’ (Cole 2012, 1). This holistic approach reconsiders limited notions of sustainability from one of moderation and restraint, to one of possibility and abundance, where local contexts, communities and place-specific aspirations take centre stage. Reframing sustainability as a notion of socio-ecological opportunity has been a crucial part of my development of The Living Stage – ‘a global initiative that combines stage design, horticulture and community engagement to create recyclable, biodegradable, edible and biodiverse performance spaces’ (Beer 2015) (Figure 1). The Living Stage was a response to my desire to adopt regenerative strategies that engender ‘thrive-ability’, where the aim is not only mitigating waste and environmental impact, but also seeking to create positive environmental and social outcomes. The project, which essentially combines theatre making with gardening, has been inspired by a number of creative projects and practitioners, many of whom exist outside of the performing arts, but have no less impacted my thinking and practice. I highlight a few key protagonists here.","PeriodicalId":37207,"journal":{"name":"Theatre and Performance Design","volume":"8 1","pages":"234 - 239"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84353137","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-02DOI: 10.1080/23322551.2021.1996106
Sandra Goldmark, Katharine Purdum
ABSTRACT Theatrical designers know that the objects they put onstage communicate ideas beyond and in addition to what can be read in the text and help to co-create the meaning of a piece. At present, what is being communicated by much of the material world of the American theatre is an unfortunate story of environmental degradation, waste and inequity in the context of an increasingly urgent climate emergency. This article examines patterns of design and production and argues that to move forward, theatre artists can reshape the meaning they create onstage to include considerations of sustainability and environmental justice in design choices. We argue that circular, regenerative design practices in conversation with clear public statements can forge a collective vision for sustainable American theatre. From the smallest prop to the loftiest mission statement, every choice theatre artists make has the potential to tell a different and better story: one of environmental justice, renewal and sustainability.
{"title":"In words and chairs: making meaning of sustainability, equity and circularity in American theatrical design and production","authors":"Sandra Goldmark, Katharine Purdum","doi":"10.1080/23322551.2021.1996106","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23322551.2021.1996106","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Theatrical designers know that the objects they put onstage communicate ideas beyond and in addition to what can be read in the text and help to co-create the meaning of a piece. At present, what is being communicated by much of the material world of the American theatre is an unfortunate story of environmental degradation, waste and inequity in the context of an increasingly urgent climate emergency. This article examines patterns of design and production and argues that to move forward, theatre artists can reshape the meaning they create onstage to include considerations of sustainability and environmental justice in design choices. We argue that circular, regenerative design practices in conversation with clear public statements can forge a collective vision for sustainable American theatre. From the smallest prop to the loftiest mission statement, every choice theatre artists make has the potential to tell a different and better story: one of environmental justice, renewal and sustainability.","PeriodicalId":37207,"journal":{"name":"Theatre and Performance Design","volume":"430 1","pages":"152 - 162"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75057099","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-04-03DOI: 10.1080/23322551.2021.1925468
Dan Strutt, R. Cisneros
ABSTRACT People might assume that dancing with a digital avatar would be a relatively distant, dehumanizing or disembodied process. However, in this article we propose that effective and creative choreographic practice can be achieved by working with a virtual representation of a dancer, and we offer two case studies to evidence the practical application of motion capture technology within this context. We observed that the virtual model quickly and naturally becomes an extension of the dancer's interiority and that a dynamic affective attunement between dancer and avatar spontaneously develops. We describe how the relationship between the physical and the virtual dancing body raises several practical, theoretical and even philosophical questions for choreographic approach, style and process. Building from Susanne Langer's (1953) germinal conception of the ‘virtual powers’ of dance, we articulate a practice-led research opportunity to critically reflect on conventional choreographic practices through the affordances of a specifically digital virtuality, in ways that can open out the kinds of affective, emotional and phenomenological frameworks within which creation occurs. The unique affordances of recent motion capture systems, offer naturalistic three-dimensional environments with an increased improvisational interactivity that simply cannot be achieved with video-based media.
{"title":"Virtual relationships: the dancer and the avatar","authors":"Dan Strutt, R. Cisneros","doi":"10.1080/23322551.2021.1925468","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23322551.2021.1925468","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT People might assume that dancing with a digital avatar would be a relatively distant, dehumanizing or disembodied process. However, in this article we propose that effective and creative choreographic practice can be achieved by working with a virtual representation of a dancer, and we offer two case studies to evidence the practical application of motion capture technology within this context. We observed that the virtual model quickly and naturally becomes an extension of the dancer's interiority and that a dynamic affective attunement between dancer and avatar spontaneously develops. We describe how the relationship between the physical and the virtual dancing body raises several practical, theoretical and even philosophical questions for choreographic approach, style and process. Building from Susanne Langer's (1953) germinal conception of the ‘virtual powers’ of dance, we articulate a practice-led research opportunity to critically reflect on conventional choreographic practices through the affordances of a specifically digital virtuality, in ways that can open out the kinds of affective, emotional and phenomenological frameworks within which creation occurs. The unique affordances of recent motion capture systems, offer naturalistic three-dimensional environments with an increased improvisational interactivity that simply cannot be achieved with video-based media.","PeriodicalId":37207,"journal":{"name":"Theatre and Performance Design","volume":"236 1","pages":"61 - 81"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73193614","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-04-03DOI: 10.1080/23322551.2021.1936947
T. Brejzek, Lawrence Wallen
This special double issue of Theatre and Performance Design, ‘On Virtual Models’, is both a succession and an expansion of research for our 2018 monograph, The Model as Performance. Staging Space in Theatre and Architecture (Bloomsbury). The monograph was the outcome of a project initiated many years earlier within our creative practices and scholarly works. The Model as Performance intentionally focused on the physical scale model and its performative, epistemic, and cosmopoietic (worldmaking) capacities. In parallel to publishing the monograph, we guest-edited a special double issue of Theatre and Performance Design entitled ‘On Models’. We invited theorists and practitioners to respond to the overall ‘model’ project and contribute to a further discourse acknowledging and articulating the physical model’s agency across the disciplines of theatre and architecture. This current special double issue extends our focus to observe the virtual model and its capacity to redefine location, time, and narrative, provoking dialogues and connections that emerge between material realities and the immaterial virtual realm, beyond the functionality of the human-machine interface (HMI). Contributions to this special double issue explore the virtual model in the practice of scenography and performance, the reconstruction of lost performance spaces and the construction of theatres never built. We have identified three themes as an ordering principle for the journal while acknowledging that the intent of the publication is not encyclopaedic but rather a specific informed view on the virtual within an expanded performance context. Two visual essays complement the scholarly articles and engage with interactive AI (Artificial Intelligence) actors in performance and the merging of the real and the virtual through urban and personal memories. Each of the themes embraces the distinct spaces and qualities that reside within the virtual model, broadly defined here as ‘emergent spaces’, ‘dialogic spaces’ and ‘immersive spaces’. Emergent spaces devise new methodologies to make virtual spaces tangible through rigorous and creative re-reading and reconstructing from extant documentation. Immersive spaces explore the technologies and phenomena of immersion in the virtual realm, while dialogic spaces encompass thoughts on the discursive tension between different positions and locations and the dynamic spatial interaction between actor and virtual environment. In ‘Putting Virtual Theatre Models to Work: “Virtual Praxis” for Performance Research in Theatre History’, Joanne Tompkins, Julie Holledge, and Jonathan Bollen explore how the virtual reconstruction of lost theatre and performance spaces can become a distinct method of performance research by immersing performers into the virtual space of the reconstructed stage. By inhabiting the virtual stage as a method, the authors describe the deliberate paradox as ‘virtual praxis’, new, embodied knowledge concerning the spatial dynam
{"title":"On virtual models","authors":"T. Brejzek, Lawrence Wallen","doi":"10.1080/23322551.2021.1936947","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23322551.2021.1936947","url":null,"abstract":"This special double issue of Theatre and Performance Design, ‘On Virtual Models’, is both a succession and an expansion of research for our 2018 monograph, The Model as Performance. Staging Space in Theatre and Architecture (Bloomsbury). The monograph was the outcome of a project initiated many years earlier within our creative practices and scholarly works. The Model as Performance intentionally focused on the physical scale model and its performative, epistemic, and cosmopoietic (worldmaking) capacities. In parallel to publishing the monograph, we guest-edited a special double issue of Theatre and Performance Design entitled ‘On Models’. We invited theorists and practitioners to respond to the overall ‘model’ project and contribute to a further discourse acknowledging and articulating the physical model’s agency across the disciplines of theatre and architecture. This current special double issue extends our focus to observe the virtual model and its capacity to redefine location, time, and narrative, provoking dialogues and connections that emerge between material realities and the immaterial virtual realm, beyond the functionality of the human-machine interface (HMI). Contributions to this special double issue explore the virtual model in the practice of scenography and performance, the reconstruction of lost performance spaces and the construction of theatres never built. We have identified three themes as an ordering principle for the journal while acknowledging that the intent of the publication is not encyclopaedic but rather a specific informed view on the virtual within an expanded performance context. Two visual essays complement the scholarly articles and engage with interactive AI (Artificial Intelligence) actors in performance and the merging of the real and the virtual through urban and personal memories. Each of the themes embraces the distinct spaces and qualities that reside within the virtual model, broadly defined here as ‘emergent spaces’, ‘dialogic spaces’ and ‘immersive spaces’. Emergent spaces devise new methodologies to make virtual spaces tangible through rigorous and creative re-reading and reconstructing from extant documentation. Immersive spaces explore the technologies and phenomena of immersion in the virtual realm, while dialogic spaces encompass thoughts on the discursive tension between different positions and locations and the dynamic spatial interaction between actor and virtual environment. In ‘Putting Virtual Theatre Models to Work: “Virtual Praxis” for Performance Research in Theatre History’, Joanne Tompkins, Julie Holledge, and Jonathan Bollen explore how the virtual reconstruction of lost theatre and performance spaces can become a distinct method of performance research by immersing performers into the virtual space of the reconstructed stage. By inhabiting the virtual stage as a method, the authors describe the deliberate paradox as ‘virtual praxis’, new, embodied knowledge concerning the spatial dynam","PeriodicalId":37207,"journal":{"name":"Theatre and Performance Design","volume":"19 1","pages":"3 - 5"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75210222","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-04-03DOI: 10.1080/23322551.2021.1925472
Dominika Łarionow
{"title":"Theatermachine: Tadeusz Kantor in context","authors":"Dominika Łarionow","doi":"10.1080/23322551.2021.1925472","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23322551.2021.1925472","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":37207,"journal":{"name":"Theatre and Performance Design","volume":"56 1","pages":"139 - 141"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88016665","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：