PARIP 2005

International Conference | 29 June - 03 July 2005

McKinney: Joslin | UK

Exploring the nature of the scenographic exchange

Scenography involves the manipulation of the visual and spatial environment of a performance. It is an attempt to evoke (or provoke) through the interplay of bodies, space, objects, movement, time and space, certain ideas and feelings. But, crucially, it is in the imagination of the audience that these images are completed. Members of an audience not only receive and register images, but assimilate them and develop them through the faculty of their own imagination. The aim this research is to model the complex relationship of the engagement between performance and audience look at this relationship from the perspective of the scenographer and to investigate the nature of the communication of scenography or the transaction of symbolic exchange of theatre images (Read) which occurs between scenography and its audiences.

Using my own scenographic practice as the foundation for performances I am attempting to track the ways in which scenography which I create is perceived by its audiences and the extent to which the experience and impact of performance images can be articulated. Furthermore, I am developing methods of eliciting audience response which are appropriate and effective for scenography. Key questions are: How do members of an audience experience scenography? How can audiences responses to scenography be gathered? What kinds of impact or significance are attributed to scenographic images? How does a phenomenological experience of an image develop and resonate? In what ways do audience members extend or re-imagine scenographic statements?

Beyond the immediate interest in scenography, this research concerns itself with the inter-relatedness of the subjective and the social in the making and in the consumption of cultural artefacts. Phenomenology and the intersection of experiences (Merleau-Ponty) and Lacan-influenced ideas (as articulated by Foster) of the art images as a screen and a means of taming the threat of the gaze of the world have been influential in the development this research.  Meanwhile, Lefebvreís theories on the production of space help to extend the reach of this research and situate the idea of the scenographic exchange within the practice and articulation of social space.

The workshop will consist of a performance of Homesick, a 30 min piece which aims to examine the phenomenological impact of the manipulation of space in a scenographic context and a post-performance activity aimed at capturing responses. The performance will engage and involve the audience principally through scenographic images and is intended to make the audience aware of the way spaces and objects shape our perception. The experience of the performance should, in and of itself, extend understanding of the phenomenological impact of scenographic space.  The post-performance activity will exemplify a method of gathering responses to scenography and will provide more material in response to the performance. In conclusion, there will be a discussion on the effectiveness of methods being used and here feedback from participants will also be valuable.

Contact details:

Joslin McKinney

School of Performance and Cultural Industries

University of Leeds

Bretton Hall Campus

West Bretton

Wakefield

WF4 4LG

0113 343 9043

j.e.mckinney@leeds.ac.uk