ecoscenography
tending with echos my desire to consider sustainability within my projects. Sustainability being the commitment to the health of our / the relationship between human(s) and ecological systems. Ecologies here can exist on a political, environmental / place-based, cultural and social scale—one or collectively.
Where this enters in the performance sphere, for me, reflects what Tanja Beer names as ecoscenography. This term is an “eco-creative practice” that blends the notion of ecology and scenography—scenography being a performance terminology that describes the environmental design for stage, theatre, dance, etc. [19] This is the setting for a performance. In Beer’s book she heavily centres this concept around proscenium / black box spaces, but also references public art performances and engagements.
That access point of performance in the public is my concern, and daily intention. Sustainability in this case comes down to the energy being spent and the materiality of the form. Ecoscenography brings forward the participation of material.
Body
Mineral
Water
Waste
Plastic
Sand
Atmosphere
Scoop
Used duvet
Anotta seeds
Thread
Plastic mesh
To return to Karen Barad’s intra-activity, we can understand the possibility of all listed materials having autonomy in the full network of their performative environment. This “new materialism” approach considers the more-than-human or non-human materials as active as human material, and holds “agentic capacity.” [20] Ecomaterialism then draws a horizontal between all forms of materiality to forget a binary sensibility of the subject / object material spectrum and, like ecoscenography, centres relationships in a creative practice. [21]
I also think it’s important to name the embodied materiality that surfaces in the work, and reflect on the sensation of being-with and engaging-with as matter itself.
Body
Mineral
Water
Waste
Plastic
Sand
Atmosphere
Scoop
Used duvet
Anotta seeds
Thread
Plastic mesh
Mineral
Water
Waste
Plastic
Sand
Atmosphere
Scoop
Used duvet
Anotta seeds
Thread
Plastic mesh