Project Proposal:
Installation Theatre in Practice
Creating and establishing theoretically the term Installation Theatre4 is my research project at the moment. Although I already have in my mind performances that could be described as Installation Theatre, my aim is to create a performance that will be the practical application of this theoretical research. Hopefully dealing with those two tasks simultaneously the one will add helpful information to the other so that the outcome will be a complete research followed by a practical example.
Leaving aside the theory and examining the subject from a designer’s point of view, the most important aspect of this project will be the unification of the actor, the set and the costume. By that I do not mean that there will be one huge contraction containing the actor. The aim of this is to make those three different elements work together in a perfect balance and treat them as if they are one even if the actor has to be downgraded to the level of a prop. The results of this experiment are still unknown just as the difficulties and the dead ends I will have to face during the procedure.
4. For more information about this term and it’s research study see p.4 Installation Theatre: The Creation of the term.
Another emerging problem working on this as a designer, is that as I don't have a text to begin with, I am image based for this project. Up to now I only know how this project looks like and what it is about. Finding a scriptwriter that shares my beliefs and co-operating with him would be perfect in order to also use speech. So, having to work with my skills and interests I will start working on this project thinking of it as a choreography were the body, the movements, the music and the environment are the ones that “speak” and communicate with the audience.
At this point I will describe briefly and almost in a diagram form what this project will be about.
In the space (probably a theatrical space) there will be two basic elements. A construction from now on I will refer to it as Level A, and a projection, called Level B.
Level A: is a shell placed in rails, containing the actor and placed in the space. Behind this there is Level B: a projection of the same shell that contains the actor but not projected live. This will be separately filmed and edited. This shell will be transparent leaving the actors body semi exposed to the viewer’s eye. The audience will be able to promenade around the construction and see it as a sculptural element.
The sequence begins:
Level A: The shell starts to divide and the actor appears. The movements are calm and balanced. This is the first awakening where the actor is relaxed and in a state of repose “unmasking” himself.
Level B: The projection is showing a conflict. The body writhes in the shell. Fast nervous movements created by cut ups. This is a choreography made from the editing of the video.
Level A: Almost mechanical but still balanced moves from the body and the shell. It seems unreal. This is the act of separation. Those two were one body shared between two material objects one alive and one not (actor/shell). Part of this is now escaping (the shell). How does the other part react? Is there an effort to hold it back although it is already gone? This is a separation of itself. Nevertheless the body retains something from this, the melancholy of the body. Will it come to terms with the separation?
Level B: The opposition. An alive, moving and kicking mixture of the shell/body. The projection could be regarded as the humanized feelings of the mechanism we can observe on Level A.
As the time goes by, Level B comes closer to Level A up to the moment those two merge and become one. The opposition in the movements and the feelings still exists. This procedure shell open-stay-shell close is repeated up to the point Level A and B become one. Each time something different might happen. This is a fight and there are many different points of views. There could be an agreement or an opposition of those two levels. They could change roles so that Level A becomes the feelings and Level B becomes the machine but these are decisions yet to be made.
The feeling of it can be described as dark. The space itself will be dark and only the construction with the actor and the projection will be lit. The colours will be mainly luminous yellows, oranges and browns giving the impression of a woman’s uterus as we can see them in photographs below.
The actor will be an asexual being and although the image should be very nice, it will not be something pleasant to see. The ground the audience walks will be soft so they will have a feeling of sinking with every step and a feeling that they can not create any sound of their own by just moving in the space. The sound might be coming from the projection and it will be confusing and dim but it still depends on many other elements that I will find out, as this project will go on.
As it might already be clear, this is still just a draft with my first ideas. There are many things I should consider and many gaps to fill but everything will be shorted out as I will keep on working on this project along with the research about Installation Theatre.
Bibliography
Agis. Liz and Cowie. Billy with Bramley Ian, Anarchic Dance,Routledge, 2006
Cunningham. Merce, Dancing in Space and Time, edited by Kostelanetz Richard, Dance Books Ltd., 1992
Laban. Roudolf, The mastery of movement, Macdonald and Evans,1971
Lecoq. Jaques, The moving body, Methuen, 2002
Shepherd. Simon and Wallis Mick, Drama / Theatre / Performance, the new critical idiom, Routledge, 2004
