Abstract

Performance in theatre, as well as in certain forms of visual arts (such as happenings, performance art, etc.), has for the most part been understood as an action of a live performer in front of an audience while space / scenography has typically been conceived of as that which provides a certain atmosphere for or otherwise supports this said performance. This dissertation sets out to explore yet another way of thinking about performance: the performance of space itself, emerging from within a dialogue between theatre and visual arts as a scenographic unfolding.
Insisting that material / technological mediation and transformation of body / space relationships is key in thinking about performance at the intersection of installation art (in visual arts) and expanded scenography (in theatre), this present research employs practice itself in the exploration of performance as scenographic unfolding in environments that are immersive, interactive and participatory. In so doing, this study seeks to shed light on how the established definitions of immersion, interaction and participation, as terminologies entangled between the visual arts and theatre, may be reconfigured through practice. Hence, this research aims to fill a gap by highlighting how practice elucidates this mediation and transformation of spatial performance at the intersection of visual arts and theatre.