Design Studio 6301 + 7401

Tutors: Rachel Carley + Ingrid Wang + Guests

CURTAIN CALL

The “Meat mincer” setting, designed by Varvara Stepanova, in Vsevolod Meyerhold’s 1922
production of The Death of Tarelkin, by Alexander Sukhova Kobylin. Stepanova referred to her
sets as “acting instruments”, designed to enable vigorous physical limitation.

Space is not a passive r e c e p t a c l e

In which objects and forms are posited….
SPACE itself is an OBJECT [of creation].
And the main one!
SPACE is charged with ENERGY.
Spaced shrinks and e x p a n d s.
And these motions mould forms and objects.
It is space that GIVES BIRTH to forms!
It is space that conditions the network of relations and tensions
between objects.
TENSION is the principle actor in space.

-Tadeusz Kantor in A Journey Through Other Spaces: essays and manifestos, 1944-1990, ed. and tr. M.
Kobialka (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), 217.
The Polish director Tadeusz Kantor’s interest in theatre reflected his interest
in space. For him, theatre was considered a medium where ‘objects and
places counted for as much as the human body” (Wiles: 13) Theatre is an
artistic medium that reflects changes in society. Dramatic expression and
theatrical production must be constantly re-examined and invigorated to
reflect changes in the social, political and cultural landscape.

This paper invites students to critically examine what it is to construct a

space for theatrical performance.

Students in this studio paper will be required to design a stage set for a play
of their own choosing. You are required to undertake extensive research into
the play. This will include analyzing different productions of the work, and
critically examining writings and interpretations of the play and its
performance.

After having found a play, you will need to determine a venue for it to be
performed within: this will be an existing performance space within Auckland
or you may propose an alternative location (but this must be in consultation
with your studio tutor). You will need to consider how the specific attributes
of this venue can contribute to your design proposal. For example, what
existing features might you accentuate/diminish through the use of strategic
lighting or prop placement? How might you go about establishing degrees of
openness or containment within the space where the play is being
performed? How can the spatial container contribute to the dramaturgical
qualities of the performance?

Recommended Readings

Hawkins-Dady (ed.), International Dictionary of Theatre Plays, Chicago: ST

James Press, 1992. Call number 792.03 INT (reference use only)

Zarilli, P, McConachie B et. al., Theatre Histories: An Introduction, New York:

Routledge, 2006. Call number 792.09 THE
(this is an excellent book that will be compulsory reading for this paper)

Wiles, David, A Short History of Western Performance Space, Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 2003. Call number 792.094 WIL

Brockett, Oscar, The Theatre: An Introduction, Florida: Holt, Rinehart and

Winston, Inc. Call Number 792 BRO

Parker, W., Wolf, R., Scene Design and Stage Lighting, Orlando: Harcourt
Brace College Publishers, 1996. Call number 792.025 PAR

Gaj Sitarz, Paula, The Curtain Rises V II: A history of European Theatre from
the Eighteenth Century to the Present, Ohio: Betterway Books, 1993. Call
number 792.09 SIT

Schlemmer, Oskar, Moholy-Nagy, L., et. al., The Theatre of the Bauhaus,
Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1961. Call number 792.025 SCH

Key dates for studio for 6301 + 7401

Weeks 1 - 8

Week 1
Project Introduced, Wed 27 Feb 9.30 –12.30pm Rm 2144
Research undertaken

Week 2
Presentation of research Mon 3 Mar 9.30 –12.30pm
to date, new sub-brief
delivered, theatre experience

Week 3
Pin Up: Detailed analysis Mon 10 Mar 9.30 – 12.30pm
of play, spatial diagrams
and models, new sub-brief
delivered.

Week 4
INTERIM CRIT Mon 17 Mar 9.30 – 12.30pm
Pin up: Sketches,
Models, Design
Development,
New sub-brief delivered.

Week 5
Design development EASTER BREAK: Self Directed Study
(No Classes on Monday or Tuesday)

Week 6 Mon 31 Mar 9.30 – 12.30pm

Sketches, Plans,
Models, Design
Development

Week 7 Mon 7 April 9.30 – 12.30pm

Pin Up:
Design Resolution
Week 8 Mon 14 Apr 9.30 – 1.00pm TBA
FINAL CRIT
Project Pin Up
And Presentation

Requirements for Presentation

Refer to “Communication” in the Assessment Criteria.

It is your responsibility to decide on a strategy to communicate your project:
this may include a mixture of freehand and instrumental drawing, digital and
physical modeling, and animation. Analyse what is best communicated by
drawings (sketches, plans, sections, elevations, axonometrics and isometrics,
perspective views), renderings, photographs or digital presentation, a built
model or a series of maquettes, and then decide how best to make use of
these communicative tools.

Note: It is critical that you attend all studio sessions. It will be important to
demonstrate full engagement with the brief. This includes undertaking
thorough research, detailed exploration of your ideas, and design
development to a well resolved, carefully considered and beautifully
presented final project outcome.

ALL stages of the work you undergo during the eight-week programme
should be retained as they will be evaluated and will contribute to your final
grade.

Assessment criteria and weighting:

1. Analysis: 20%
Analysis involves initial evaluation of a brief for opportunities and possibilities,
i.e. the generation of ideas. It includes the establishment of
parameters/boundaries for operating within the brief and the subsequent
management of design process within these parameters/boundaries. On-going
analysis of both practical work and theoretical research ensures that concepts
are developed. Analysis also ensures design process is productively shaped and
appropriately focused. Analysis of personal contexts, situational contexts and
cultural contexts surrounding the making and 'reading' of work (i.e. of the
implications of the work) will allow for strategic exploration, synthesis and
communication.
2. Exploration: 20%
The investigation and development of ideas through extensive practical
exploration (i.e. the making of work). The making of work is a means to both
explore and articulate the motivating concepts or intentions. It is also a means
to explore the mechanisms of language, visual and other.
3. Research: 20%
Research is the process by which the factors influencing the development of a
design are identified, explored and framed within the context of the design
intent. Resulting information or material gathered is used directly or indirectly
to inform subsequent design decision making. Links between research activities
and subsequent work need to be evident and justifiable in a form relevant to
the design activity. There should be a considered and strategic approach to
practical exploration and theoretical research with the one informing the other.
4. Synthesis: 20%
The bringing together of all outcomes of practical exploration, theoretical
research, and analysis so that they can interact to form an overall holistic
entity. This whole may be complex or simple but is variously informed and thus
constitutes an enrichment of design process and outcome. Synthesis is a key
component in an on-going feedback loop that helps the design process develop
through generation of new ideas, new explorations, new research, new analysis
and new synthesis.
5. Communication:
20%
Communication explicit and implicit means of all ideas, concepts and issues
addressed within a brief including all aspects of the design process. The
selective and appropriate use of elements of visual language as well as (where
appropriate) verbal, written or other means of communication. Communication
is affected through the process of making work (i.e. making ideas manifest
through process and product) as well as by means of presentation.
Communication strategies should be evident and appropriate. There should be,
either explicitly or implicitly, a rationale for the communication strategies used
to match perception (audience's 'reading') with concept (maker's intention).