Exploring Intermedia Art

I absolutely love this article. give it a read. as the theatre artistic masses have fell into the lethal cycle of looking for the money we have started mass producing Shrek the Musical instead of art that could and can make a difference. Or at the bare minimum make the audience think. 

“Soft Opening” by Leif Newberg (2013) 

This was a performance installation piece that I was a part of about a year and a half ago. Entitled “Soft Opening” the concept of the piece was to create a closed off enviornment within a gallery. Audience members could here us, but they could also see a live feed of photographs immediately outside the performnace space. 

"Soft Opening” became a sort of hybrid art piece, combining performance and photography. 

There was a chosen AESTHETIC that we all adhered to, we performed  in a non traditional FOUND SPACE together. 

I am very proud of the work I helped create here, my experience as an actor served me well here. I was able to commit to the enviornemt we had creted with ease and gusto. 

“The Drowned Man” by punchdrunk Productions. 

Starting with “Sleep No More”, the performance production company punchdrunk has conrinued to create large-scale highly submersive pieces. 

Combining elements of theatre, dance and performance art these huge happenings allow an audience to enter the exisiting 3 demensional world of a play. punchdrunk has done away with the presentational traditions of theatre, and has crerated  a unique way of performing: by conducting an entire terrarium of actitivy and inviting audience members ot visit and spend time within it. 

There is no curtain or seating area that seperates the audience formt he art hat they’re experience. This unique vision of the theatre has recieved critial and financial sucess, and that could lead to a n influx of more experiemental uses of space in the years to come. We’re already seeing copycats and ‘inspired’ pieces popping up all over the states, this trend could redeinfe the threatre space for good. 

SET/THEATRE Design 

The aesthetic of existentialism often include solitary figures against a large, abysmal background. Bleak and dreary images dominate these stage picture, spanning 4 separate productions of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot’. 

There are universal truths to these designs, as you can see: there need be a lonely tree for the characters to act under, and there are certain costuming concepts that have become the norm for any production. 

This is an example of how any given director or designers concepts can alter or add to the general feelings of a production. All these photos are obviously from the same play, and a decently read theatre artist could tell you easily that they’re all from Godot but by viewing them side by side as we are now they each take on a distinct shape of their own. 

When performing theatre, the general rule is that the text is not to be fussed with, especially Beckett, and so these visual elements are always the best way for a production to set itself  apart from the pack. 

Theatre is always a balancing act of tradition and innovation. 

“Jean MIchel Basquiat in His Studio” 

Another example of a ‘creative space’ is the artist’s studio, where he or she creates works. A space dedicated to creation in a similar manner to the ones I have explored thus far. I believe Basquiat, a former street artist who then gained recognition as a more traditional gallery artist used space efficiency and interestingly. He would often sprawl out several canvases or objects, and work on several of them at once. He created at atmosphere of artistic exploration and created all around and within that space. 

Many artists dedicate a specific space to working, a studio or workshop as they’re often called. 

Famously, Andy Warhol opened the doors to his studio: The Factory. Converting it to a dance club, a performance space and a hang out for any and all of his many interesting friends. He also used the space as a backdrop for many of his films. 

Both these men are only examples of how an artists creates the proper environment for their own work. The use of space here is absolutely necessary, but it can double as an expression in and of itself. 

“Remains of a Greek Amphitheater at Epidaurus” 4th Century BCE

A communal artistic space as old ass the art of theatre, these arenas provided an epic atmosphere for all the earliest performance work in human history. The space is completely functional, the shape and size designed carefully to help voices carry to massive crowds with ease. 

In these ancient communities, the theatre and performances were approached as religious observations and experiences. Everyone in any given area would make time to congregate to these arenas, feeling it was their spiritual duty to do so. 

Now, these stand as not only a testament to the art that was created here, and all the art whose lineage could be traced directly to these works, but also as a shrine to a society where art and artists were championed by the entire population.