Dancing About Architecture (2018)

Visual design for performance

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA

I worked with choreographer Richard Colton and Professor Mark Jarzombek to develop the visual elements of a performance based on Georges Perec's text Species of Spaces.

The project was part of the Fall 2018 Experiments in Pedagogy organized on occasion of the 150th Anniversary of architecture education at MIT.

The performers were four graduate students from the MIT department of architecture with music of Debussy, Roussel, Haydn and Faure played live by the Neave Piano Trio.

I used excerpts from Perec's text to make 'text-images'. Colton and the performers used these to develop their choreography.

As a backdrop for the performance I projected a looped animated triptych of images, texts and symbols.

Scroll down to view:

Chapter Heading Symbols

Text Images

Object & Place Images

Images of the performance

Poster design by Guy Bigland

Chapter Heading Symbols

Projection 1

Perec begins Species of Spaces with 'The Page' and, chapter by chapter, zooms out, exploring

consecutively larger species of space.

I developed this series of symbols based on Perec's chapter titles.

The symbols were projected consecutively on a slow 'dissolve' transition loop as one third of the performance backdrop.

See video below.

Text Images

Projection 2

I made lots of text works using excerpts from Species of Spaces. The performers used them to develop ideas for their movements.

For the performance I animated them so each builds gradually over time on a slow 'dissolve' transition loop as one third of the projected triptych.

See video below.

Object & Place Images

Projection 3

During the performance the performers

voiced extracts from Species of Spaces.

These images represent objects and places that are mentioned in the spoken extracts. They were projected consecutively on a slow 'dissolve' transition loop as one third of the projected triptych.

See video below.

Performance Images

Photographs by Sarah Wagner

Edited by Guy Bigland & Richard Colton