Exploring the Gesamtkunstwerk concept in the design of the theatrical spatial experience. A constructivist approach (original) (raw)

2013, 8th Annual South-East European Doctoral Student Conference: Infusing Research and Knowledge in South-East Europe, STEERC 2013. 978-960-9416-06-1 (ISBN)

According to the Wagnerian tradition, Gesamtkunstwerk refers to the creative fusion of multiple types of expertise from the worlds of art, theory, philosophy as well as technology. From Romanticism, to modern and postmodern times, this concept seems to occasionally reflect society’s goals and artistic aspirations; yet, in modern times it has frequently been associated with totalitarianism advancing ideals of national identity through total clarity of principle. In this historical retrospective, theatrical and performance space is a field where Gesamtkunstwerk has been distinctively as well as earnestly implemented. Today, this integration is further traced in the creator’s use of the computer as a meta-medium, synthesising all media within a single interface, sharing time and space with the performers’ physical presence. Is there an actual need for a unifying synthesis when postmodern beliefs propound differentiation and fragmentation, often reaching a design extravagance? Does artistic plethora provide enough space for various artistic minds to participate towards the common performance work? Does it make for an artistic democracy or does it shrink creation? By employing Gesamtkunstwerk as the main theoretical frame of this work and Constructivism as the key methodological paradigm, I will explore its contemporary expressions in the interplay between artistic practices for collaborative performance, as well as suggest that it informs current performance design in challenging ways. The expected contribution of this research is the emergence of some new ways of understanding the history and contemporary importance of Gesamtkunstwerk and how it affects a designer’s work among co-creators in the eventual making of the theatrical spatial experience.