The scenographic turn: the pharmacology of the digitisation of scenography

Theatre has long been acknowledged as a space that facilitates collaboration, not only between different fields of art, but also between the arts and sciences. Scenography, through its rationalisation of the performance space, is the territory where these collaborations are played out, and is therefore the leading field to employ digital technologies. Increased computing power has introduced new opportunities for digital simulation – already widely exploited in the film and gaming industries – on the live stage. This article focuses on the shift taking place in the performing arts, brought about by the migration from mechanical to digital technologies and the import of software into scenographic working processes; this is my definition of the scenographic turn. What are the repercussions of this turn aesthetically, socially and politically? As a catalyst for discussion I will analyse the Australian-based performing arts collective Chunky Move’s digitally engaged performance, Mortal Engine, which is a quintessential example exhibiting the new possibilities made available to live performance by digital technologies. In doing so, this article considers the new technohistoric specificities of the work in relation to the concept of machine as performer, thus highlighting a certain development in working processes that facilitates an increase in machines’ responsibility and intention in live performance. This logically also demands a discussion of how technology impacts on the formulation of choreography and dramaturgy, and what this means for working processes going forward. The technological philosophy of Bernard Stiegler is engaged to help unpack and reflect upon the sociohistoric, ontological and cultural implications of such technologically engaged productions.