Untitled Landscape: a reflection on an artistic process

Abstract

This written portion of this MA Thesis is a reflection on my artistic thesis. It provides a contextual reference to the creative underpinnings of my solo performance ‘Untitled Landscape’, including its thematic viewpoints, its abstract narrative, and the ways I chose to combine a variety of approaches—hyper-detailed bodily expression, complex spatial-temporal-material relationships, deconstruction, and reconstruction of the identity of objects—forming a contemplative landscape of meaning in which multiple identities, concepts, and contexts are intertwined.

It consists of an introduction followed by four chapters.

Chapter 1 is a visual diary with photos and commentary relating to the dramaturgic underpinnings of the performance.

Chapter 2 examines, through a metaphoric device referred to as ‘terrains,’ two choreographers: Philipp Gehmacher and Deborah Hay, a radio-based sound artist: Gregory Whitehead, and a theatre scientist: Erika Fischer-Lichte, in their relation to the author’s choreographic thinking.

Chapter 3 is an interview from two collaborators from ‘Untitled Landscape’s artistic team, sound designer/dramaturgic advisor: Roy Boswell and costume designer: Suvi Kajas

Chapter 4 concludes with a final vista that reviews the content of the thesis. It reveals 'Untitled Landscape' to be a work that allows for a journey of discovery in which meaning is revealed through abstraction.