Introducing ‘Expanded’ Scenography

In this introductory chapter, McKinney and Palmer survey the newly emerged field of expanded scenography and consider the underlying concepts by which it can be defined. Taking their lead from Krauss’s approach to expanded sculpture they identify evidence of the re-structurings of theatrical scenography that have led to new ways of thinking about the spatial, material and design-based aspects of performance both in and beyond the theatre. However, scenography in its expanded form is not simply a by-product of theatre but a mode of encounter and exchange founded on spatial and material relations between bodies, objects and environments. McKinney and Palmer prioritise the perspective of the spectator to focus on the spatial, multisensorial and material aspects of contemporary performance and they propose three interrelated and overlapping concepts; relationality, affectivity and materiality, as a theoretical framework. This re-focusing of the scenographic lens illuminates the evental, processual nature of much contemporary scenography and brings into sharper definition the characteristics of expanded scenography as a new field.