Vibrant materials: the agency of things in the context of scenography

The materials of scenography - space, light, sound, structures, objects, fabrics, textures and colours - play a central role in audience experience, yet the agency of these things is performance has not been given much attention. Using Merleau-Ponty's notion of the chiasm, it is possible to understand how the seer and the seen are bound in a reciprocal relationship and how reversibility between subjects and objects applies to the experience of scenography. But beyond that, what is it that objects and materials themselves might be capable of? This chapter draws on practice- led research and considers recent ideas about the capability of materials to address this question.