When light comes to matter: reimagining light in contemporary theatre through intra-actions

ABSTRACT

The concepts of relationality and materiality, as explored in recent studies in contemporary scenography, offer valuable insights into the nature and aesthetics of performance lighting. Particularly, the theory of agential realism put forth by physicist-theorist Karen Barad, along with the notion of intra-action, challenges the metaphysical assumptions of individualism and the preexistence of separate entities, encompassing both human and nonhuman elements. This theory troubles the understanding of the relationality and materiality of light and invites a reimagination of its supposedly predetermined nature and aesthetics within the realm of theatre. In this short essay, I revisit my original performance work with intra-action as the core creative concept. By examining the intra-actions involving light and other human and nonhuman entities, with a specific focus on the creative process, I argue that the concept of intra-action has the potential to provoke a rethinking of light as a predetermined, independent visual element of performance. Furthermore, it stimulates a reimagining of the aesthetics of light in relation to other theatrical elements, encompassing both human (creators, performers, and spectators) and nonhuman matters (sound, space, architecture, technological apparatus, etc.) within the context of contemporary performance.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Part of the audio-visual documentation of the creative and experimentation process was provided by Karen Yu, the artistic director of Contemporary Musiking Hong Kong, Him Cheung, the company manager, Tsun Winston Yeung, the project leader, and sound artist Kin Lam. I extend my heartfelt thanks to them for their generous support.

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Amy Chan

Amy Chan is a light and theatre artist. Her artistic interests are the exploration of musicality, theatricality and performativity of light in theatre and installation, and the intersection of arts and science. Light is the protagonist, antagonist and co-performer in her works. She has a Master of Fine Arts (with distinction) in lighting design, from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Her research on light, postdramatic theatre and agential realism was published in peer-reviewed journals and presented in international conferences. She was an invited speaker of PQ Talks on light in performance in Prague Quadrennial 2023, and “Postdramatic Theatre Worldwide” Symposium (2019) in Akademie der Künste, Berlin. More information on her works can be found at https://www.amychan-light.com/.