Performing Elsewhere



Date
20 JUN 2025 26 JUN 2025
WeekMini Brief 2UnitFinal Major Project

BriefDesign an intervention that reshapes user-to-user interaction in public spaces.
In short
    • Built the Breath Knead Kit as an FMP mini brief. 
    • Translated breath into touch and scent with a lavender pouch and 5–5 guide.
    • Testing validated it, but flagged clearer logic and safer materials.




    This mini brief served as a preliminary stage before beginning the Final Major Project, 
    helping me explore potential themes and research directions.




    Project Context


    The theatre has long served as a space for storytelling, yet today it still retains a similar proscenium-centred structure and carries various physical, economic, and social barriers. This led me to ask: must performance always be tied to a fixed time and place? This question became the starting point of the project, with the goal of imagining performance experiences that move beyond existing constraints.



    Love Letter & Breakup Letter


    To understand the emotional dimensions of performance experiences, I wrote both a love letter and a breakup letter.

    Wrote a love letter about a positive experience related to theatre. Image Credit: Author
    Wrote a break-up letter about a negative experience related to theatre. Image Credit: Author


    The love letter surfaced positive elements such as anticipation, surprise, shared breath, personal recommendations, and shifts in perspective. In contrast, the breakup letter revealed negative aspects such as high cost, inconvenient circulation, fixed seating, poor sightlines, and distractions from other audience members. Together, these showed that performance experiences sit between emotional expectations and various physical and economic discomforts.

    Based on this, I began identifying opportunities to reinterpret the performance system as a whole. Many barriers seemed to stem from the fixed time and location of traditional performances, which led me to explore experiences that could move beyond these limits. I also became interested in imagining what might come after current immersive theatre formats.

    Identified three areas where emotions contrasted, through the letters. Image Credit: Author
    Found design opportunities based on the earlier initial research stages. Image Credit: Author




    Next Steps


    A potential direction is to propose new performance experiences that transcend time, place, and traditional structures. I hope to retain a sense of liveness while introducing moments where the audience can become performers themselves. Ultimately, I want to create performances that take place in everyday spaces outside the theatre. To support this, I am researching immersive theatre, street performance, and related forms. For now, I am temporarily focusing on theatre and musical performance, but I plan to narrow the scope further.

    The project direction and expected outcomes. Image Credit: Author; Photo Credit: Punchdrunk Sleep No More





    Feedback & Reflection


    One of the most significant pieces of feedback was the need to define my own position clearly. Because this area already includes many experimental works, articulating what kind of performance experience I personally value—and how I wish to design it—is essential for establishing a unique standpoint.

    I was also advised to clarify the audience’s role: are they primarily observers, or participants? The performance field spans a wide spectrum between these modes, and determining where this project sits is crucial.

    If I intend to use everyday spaces as performance sites, I must also define the specific context of those spaces. While the idea of transforming everyday moments into “small theatrical scenes” is compelling, it still requires a concrete scenario and framework.

    Lastly, I was encouraged to speak with experts—such as those in performance design at CSM—to refine the project’s direction and positioning.

    Overall, I agree that the current scope is broad and abstract. Moving forward, the key challenge is determining what differentiation I want to establish from a UX design perspective, and how precisely I will narrow and define the project’s scope.



    Reference




    More Stories

    FMP Mini Brief 1
    FMP Proposal