IMMERSIVE SIN

 

Palace of Sin Proposal in New Orlean's Red Light District. Conceptual design influenced by immersive theatre (description below). Formal suggestions anthropomorphic interpretations of bodies in-coitus. 

 

Blurring the lines between traditional theater and contemporary performance art, the audience becomes complicit in the act. An entire building is taken over by the troope. The audience enters, inhabiting the same spacial envelope as the performers thus breaking down the “fourth wall” that traditionally separates viewers from actors. In contrast to traditional theater, there is no designating area thus separating the two groups. In some companies, the audience members are signified by a mask doubling as concealment for the viewer’s identity. They are then encouraged by the players to split from their party and follow certain characters through the often labrythian set, whether guided simply by personal interest or physically by the outstretched hand of a player. This results in a unique experience of an overarching event. A personal narrative that can be understood as single perspective of the play which can then be enhanced by the differing narratives of the rest of a party. Usually taking place in a multistory building with separated chambers, events are unfolding simultaneously, in relation to one another in that they are parts of the whole (the body of the play) but out of sight and earshot of other scenes being acted out. Therefore, as a viewer, you are never omniscient of the entire story, your experience being singular. Upon return visits or through retellings by the other members of your party, you may become more aware but you are still only possessor of one set of eyes when engaged in the play. The path you take through the play is completely up to you but you have no more control over what clandestine activities you witness than a fly on a wall. 

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Zarith Pineda + India Jacobs

Atelier Graham Owen, Tulane School of Architecture, New Orleans