This exposition serves as introduction to my research in the coming year (2022). It is done as part of assignment 6 for the introductory course at the Royal Conservatoire The Hague.
In this study it is advocated to perceive performance space as overlapping multiple spatial layers, all existing in the same moment, but all with different boundaries. A triangle of performer, audience and surroundings creates performance space together as co-players by activating spatial layers and redrawing spatial boundaries. A new term is coined to better understand the unstable, moving nature of performance space: multi-space. To deal with the concept of multi-space in actual performances, the use of the verbs ‘navigate’ and ‘zoom in/out’ are advocated.
Embedded in this study is an exposition of the artistic projects of Stijn Brinkman, in which the concept of multi-space is tested as new tool to create performances with more exploration, agency, imagination, and movement. By finding a way for performers to disappear and to be present at the same time, the domination of walls and the domination of a performer's body (both apparent in many traditional performances) are challenged. The concepts of multi-space, navigate and zoom in/out stimulate audiences to engage more with their surroundings, while helping performers to shape their ideas always through site-specific processes.
