As we look at various types of lobby displays and their implications, I get more and more excited about how my ideas as a visual artist and a theatre artist can be combined. I think that the lobby display is one place that my love for research, and my love for art can combine perfectly. Most people, whether interested by the arts or not, still have the psychology to be engaged by aesthetically pleasing arrangements. Additionally, unity, contrast, movement, and other design principles can be used to affect how audiences absorb the information presented.
All of this really excites me because I know that there is an endless number of ways that any production can be translated into a successful lobby display. It also leads to a fear that the lobby can become too independent of a production, or that its complexity can be overwhelming, especially for amateur theatre-goers. Careful research and planning, I believe, can prevent that for the most part. Additionally, the opportunities in creating a lobby display are more limited by other constraints than that. The physical lobby space, it's other users, budgets, technology, time, skill, and research availability are all components that can hinder the lobby display dream as well.
I can see this in a variety of ways that affected my past lobby displays, and will affect my future projects as well. For example, with The Arsonists I very much wish that I did not have constraints on the space that is shared with the design/tech students for end of the year reviews. I have so many ideas going through my head for interactive and experiential components that have to be minimized because of our space. Money is another component in that, but I feel much more confident that I can create my vision with little to no money, than with little to no space. In the end, though I feel a rush of excitement in the prospect of complex lobby displays, I still have to keep my feet on the ground as the reality of what I have to work with comes into play.
Comments