Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1994 - 33

laser sho\\', it is \'ice-\'ersa-the signs are placed on the non-represenrational basis of the IS, In this case the role of the signs, the
pointers, is pla)'ed b\, CLG, So the le\,el of CLG \'isual complexin' is not a high priority, Thev should be easilv read and not distract arrention from the IS, Therefore, the relati\'e simplicity of
CLG images should not be considered a shortcoming, but rather
an artistic cOIl\'ention, The main \'olume of information in a
laser show is transmirred through IS, \\,hich act as a powerful,
non-traditional channel of expressi\'e information, percei\'ed b)'
the spectator on an emotional level. The CLG s\'mbols give content to this information. CLG images do not differ from IS in
visual quality, so there exists an organic affinity, a SOrt of visual
unity, of the whole \'isual image. The problem, then, is to organize corresponding unity on the hardware-soft\\Tare level.
Two approaches to laser show design based on visual
specifics of laser images may be outlined, First and most popular, close to the "effect nature" of the new phenomena, is the
meditative character achieved when a laser show program
accompanies music. In this case music fills the laser images with
sense, The second case should demand that a laser show have
dramatic content of its own.
A laser show, like any othet piece of art, should provide a
sort of "temptation," without which the rise of aesthetic feeling
is impossible. The show should fOtm this excitement, this new
thitst. Only thus will it capture and involve spectators. Richness
on the tepresentational level feeds the spectator's interest at the
vety beginning, and it should be followed by richness on the
other levels in order to maintain dialogue between the author
and the spectator. The individual's level of arrention to a show,
as with anv other form of art, is guaranteed by interest in the
visual image, and by its potency.
The show should give tise first of all to the thirst for the
show itself, the desire to see and to feel. However, though
effects for effect's sake may be the essence of rock or vatiety
shows, dazzling with their unexpectedness and pleasing the eye
with their fancifulness, they are an anathema for dramatic production. The dramatic petformance influences the spectator first
of all on the level of imagery. Dramatic connections should be
complicated and delicate, In entertainment shows, the accent is
placed on representation, in dramatic production on imagery.
The laser show designed for rock and variety shows should be
oriented toward the number of effects possible. But for the theatre, the dominant factor should be the possibility for transformation within one or a few effects,
New arts emerge when artistic cOIl\'entions are born. That
means that there develops a separation between data physically
transferred and information of a higher level communicated
through that data. The artistic cOIl\'ention corresponds to a certain technique of image production, These levels should be
c1earlv separated and belong to different spaces, otherwise there
will be no artistic convention, Artistic convention presupposes a
breakthrough to a new space, to a new dimension: a picture
drawn on canvas should depict a spacious landscape, and sculpture of a human bod\, should be materialized in "cold stone,"
One should not confuse CLG with laser TV, in which the
picrure's main obligation is to duplicate the original image, The
modern level of technological development allows for the possibilit)' of \'isual images with a strong illusion of reality, bur to use
that sort of illusion turns a sho\\' into a mere spectacle. The
garbage of artistic cOIl\'enrion kills the form, and with it, the
aesthetic content.
Lasering is the method in which space itself functions as the
means of information deli\'en', The unique characteristic of
laser visual images gi\'e opportunit\, to reflect, to visualize the
person,]1 inner state, the personal inner space through represen-

tation of abstract non-imagen' spaces. And this is the artistic
convention of lasering as an artistic method. Laser \'isual images
direct'" address the depths of the psyche of the spectator, the
subconscious and the archet)'pes hidden in the mind, This is a
creati\'e method operating with imagery on large scales, compared to the existing artistic forms, and from that point of \'iew
it ma\' be compared to ancienr myths,

The best iI/ the I/ew is that which corresponds to the old's il/tel/tiol/.
-Paul Valery

ICENIC TRRDITION IN LftIER LIGHT
here is nothing new under the sun, The fact that
laser effects became so popular in such a short period of time is the natural result of one of the main
developmenrs of culture in general and of the art of
modern theatre in particular-the use of Space as a
communication phenomena, as a means of internal landscape
visual representation. Lasering is the method which, with the
use of modern high-technology, realizes the tradition of the theatrical scenery discovered by Adolphe Appia and Gordon Craig.
Bur to trace its roots we have to go even deeper into theatre history,
Theatre gained its modern form and means of expression
during the Renaissance, the period in which human beings
acquired new values, Renaissance culture was characterized by
a strengthening of visual tendencies and a new interpretation of
Space, While painters learned to model the ourer form-the
world around a person-and then to represent his inner world,
Shakespeare eschewed the cultural tendency to reinforce the
visual principle and instead displayed the "drama of man's spirit," through the non-representational approach. Just as in the
canvases of his painter contemporaries, or even anticipating
them, the function of Space assumed new meaning in the Globe
Theatre: Space was transformed from an object of reflection
inro a means of reflection of the inner world of an individual
character-the protagonist of a tragedy. Shakespeare brought to
life the "magic of scenic metamorphosis" and began to freely
manipulate Space and Time. These transformations were carried
Out in a subtle way-in the imagination of the audience, who,
together with the artists, easily accepted this new artistic convention. Shakespeare, while staying close to the sources of the
new visual Renaissance culture, could return to the more simple,
rhetorical form, and so managed to overcome the imperfections
of Renaissance scenography and arrain the artistic (and cultural
as a whole) goal of his century: to deliver to his audience larger
amounts of information corresponding to the genre of high
traged)', and to turn dynamic space into the means of artist's
message carner.
Painting, which influenced the developmenr of the
Renaissance theatre, was far along in that direction alreadv,
D\'namic space, through light modulations, appeared in canvases and reached the highest artistic level in the works of
Rembrandt-"the Director, \Xlho Did Not l\'eed Words," as
Craig called him, Bur theatre itself st,wed "frozen" with the
con\'entions of Renaiss,]nce representational tradition, The
hondage of the inevitable perspective scener\, and the lighting
designed to strengthen the visual illusion dominated the theatre
up to the twentieth cenrur\', As a result, theatre as a "visual art"
was incapable of properl)' staging Shakespeare's masterpieces,
To represent the inner dram,] of Shakespeare's tragic ch'lracters,
,] new visual language was needed,

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1994
