Getting site-specific in Copenhagen
Paule Gilbert, a Master of Fine Arts candidate in the Studio Arts, Fibres and Material Practices concentration, participated in the Urban Scenographies Field School in Copenhagen last May.
Shauna Janssen, assistant professor in the Department of Theatre and the Concordia University Research Chair in Performative Urbanism, led the program. It was attended by 12 students from the departments of Theatre, Studio Arts, Design and Computation Arts, and Geography, Planning and Environment.
Participants stayed at Teaterøen, or Theatre Island, located on Refshaleøen, a de-industrialized man-made island across the harbour from Copenhagen.
During the 17-day trip, they engaged in performative mapping and undertook assignments that responded to the rapidly changing environment of the island. They also got to explore the city.
Gilbert says the program gave her the opportunity to further develop her ability to work site-specifically. At Teaterøen, she made a kite and got her fellow trip mates to map themselves onto it before they flew the kite over the site “to have it reflecting upon itself.” She also captured scenes around Copenhagen and incorporated the images into her drawings.
Gilbert says she appreciated the opportunity to work with people from other disciplines.
“When we were guided to look at something, we all had very different ways of doing so — not only in the response, but even our frame of analysis was different,” she says. “I think we learned from each other, and it was very stimulating to be beside people who were working and thinking differently.”
After her field school program concluded, Gilbert came away with new skills to use in her own artistic practice. While she was in Copenhagen, she says, she didn’t have all the resources she usually needs for her work.
“That forced me to develop a way of combining different mediums that I had never thought of before and that I’m still working on now,” she explains, such as inserting media into her drawings.
The group also created a book to document their time at Teaterøen, which launched at Concordia’s 4TH SPACE in November.
Want to travel and learn abroad this summer? Find out more about the Field School Program from Concordia International today! Applications close on March 1. Please note: the application deadline for Imagining Iceland has already passed.