Student Work

Urban Opera
Fall 2024
Studio Critic: Annette Fierro
Studio Members: Carlotta DeBellis, Kelly Lopez, and Chesa Wang 

1. Emphasizing emotion through the light shadow and texture of the set intensified a minimalist physical performance  


This studio explores the dynamic interplay between architecture, landscape, and time, recognizing the transient nature of built environments within shifting ecological, political, and economic conditions. Through mapping, interdisciplinary collaboration, and experimental media—including narrative, sound, and performance—it aims to uncover and express the latent systems governing a peri-urban site along the Seine River. The final project, an opera, synthesizes these investigations into a performative expression of spatial and ecological transformations, emphasizing the interwoven complexities of climate change, human and non-human interactions, and territorial reconfiguration. In the distant future, waste in France has reached extraordinary levels. France now faces a ban on waste exportation, leaving the nation to confront its own environmental disaster. At the same time, an influx of migrants move to France as they escape from environmental crises caused our ongoing climate crisis. They have migrated to Saint-Germain-en-Laye where mounds of discarded clothes have colonized the landscape, constructing a new topography.


     

2. Soundscapes created on the Seine were implemented throughout the performance, accompanied by a custom musical notation that guides the audience through the site through sound.






3. A series of five panels on wheels were the main performers of the opera. Using projection technology and set design, the opera told the story of Yasmine, a young girl navigating an otherworldly landscape of waste. Textile, graphic, audio, and performance art were explored during this studio. 






4. projection mapping technology allowed the panels to move through the stage while still creating legible images and text