Error, glitches, exposure and inefficient aesthetics as methods of enhancing a sense of togetherness within a co-created scenography

This paper responds to the working group’s question on how might scenographic tools and processes (situated, co-creative, embodied, material, technological, immaterial, collective, social, and political, amongst others) be brought into play in emergencies that are local or global.
I will unpack the ‘scenographic contraption’ (PENNA 2013; 2017; 2023) method, which uses error, exposure and inefficient aesthetics for generating relational actions between materials, space, and audiences and the notion of ‘contraption’, imbricated within E-cognition theory, as framework for conceptualising and analysing design-led relational performance practice and participatory scenography. I will then reflect on my role as Lead Designer-Curator for the UK National Festival of Performance Design in the East Midlands (Hello Stranger, East Midlands) and how I used my method of ‘scenographic error’ which is designed deliberately to provoke a mis-match of expectations and generate possibilities of interaction, collaboration, affect and thinking. I will then unpack why understanding thinking not as an individualistic activity, but one that happens within socio-cultural and material knowledge is crucial for enhancing trust, togetherness and belonging within a collective; and how it contributes to creating shared spaces, which centre socializing, inclusivity and conversation.
The conversing during the Hello Stranger East Midlands workshop takes place as an ecological practice, focusing on the inventive playfulness and ingenuity of a collective of designers. It speculates on how we might use insights from this workshop to other collectives for enhancing resilience, and relates to the call’s sub-topic of design-led storytelling as catalyst for resilience: scenographic participation, belonging, and co-creation.