The Blind Set #1

I think the hardest thing that I have to confront when working with my Theatre-major classmates when I am a Visual Artist, is our clashing ideals and wants for the project.

Throughout the course of working with them, I found myself having to hold back and listen to what they want in their set. To me it was very difficult to come to a consensus with them because as a Visual Artist, I am very used to coming up with my own ideas and implementing things according my own wants and fancies. When acting out on this set, I had to remind myself that I am only a worker here and that someone else is in charge of the idea. Despite my liberty to provide input, the overall "look" of the set should be decided upon by the director, Diego.

Through this experience, I had to challenge myself to work with people from other majors and to work collaboratively with them to produce a final work together. I also found it very difficult to work in making the actual set because the team handed the project over to us very close to their show week. Although we promised to deliver them a proper set, I think it was very unprofessional of them to hand it over to me and Ching Yi a week before the show and expect us to deliver it to them. Also, I think that if they wanted us to deliver to them, I think they should have given us the breakdown of their sets before-hand and the measurements of the flats we were using. Because we did not have the measurements and breakdown of the set, we were delayed in making our end of the set. I am not trying to discredit their efforts and claim that they have not done to deliver on their end, but I think that if one was to engage external members to collaborate with you, I think that one should have all aspects covered. In the end, I think I managed to get a plan out and we were able to finish the set.

I also had to consider many aspects that I don't normally consider when I make an artwork, such as lighting and whether it would make people uncomfortable and dizzy. Because compared to an artwork, I learnt that a theatre piece involved with a putting the audience through an experience. So things like audience reception is more emphasized, compared to Visual Art.