Scenes of lamentation : a scenographic approach to landscape narratives

Abstract

Protests, often violent have become a major talking point in South African politics. This dissertation focuses on three matters: decolonisation of public spaces in South Africa, the notion of landscape narratives in re-interpreting landscapes of contestation and using a scenographic approach in communicating landscape narratives. Decolonisation of public spaces The problem that this dissertation aims to address is how public spaces in South Africa can be re-imagined so that they represent all inhabitants of the city they (public spaces) occupy. The landscape narrative The protests concerning the decolonising of public spaces in South Africa is an issue of narratives. The protests are not a reaction to the actual design of the spaces, but they are a reaction to the narrative that these spaces represent. The main issue regarding narratives in landscapes is whose story gets communicated and whose story is left out. For that reason, the notion of landscape narratives is investigated. Scenography as an approach to landscape narratives This dissertation focuses on the application of scenographic principles in representing and communicating narratives in public spaces. Scenography is researched as an alternative approach to dealing with landscape narratives because scenography emphasises on the design of performance spaces where the narrative is performed, rather than the design of elements that represent the narrative. This approach is important because the aim of the investigation is to move away from the use of symbols and signs in communicating narratives in public spaces. The vandalism of statues in South African public spaces is a testimony of why symbolism might not be the best narrative approach.