An Ecology of Illusion: Technologies and Scenography in the Redefinition of Relationships Between Humans and Non-Humans

Authors

  • Patrick Laffont de Lojo University Bordeaux Montaigne, Pessac, France

Keywords:

Scenography, Ecology of Illusion, Performance, Exhibition, Technology, Sustainability, Human–Nonhuman Relations

Abstract

This article develops a research I presented at the Technologies symposium of the Prague Quadrennial 2024, an international event dedicated to exploring the relationship between technologies and scenography in live performance and exhibition. My presentation, entitled An Ecology of Illusion, examined how contemporary scenographic practices are redefining the interactions between humans and non-humans. This text extends that exploration by combining theoretical perspectives with concrete case studies, and by highlighting the ways in which scenography can function as a site of ecological awareness, illusion, and transformation.

Author Biography

Patrick Laffont de Lojo, University Bordeaux Montaigne, Pessac, France

PATRICK LAFFONT DE LOJO is an artist, scenographer, light designer, and videographer.
He is a permanent faculty member in scenography at the École nationale supérieure des Arts
Décoratifs – PSL (ENSAD) in Paris and a researcher at the Artes laboratory, University
Bordeaux Montaigne. His work crosses visual arts, performance, theatre, and installation,
combining material experimentation with ecological theory and scenographic innovation.
From 2004 to 2016, he was a core member of the collective MxM led by Cyril Teste, and he
has also collaborated with the collective Skalen. Over the years, he has worked with numerous
directors and artists including Hubert Colas, Gildas Milin, Alain Françon, Robert Cantarella,
and Frédérique Aït-Touati, as well as with Bruno Latour. His installations, scenographies,
and light-based works have been presented internationally at institutions such as the Mucem,
the Gropius Bau (Berlin), the Centre Pompidou-Metz, the Biennale of Taipei, the ZKM
(Karlsruhe), and the Festival d’Avignon. He co-constructed and co-curated, alongside Chiara
Vecchiarelli, the program Créateurs Urgence Climat at the Fondation Thalie (2022–2024),
and he was a member of the programming committee of the first two editions of the Biennale du
Vivant. He has also contributed to journals such as Décors, thaetre.com, and Polygraphe(s).

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Published

2025-11-25

How to Cite

Laffont de Lojo, P. (2025). An Ecology of Illusion: Technologies and Scenography in the Redefinition of Relationships Between Humans and Non-Humans. Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai - Dramatica, 70(1), 55–85. Retrieved from http://dramatica.ro/index.php/j/article/view/351

Issue

Vol. 70 No. 1 (2025): Directions, Targets and Interrogations in Contemporary Theatre Studies

Section

Articles

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.