About

Ecoscenography.com is a proud member of the PQ knowledge exchange platform. Over the coming months we will be developing the site to feature articles and artworks that help to further define ecological design for performance and its contribution to theatre practice around the globe. An objective of the platform is that it becomes a hub for dialogue on Ecoscenography and ecological thinking in performance. So sign-up and stay-tuned, or join the facebook group to keep up to date with the latest opportunities and posts: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ecoscenography/

Tanja Beer (Editor)

Dr Tanja Beer is an ecoscenographer, community artist, educator and researcher who is passionate about co-creating social gathering spaces that accentuate the interconnectedness of the more-than-human world. Originally trained as a performance designer and theatre maker, Tanja’s work increasingly crosses many disciplines, often collaborating with landscape architects, urban ecologists, horticulturists and placemakers to inspire communication and action on environmental issues.  She is the author of Ecoscenography: An Introduction to Ecological Design for Performance (Palgrave MacMillan) and is a Senior Lecturer in Design at Griffith University, Australia.

Tanja’s most celebrated project is The Living Stage: a global initiative that combines stage design, horticulture and community engagement to create recyclable, biodegradable, biodiverse and edible event spaces. The Living Stage has been realised in Castlemaine, Cardiff, Glasgow, Armidale, New York and Melbourne and recently won a 2020 National Australian Institute of Landscape Architecture Award for its contribution to community. Tanja has more than 20 years professional experience, including creating over 60 designs for a variety of theatre companies and festivals in Australia (Sydney Opera House, Melbourne International Arts Festival, Queensland Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Arts Centre) and overseas (including projects in New York, Glasgow, Vienna, London, Cardiff and Tokyo). International projects have included a 2011 Asialink Residency (Australia Council for the Arts) with the Tokyo Institute of Technology and a residency with the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (London). In 2013, Tanja worked as ‘activist-in-residence’ at Julie’s Bicycle (London), and her work has been featured at the 2013 World Stage Design Congress (Cardiff) and the 2015 and 2019 Prague Quadrennials.

Tanja has a PhD in Ecoscenography (University of Melbourne), Masters in Stage Design (Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Graz, Austria) and a Graduate Diploma in Performance Making (Victorian College of the Arts, Australia). She was recently Academic Fellow in Performance Design & Sustainability at the Faculty for Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne where she taught subjects across Design Research, Expanded Scenography, Landscape Architecture and Sustainability. A passionate teacher and facilitator, Tanja has been a guest lecturer and speaker at performing arts schools and events in Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, the USA and UK. Her design work has been featured in The Age and The Guardian and can be viewed at www.tanjabeer.com. Her research interests include: arts-science communciation, regenerative place-making, children’s agency on environmental issues and the role that cultural institutions can play in the climate crisis.

Paula Martins (Eco Sisters Series Assistant Editor, 2026)

Paula Martins is a performance designer, researcher, and PhD candidate at the University of São Paulo’s School of Communications and Arts, currently undertaking a research internship at Griffith University’s Queensland College of Art and Design under the supervision of Dr Tanja Beer. With a background in Visual Arts and professional experience as a costume and set designer, Paula is a member of USP’s Centre for Stage Costume, Clothing, and Technology research group and a Research Assistant at the Performance + Ecology Research Lab (P+ERL).

Her doctoral research, “Eco Cenografia – o modus operandi de um futuro teatral possível: práticas artísticas sustentáveis na cena teatral da cidade de São Paulo” (Ecoscenography – the modus operandi of a possible theatrical future: sustainable artistic practices in São Paulo’s theatre scene), investigates sustainable practices in Brazilian performance design. Her current project, “Performance Designers: A Look at Ecoscenography and Eco-creativity”, expands this investigation globally, examining how ecological philosophy transforms contemporary design and artistic practices in theatre.

As part of her internship and commitment to making ecoscenography accessible to Portuguese-speaking audiences, Paula co-creates the Eco Sisters blog series with Dr Tanja Beer. This initiative celebrates and gives visibility to women artists leading the global ecoscenography movement, documenting current practices and building community amongst practitioners across diverse geographic and cultural contexts, including voices from the Global South often underrepresented in sustainability discourse.

Paula’s research is supported by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), grant number 2024/16084-3.

Monique Roy (Assistant Editor, Ecoscenography Reading Group 2021)