The Ecoscenography Reading Group is a virtual platform for theatre makers (and friends) who are interested in exploring a variety of articles, books, plays and stories that forefront ecological ways of knowing. The Reading Group events aim to take place once every couple of months, with each session focusing on a specific text (or series of texts) and featuring special guests to help generate dialogue for broader discussion. The event was originally instigated as part of Ecoscenography’s engagement with the new PQ knowledge exchange platform. Reading Group events are an informal gathering of like-minded people.
To Dye For & Bio Costume: 1st February (5pm Montreal Time) / 2nd February 2024 (8am Brisbane Time/9am Sydney Time) / (Midnight/12am Finnish Time): Join via this Teams LINK
Join Marianne Lavoie and Ingvill Fossheim for our first reading group session in 2024, focusing on costume and sustainability! We are reading “To Dye For” by Alden Wicker, with a special focus on BioCostume as an alternative to ‘fast fashion’. All events are shared via the Ecoscenography Facebook Group.
A Silent Spring for your wardrobe, To Dye For is a jolting exposé that reveals the true cost of the toxic, largely unregulated chemicals found on most clothing today.
Many of us are aware of the ethical minefield that is fast fashion: the dodgy labor practices, the lax environmental standards, and the mountains of waste piling up on the shores of developing countries. But have you stopped to consider the dangerous effects your clothes are having on your own health? Award-winning journalist Alden Wicker breaks open a story hiding in plain sight: the unregulated toxic chemicals that are likely in your wardrobe right now, how they’re harming you, and what you can do about it.
Joining us will be:
Ingvill Fossheim is doctoral candidate at Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture with the thesis ‘BioCostume: Experimental Costume Design with Biobased Co-Actants’ (2020-). She is affiliated with the research groups Costume in Focus and Fashion/Textile Futures. Through her artistic work and research, she seeks to orient performance – making praxis towards more environmentally responsible, resilient, and regenerative material approaches.
Sarah E Mosher is a performance designer specializing in costume design and technology, a fiber artist, and an Assistant Professor at Baylor University in Waco, Texas USA. Sarah is interested in the critical area of sustainability in the textile and clothing industry, and the exploration of how to apply this thinking to theatrical construction and labor practices. She has a passion for costume history, specifically the impact on society, and reflection of the values of each time and place and an interest in universal design and design systems, cultivating design thinking in students, and engaging with questions about design lifecycles across disciplines. Sarah has worked professionally as a costume designer for theatre, opera, film, and dance in Seattle and in Central Texas. Her work has encompassed interdisciplinary devised work and she has a passion for the dramaturgical work inherent in theatrical design.
Julie Fournier graduated from Concordia University, where she studied scenography. She specialized in costume design, with a particular focus on eco-design. Since 2021, she has been working at Écoscéno as an eco-design consultant, creating resources for the production of environmentally friendly costumes in the performing arts sector. Since September 2022, she has been pursuing a Master’s degree in Business Administration and Corporate Responsibility at UQAM to be able to lead larger-scale projects.
Information about previous sessions listed below:
Seasonal Book Club: Click here for Ecoscenography Reading Group Series 2022
READING GROUP SERIES 2021
Our first three Ecoscenography Reading Group events took place in partnership with The Centre for Sustainable Practice in the Arts (CSPA) and The Arctic Cycle’s Climate Change Theatre Action project (CCTA) in collaboration with World Stage Design 2022 (WSD2022), Triga Creative (Triga), Griffith University (Australia), Queensland University of Technology (Australia) and York University (Canada). These events explored Eco-theatre and Ecoscenography through a discussion of six selected CCTA plays by a diversity of playwrights across the globe.
The sessions were hosted by Queensland University of Technology and curated by QUT student Monique Roy, with the aim of integrating live and virtual performance readings and discussion. The information about our upcoming events is listed below. We can’t wait to have you join us for these exciting conversations!
Past CCTA Reading Group Event Recordings:
ecoscenography.com 