LIMINAL SPACES | in Artichoke Magazine
Posted 20 September 2021
LIMINAL Spaces has received the 2021 Premier Award for Australian Interior Design for The Bleeding Tree!
The September issue of Artichoke Magazine celebrates recognition for The Bleeding Tree and features all category winners.
As well as the Premier Award, The Bleeding Tree also received the 2021 Installation Design Award and Best of State Award.
For the Premier Award category, the jury commented:
The jury unanimously agreed that The Bleeding Tree deserves the Premier Award for Australian Interior Design for the way its powerful presentation reflects the fundamentals of interior design. As a stage set that has been created with light, shade and scale and where budget was a concern, The Bleeding Tree conveys the true meaning of our craft and also promotes a strong social message around domestic violence. At its core, the best interior design influences emotion and this project does that in the simplest yet most impactful way. If even one piece is removed, it's nothing, but in its complete simplicity, The Bleeding Tree is everything.
For the Installation Design category, the jury commented:
Jury members wholeheartedly agreed that The Bleeding Tree is the clear winner in the Installation Design Category. The stage set's stripped-back simplicity demonstrates mastery of form through the use of two planes that visually guide the audience in its emotional response to the performance in front of them. Minimalist lighting and the planes' different compositions also influence the mood on stage for the performers and, more significantly, provides gravitas to the play's theme of violence against women. In a category that has enormous diversity and scale, this project brings us back to the way interior design can affect emotion and does so with the most minimal of gestures. The use of the two planes is innovative, experimental and powerful, creating a tension through subtle moments. It is an extraordinarily well-considered, bold and graphic resolution.
Reimagining the play by Angus Cerini, the design was developed in close collaboration with Tasmania's newest theatre company, Archipelago Productions and production director, Ben Winspear and the cast Marta Dusseldorp, Jane Johnson and Kartanya Maynard.
The production opened theatres in Tasmania post the peak of Covid-19, which required the creative team and crew to take on the box-office risk, as audience capacity was reduced to 25% without any government guarantee or subsidy. The design was intensely frugal and the collaboration between the design team, Archipelago Productions and the set fabricator was heightened with resourcefulness and creativity. The three-week production had a (Covid) sell-out season. The passion and commitment of the team enabled theatre to be brought back to local and interstate audiences in challenging circumstances.
Read the Artichoke Magazine feature here.
Read more about the Australian Interior Design Awards here.
Read more about The Bleeding Tree here.
