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I work primarily as a designer of theater sets and lighting. In general, as a set designer, I try not to fool the spectator, but instead seek to establish a kind of transparency from the different “realities” taking place in the theater. 

In Dutch, there is a nice word for performance: "voorstelling", which means something between “imagination” and “representation”. The spectator creates his own performance from what he has seen. This is an important ingredient for me as a designer: not to dictate or illustrate how the play has to be, but to leave room for one’s own interpretation, memories, imagination. That is where beauty lies, for me.

Another aspect which is important for me, is to challenge the audience’s expectations about the room we are all in. I do that by redefining the existing theater and set elements, looking closely at theater’s rules, conventions and practical elements or by redefining set elements. My goal is to make the room transparent and “real”, to question the construct of the stage itself and to ask what the play needs to make it a personal experience. 

info[at]saschavanriel[dot]nl
+31 6 21893580