TOWARD AN AESTHETIC OF SCIENOGRAPHY THROUGH ART AND MOVEMENT-SPACE-TIME

Nazih H. MAHFOUZ

This study takes an ontological approach to discuss the aesthetics of scenography. The basic concept is that Movement-Space-Time inherent in Matter-Energy is the world's ontological unity, and "Dramatic Movement-Space-Time" inherent in Dramatic Matter-Energy is the dramatic world's unity. Art works express the world, external and internal, through the dimension of the world's ontological unity in art. The study develops its particular method of art classification according to this unity and its characteristics. It classifies kinds of art as arts of Movement, of Space and of Time. The Dramatic world expresses the world through the theatrical synthesis of these arts of Movement, Space and Time. Scenography is examined as the art of the Dramatic Space within the unity of the "Dramatic Movement-Space-Time." Dramatic Space is discussed as the major component of scenography, and Dramatic Move­ment-Time as the minor but essential component of it.

After discussing the characteristics of the ontological unity and its components, the study examines their reflection on the characteristics of the dramatic unity, and especially its scenographic, component. Time is demonstrated as the inevitable result of Movement-Space synthesis, and theatre is classified as an art of Time. Since this study shows directing as the art of Dramatic Movement and classifies scenography as the art of Dramatic Space, the synthesis of these two arts inevitably produces the expressive unit of Dramatic Time. This synthesis is discussed through this study's concept of the Main Dramatic Idea which is shown as the common content of the arts of Dramatic Movement and the arts of Dramatic Space. This common content generates the content-form unity of the temporal, theatrical production. The study discusses the scenographic work of art as the spatial embodiment of the Main Dramatic Idea according to the terms of the "Drarmatic Movement-Space-Time." The study indicates that our present time is experiencing the emergence of scenography and its development as a unique discipline. The aesthetics of scenography is demonstrated as an essential necessity for the emergence of its modern concept, and for the production of the unity of "Dramatic Movement-Space-Time."