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MDes Interior Design School of Design

Kyriaki Forti

I am a multi-disciplinary spatial designer with a keen interest in scenography, concept, and exhibition design. I hold an integrated master’s degree in architecture from Technical University of Crete, and I have completed courses in theatre performance, set and costume design at the National Theater of Greece. Utilising my architecture and design background in my practice, I aim to shape a holistic approach to performance spaces in an attempt to create immersive and site-specific narratives. My projects in GSA span between the exploration of the relationship between audience and stage and the speculative design of narratives using a limited selection of objects to infuse new meaning into their existing forms.

Contact
forti.kyriaki@gmail.com
k.forti1@student.gsa.ac.uk
fortikyriaki.wixsite.com
@forti.design
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            [post_content] => In this project, using Samuel Beckett’s theatre play «Waiting for Godot», I have tried to frame how I interpret the idea of a contemporary theatre experience and highlight the importance of continually expanding the limits of theatre typology. Exploring the relationship between audience and stage and the concept of doing the most with the least on set design process, this project seeks to challenge the conventional meanings assigned to objects within the play.

The story follows Estragon and Vladimir, who are trapped in the same location, spending their entire lives waiting for the arrival of Godot. They are trying to make the time pass by finding ways to interact with each other and the objects that surround them. Even though their movements and the relationship with the objects in the play is very detailed, I had the sense of random incidents that happen in repeat, so each day is almost the same as the previous one and will be the same with the day after. That makes me question what is of the most importance,  the objects or the rituals created by the objects within the play. And if I give these objects new meanings, how can this openness to different interpretations give me the freedom to imagine different objects, different interactions with the objects and different spaces.

My intention is to re envision the most ubiquitous theatre typology of our era: the black box – a vessel for illusions, where the concealed backstage area remains hidden from the audience’s view. I began contemplating the prospect of revealing all the concealed components inherent to theatre design. These elements are commonly seen as a way to challenge the illusionist nature of theatre, thereby crafting a typology that functions as a mechanism for generating illusions.
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            [post_content] => This project is the output of my second-semester project, which involved identifying and visualizing the 'Host' for a utilitarian site that stands aloof from its environment. My proposal is for an immersive art event at the Minerva Street Victorian public toilets, which aims to transform this opaque structure into a cohesive space that can tell a story.

ABOUT THE EVENT...
The event “Spend a Penny” is a fictional co-production of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Glasgow Cultural Association, with the aim of reviving Scotland’s public toilets and transforming them into art spaces.

The show “Lady from the Sea” is not an ordinary production. You can purchase the publication of the play as you buy your ticket. Note that the experience will not be the same if you do not read it beforehand.

The event is divided into two parts. Before the start of the performance, you have one hour to meet the characters of the play, touch their personal belongings, and listen to the sounds of their subconscious. You are free to move around the space and leave as many times as you wish. During the show, please remain in the designated stage area and help the actors with your attitude. Remember you are part of the play.

Please note that the event contains nudity. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
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            [post_content] => This publication is based on Henrik Ibsen's theater play "The Lady from the Sea". The reason for this publication, which is correlated with my second-semester design project "Host," is to explore new ways of spatially representing a story. I see a book as an empty vessel ready to tell a story, and I want to find connections between theater, performance, and book publishing.

​My aim is to understand how a book could be a useful tool, a host for telling the same story, and communicating an idea spatially in a more abstract way. At the same time, I want to introduce a different type of reader, the audience reader. I was inspired by the Fluxus art movement and, more specifically, by George Brecht, who is a pioneer of an art that depends entirely on the viewer. His artworks become an "event" when the viewer accepts the "invitation" to interact with them. I attempt to integrate this interaction in my publication by giving the reader the chance to phrase the story and be part of the narration in an active way. The entire publication is a passage from the classic way of reading a book to the way I anticipate the role of publication and its connection with theater and spatial design. To do so, I start exploring the public and private word of the book and, at the same time, the dual nature of text in publication, text as an object, and text as a signifier. Another key element in my publication is the use of small books, objects, music, and narratives hosted inside the main book.
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Projects
Waiting for Godot at Tramway-Thesis Project
Lady from the sea – Host Project
Creative Publishing in the Arts

Waiting for Godot at Tramway-Thesis Project

In this project, using Samuel Beckett’s theatre play «Waiting for Godot», I have tried to frame how I interpret the idea of a contemporary theatre experience and highlight the importance of continually expanding the limits of theatre typology. Exploring the relationship between audience and stage and the concept of doing the most with the least on set design process, this project seeks to challenge the conventional meanings assigned to objects within the play.

The story follows Estragon and Vladimir, who are trapped in the same location, spending their entire lives waiting for the arrival of Godot. They are trying to make the time pass by finding ways to interact with each other and the objects that surround them. Even though their movements and the relationship with the objects in the play is very detailed, I had the sense of random incidents that happen in repeat, so each day is almost the same as the previous one and will be the same with the day after. That makes me question what is of the most importance,  the objects or the rituals created by the objects within the play. And if I give these objects new meanings, how can this openness to different interpretations give me the freedom to imagine different objects, different interactions with the objects and different spaces.

My intention is to re envision the most ubiquitous theatre typology of our era: the black box – a vessel for illusions, where the concealed backstage area remains hidden from the audience’s view. I began contemplating the prospect of revealing all the concealed components inherent to theatre design. These elements are commonly seen as a way to challenge the illusionist nature of theatre, thereby crafting a typology that functions as a mechanism for generating illusions.

Project Links

poster

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Tramway Glasgow

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Act 1 Waiting for Godot

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ACT 1-first scene

Estragon, sitting on a low mound, is trying to take off his boot. He pulls at it with both hands, panting. He gives up, exhausted, rests, tries again. As before. Enter Vladimir.(advancing with short, stiff strides, legs wide apart
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Act 1 Vladimir - Estragon

(Vladimir rummages in his pockets, takes out a carrot and gives it to Estragon)
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enter Ponzo and Lucky

A terrible cry, close at hand. Estragon drops the carrot. They remain motionless, then together make a sudden rush towards the wings. Estragon stops halfway, runs back, picks up the carrot, stuffs it in his pocket, runs to rejoin Vladimir who is waiting for him, stops again, runs back, picks up his boot, runs to rejoin Vladimir. Huddled together, shoulders hunched, cringing away from the menace, they wait.
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SHAPING THE TYPOLOGY

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CHARACTERS’ PATHS AND RITUALS

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ACT 1 - TYPOLOGY

In Act 1, the stage serves as a folding box, wherein the back wall folds and unfolds to create a variable stage. During the first half of the act, one part of the audience experiences a live theatre performance, while the other half witnesses the projection of this act on a screen. In the second half of Act 1, the typology reverses, and those who initially watched the live action now observe the cinematic approach, while the roles of the audience segments switch.
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THE SUNDIAL

Drawing inspiration from the sun movement, I have incorporated the concept of a sundial into my design to emphasize the passage of time. In the first Act, the lights follow a circular trajectory, and their positions only shift when the characters perform a ritual. Ponzo and Lucky make their entrance at noon, and as they leave, the sun gradually descends, marking the progression towards sunset.
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rituals

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Act 2 - Waiting for Godot

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act-2-entrance

"Estragon’s boots front center, heels together, toes splayed. Lucky’s hat at same place. The tree has four or five leaves. Enter Vladimir agitatedly. He halts and looks long at the tree, then suddenly begins to move feverishly about the stage. He halts before the boots, picks one up, examines it, sniffs it, manifests disgust, puts it back carefully. Comes and goes. Halts extreme right and gazes into distance off, shading his eyes with his hand. Comes and goes. Halts extreme left, as before. Comes and goes. Halts suddenly and begins to sing loudly."
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Waiting for Godot

vladimir-estagon
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PANELS

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Vladimir : Was I sleeping, while the others suffered? Am I sleeping now? Tomorrow, when I wake, or think I do, what shall I say of today? That with Estragon my friend, at this place, until the fall of night, I waited for Godot? That Pozzo passed, with his carrier, and that he spoke to us? Probably. But in all that what truth will there be? (Estragon, having struggled with his boots in vain, is dozing off again. Vladimir looks at him.He goes feverishly to and fro, halts finally at extreme left, broods.
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The lighting softened as Vladimir began his monologue. He closed the window and door panels. The stage gradually emptied, leaving only the lights shining. After the Boy departed, Estragon and Vladimir stood at the center of the stage, bathed in minimal lighting.
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act-2-lighting

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final scene

The sun sets, the moon rises. As in Act 1. Vladimir stands motionless and bowed. Estragon wakes, takes off his boots, gets up with one in each hand and goes and puts them down center front, then goes towards Vladimir. VLADIMIR: We’ll hang ourselves tomorrow. (Pause.) Unless Godot comes. ESTRAGON: And if he comes? VLADIMIR: We’ll be saved. VLADIMIR: Well? Shall we go? ESTRAGON: Yes, let’s go. They do not move
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ACT 2 TYPOLOGY

In Act 2, the stage transforms into a rectangular shape, within which window shutters and doors unfold to create geometrical panels. These panels are placed in specific positions, remaining stationary and awaiting objects to stand beside them, casting hidden shapes and altering their shadows.
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panels

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The light switch

In the second act of the play, the environment in which the characters interact continues to be indeterminate, but it now embodies an ambiguous domestic setting—a personal interior, reflecting one’s inner space. The lighting aligns with this concept, transitioning from the emulation of natural light to the simulation of typical interior lighting found in our homes. Each day is characterized by specific instances of lighting being switched on and off, thus this interpretation could be regarded as a method of marking the passage of time.
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lighting

Illustrations of how various lighting techniques influence distinct shadow formations
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characters vladimir and estragon

Estragon and Vladimir are the main characters. The stage at some extent reflects their inner space and hosts their personal objects. I chose a black and white aesthetic with absence of profound materiality. I wanted this minimal aesthetic for my two characters emphasising into the form.
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characterS ponzo- lucky

Ponzo and Luck are the intruders in this personal universe. So they bring their one personal belongings. Ponzo can be considered a second tree symbol carrying all the objects of Ponzo- Lucky universe. A more maximal insight for Ponzo and Lucky symbolise the complexity of contemporary life.
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How rituals shape space

In the final stage of my project, I want to emphasise the power of ritual. I aim to showcase how the repetitive motions that individuals engage in daily without realising construct a confined space within our personal sphere, often without our conscious awareness.
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audience engagement

After the end of the play, the audience will not be directed towards the exit as expected. Instead, they will be subtly diverted to a path leading back to the stage, without their knowledge or awareness.
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paths audience engagement

Upon entering from two different doors within the setting, the audience will be guided along the paths they had previously performed by the characters. Overhead spotlights will outline the pathway, while laser lights will highlight the boundaries created by the characters’ rituals. After the end of the play, the audience will not be directed towards the exit as expected. Instead, they will be subtly diverted to a path leading back to the stage, without their knowledge or awareness.Upon entering from two different doors within the setting, the audience will be guided along the paths they had previously performed by the characters. Overhead spotlights will outline the pathway, while laser lights will highlight the boundaries created by the characters’ rituals. Vladimir, Estragon, Pozzo, and Lucky can serve as reflections of any one of us. Their experiences can easily relate to our own lives. As Pozzo mentioned in Act 1,“Remark that I might just as well have been in his shoes and he in mine. If chance had not willed otherwise. To each one his due.”
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Lady from the sea – Host Project

This project is the output of my second-semester project, which involved identifying and visualizing the ‘Host’ for a utilitarian site that stands aloof from its environment. My proposal is for an immersive art event at the Minerva Street Victorian public toilets, which aims to transform this opaque structure into a cohesive space that can tell a story.

ABOUT THE EVENT…
The event “Spend a Penny” is a fictional co-production of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Glasgow Cultural Association, with the aim of reviving Scotland’s public toilets and transforming them into art spaces.

The show “Lady from the Sea” is not an ordinary production. You can purchase the publication of the play as you buy your ticket. Note that the experience will not be the same if you do not read it beforehand.

The event is divided into two parts. Before the start of the performance, you have one hour to meet the characters of the play, touch their personal belongings, and listen to the sounds of their subconscious. You are free to move around the space and leave as many times as you wish. During the show, please remain in the designated stage area and help the actors with your attitude. Remember you are part of the play.

Please note that the event contains nudity. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Project Links

entrance

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exhibition space

MEET THE CHARACTERS - characters inner space
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ACT 1. Doctor Wangel's House

SCENE.—DOCTOR WANGEL’S house, with a large verandah garden in front of and around the house. A warm and brilliantly clear summer morning.
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ACT 1. Sailor’s Wife is Sleeping

The young wife of a sailor, who lies sleeping in strange unrest, and she is dreaming. I fancy I shall do it so that you will see she is dreaming. Τhere’s to be another figure. It’s her husband, to whom she has been faithless while he was away, and he is drowned at sea. It is night-time. And he is standing by her bed looking at her. He is to stand there dripping wet, like one drawn from the sea.
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ACT 3. Sea Creatures

dry land. our home. I think that if only men had from the beginning accustomed themselves to live on the sea, or in the sea perhaps, we should be more perfect than we are—both better and happier. too late to make good the mistake now. men instinctively feel something of this themselves. And they bear it about with them as a secret regret and sorrow.
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ACT 5. The Decition

Ellida That changes everything. (The ship bell rings again.) The Stranger. Do you hear, Ellida? It has rung now for the last time. Come.
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catharsis

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Lady from the sea narrative

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spatial elements

Minerva street Victorian public toilets could be any Victorian public toilet. This space is a collage of elements and fragmented realities that come together to generate a solid space and narrate a story. In order to understand what constitutes the Victorian public toilet space and how it can be correlated with the universe of the play, I conducted extensive research on Victorian public toilets throughout the UK. From my research, I found that bathroom units and tiles create the overall atmosphere of the space. Therefore, I decided to use urinals, bathroom sinks, basins, and cisterns as my basic tools for narrating my story.
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tiles

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materiallity board

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Creative Publishing in the Arts

This publication is based on Henrik Ibsen’s theater play “The Lady from the Sea”. The reason for this publication, which is correlated with my second-semester design project “Host,” is to explore new ways of spatially representing a story. I see a book as an empty vessel ready to tell a story, and I want to find connections between theater, performance, and book publishing.

​My aim is to understand how a book could be a useful tool, a host for telling the same story, and communicating an idea spatially in a more abstract way. At the same time, I want to introduce a different type of reader, the audience reader. I was inspired by the Fluxus art movement and, more specifically, by George Brecht, who is a pioneer of an art that depends entirely on the viewer. His artworks become an “event” when the viewer accepts the “invitation” to interact with them. I attempt to integrate this interaction in my publication by giving the reader the chance to phrase the story and be part of the narration in an active way. The entire publication is a passage from the classic way of reading a book to the way I anticipate the role of publication and its connection with theater and spatial design. To do so, I start exploring the public and private word of the book and, at the same time, the dual nature of text in publication, text as an object, and text as a signifier. Another key element in my publication is the use of small books, objects, music, and narratives hosted inside the main book.

Project Links
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