Plastic Dreams

BRIEF: To create a set to reflect a dance piece by artist Emmanuelle Soum for Plastic Dreams, performed at the Tate Modern in 2019. 

The set design for Plastic Dreams was entirely a collaboration between NZS and Soum. Soum used performance and dance to represent a dying organism; focusing on how consumerism is leading to climate change. During the performance, Soum was ‘trapped’ within the set to physically show the struggles of humans in our non-organic, plastic world. 

The set, therefore, was an integral part of the story, and it was our pleasure to create this. We showed Soum how we could visually represent the narrative using colour and materials. The set was constructed entirely out of plastic bags collected from locations close to Natalia Zwardon’s home. We wanted to create the space using materials that could showcase how much unnecessary plastic refuse one block of flats could accumulate.   

Our ability to flex our creativity to work with artists alongside commercial makers is one of the joys of working in our Studio.