Consuming Scenography

The Shopping Mall as a Theatrical Experience

Nebojša Tabacki

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781350110908
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medien & darstellende Kunst
• Subtopic: Theatertechnik & Szenografie

Longlisted for the PQ Best Publication Award in Performance Design & Scenography 2023 Consuming Scenography offers an insight into contemporary scenographic practice beyond the theatre. It explores the ways in which scenography is used to create a global cultural impact and accelerate profits in the site-specific context of themed shopping malls. It analyses the effect of the architectural, aesthetic, spatial, material and sensory aspects of design through their performative encounters with consumers in order to offer a better understanding of performance design. In the first part the author explores the spatial seduction of an enclosed market space and traces the origins of scenographic temporality in permanent architectonic spaces for trade and commerce, from ancient Greek and Roman roofed markets and Oriental bazaars to 19th-century arcades and department stores to modern-day shopping malls.The second section addresses the site-specific theatricality of the shopping mall, considering the use of performative aspects of scenography in the creation of corporate identity. It engages with production and consumption of experience in themed shopping malls, using historical, aesthetical, social and political lenses. In the final section, the author intertwines fluidity of market changes with flexibility of scenographic matter, drawing attention to both contradictions and prospects that merging of scenography and architecture can bring along. Considering a variety of case studies of themed shopping malls, including the Ibn Battuta Mall in Dubai, Terminal 21 in Bangkok, the Villaggio in Doha and Montecasino in Johannesburg, as well as further examples from Europe, USA and Asia – this book provides a wide-ranging critical examination of the ways in which scenographic thinking and practices are exploited in wider cultural contexts for impact, branding, and higher profits.

1

Staging Consumer Seduction: A Brief History

1.1 The market enclosure as a scenographic principle

Ever since mankind first began trading, the market has been about more than simply buying and selling goods. It was also a place to socialise, to be seduced by the mystical and exotic, to be entertained and to witness demonstrations of political power.¹ Historically, traders’ attention-seeking competitiveness in the pursuit of profits targeted all the consumer’s senses, thus intertwining the exchange of goods and performativity, and making the latter an inherent feature of the marketplace (Wiles 2003: 85). The temporal abolition of established rules and norms, often associated with liminality,² created a transitional space among permanent settlements. Spreading ‘the intoxicating energy of the crowd channelled within the confined public space’, the traditional marketplace introduced theatricality into everyday life (Goss 1993: 27). While the architecture of urban settlements provided a static backdrop, goods laid out on mats and in improvised stalls morphed according to ever-changing multitudes, weather and seasons: the marketplace internalised the very essence of theatrical temporality visually conveyed through this special kind of environmental scenography.

The confluence of economy, society, politics and theatre grew even more compelling when outdoor market stalls were gathered into inner-city constructions and topped with roofs (Lepik et al. 2016: 6). Shops grouped together in shaded pedestrian streets, covered walkways and colonnaded porticos can be traced back to the stoa³ of Attalos, Trajan’s Market, and medieval European enclosed markets; and qaysariyya, khans, wakalas, souks and bazaars spread across North Africa and Southwest Asia.⁴ Swapping the adaptability of their outdoor counterparts for a permanent setting within architectural complexes, roofed markets advanced the process of seduction and persuasion, cultivating an atmosphere that influenced their patrons’ behaviour and decision-making.⁵ They created the conditions for customers to take their time purchasing goods, to enjoy the setting, to engage in conversation, price negotiations and entertainment, independent of the weather conditions and other activities happening in the agora, forum or medieval town square at the same time. So, drawing outdoor stalls into the unified urban structures of inner cities, early enclosed markets set the scene for a unique ambiance to develop in places of trade through their architecture and displayed commodities. Colonnaded porticos and arcades directed the way light entered trading spaces, elevating the staged quality not only of the goods being presented but also of the market’s atmosphere.

Some unique examples from the classical civilisations give us an idea of the seductive effects of roofed markets at their very beginnings. The stoas in ancient Greece evolved from simple colonnaded buildings not meant for any purpose more specific than to offer shelter and serve as gathering places to spaces where trade mingled with the entertainment provided by jugglers and sword-swallowers, philosophical discussions, exhibitions of art (Stoa Poikile) and simple relaxation.⁶ The Stoa of Attalos in the agora of Athens (150 BCE) hosted forty-two shops on two levels under a single roof (McK. Camp 2015). In addition to the scenographic staging of goods meant for sale,⁷ common in places of trade, the Stoa’s double-colonnaded portico created dramatic shadows that moved with the sun, introducing an extra layer of visual seduction to the market space. In ancient Rome, the concrete grain vault in the central hallway of Trajan’s Market (112 CE) shows innovation in how its incorporated arches were designed to conduct the movement of light through the space. During the day the rays of light played with the place’s atmosphere. The sun created strong contrasts between light and shadows, highlighting some surfaces while toning down others. Today, the remains of coloured marble ornaments, columns, mosaic floors with different patterns for each shop and the vaulted ceiling along the curved alleys in this 170-room multi-storey complex give us a hint of the visual appeal that Trajan’s Market had on Roman citizens and visitors alike (Becker 2018). On the upper floors, circular arched walkways opened a view to the city and its surroundings.

The image of the city was still present in this particular setting of ancient roofed markets, but in a different way than in the open squares of the Athens agora or the Roman Forum. In both cases, especially in Trajan’s Market, the city itself became scenography, a backdrop, a distant image that one could observe only between the columns of the colonnaded porticos and from the walkway galleries. The enclosure of the marketplace, though embedded in the urban matrices of Athens and Rome as part of the agora or forum complex, created a physical divide between the market and its surroundings. Perhaps counterintuitively, the very withdrawal from open spaces into enclosed buildings opened the door for a scenographic way of thinking about the use of space in places of commerce. In this context, a scenographic approach included appropriating existing spatial conditions and the physicality of the architecture in order to elevate the appeal and enhance the drama that unfolded in the action of trade. We can well imagine how the architecture of hallways and market alleys, the goods displayed on the counters set up in shop entrances and stored within the shops themselves, and the scent of food and drink all contributed to the scenographic atmosphere of the first roofed markets. Development from this point was not, of course, a straightforward process.

Early medieval enclosed markets in Europe were incorporated into the open, arcaded ground floors below town hall and guild offices (Coleman 2006: 20). They enabled the fluid use of space in town squares for trade businesses. Partially roofed and partially open to the elements, market stalls were surrounded with the architecture of the existing urban settlements, a panoramic image that changed unremittingly as medieval towns expanded their reach with both public and private buildings, gradually enveloping the town squares. Over time, this architectural typology saw many variations. In some European towns, the separation of businesses led to independent building units; in others, ground floors remained part of the town hall.⁸ Depictions of the medieval marketplace in frescos in the courtyard of Issogne castle (Aosta valley, Italy) suggest how scenographic interventions might have been implemented. Individual elements such as stalls set up between columns, merchandise arranged skilfully around them and goods displayed behind the merchants on the wall across the colonnade are framed by the architecture of the marketplace. Although artistic expression has to be taken into account, the frescos portray products set out on counters, shelves in the background and wooden constructions specially made to hold tools and weapons. The way medieval shops and stalls were equipped clearly reflects the aesthetic approach to exhibiting textiles, shoes, food and tools. Another source, a fifteenth-century French engraving,⁹ presents a scene from a covered market with a counter positioned between the columns of an inner arched colonnade, set on a pedestal and draped with cloth onto which shoemakers, goldsmiths, crockery and textile merchants lay out their wares. The image shows shelves and cabinets behind the merchants that contain attractive arrangements of goods.

In the sixteenth century, evolving trade, bank and credit systems influenced the emergence of a new architectural typology (Coleman 2006: 25). The inward orientation of these buildings blended out the city as scenography, leaving only the facades of the courtyards and atriums to visually dominate places for trade. Stock exchange markets in Antwerp, Amsterdam and London introduced buildings with an enclosed atrium boasting a colonnaded courtyard on the ground floor and rows of stalls in the gallery of the first floor that provided market space for luxury items (Coleman 2006: 25–6).¹⁰ Offices, shops and stalls encircled the courtyard between the colonnade and the facade. Peter Coleman confirms that extending buildings to include ground floors with a colonnade to protect shops from the weather was also characteristic of the first shopping streets established in Italy during the sixteenth century and in northern Europe in the seventeenth century (2006: 26–8). Lewis Mumford emphasises the importance of the physical protection for stalls and booths, because until the seventeenth century, when they were gradually ‘put behind glass’, the active life of citizens took place outdoors (1996: 56). Merchants presented their goods on counters and in front of the open shopfronts, merging the architecture of the medieval towns with their own arrangements. The shoppers’ visual field was thus bordered by the shopfronts on one side and the immediate urban surroundings behind the colonnade on the other. Contrary to exchange markets, early shopping streets opened towards the city’s atmosphere. Because trading still took place in front of the shops (Coleman 2006: 28), the architecture of the streets provided its environmental scenography. Occasional temporary withdrawal from the streets into a more intimate and visually controlled environment started in the late seventeenth century with the first glass shop windows. These helped move counters out of entrances and into the shops themselves, opening their interiors to the public (Coleman 2006: 28). As Clare Welsh’s study of the design of early eighteenth-century London goldsmiths’ shows, the ‘theatre of consumption’ at the time was also reflected in highly skilful and sophisticated strategies of display (1995: 96–111; Berry 2002: 384). Until plate-glass technology enabled the production of large shop windows in the mid-nineteenth century, grids of small glass panels prevailed. While interior design and scenographic arrangements facilitated a more individual approach to the perusal and purchase of merchandise, they also faded out the architecture of the towns as soon as buyers were tempted inside.

Late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century buildings for markets and fairs continued to merge shopping, leisure and entertainment. Shops and stalls organised into open courtyards surrounded by a colonnade on the ground floor and a gallery above (Hungerford Market, London) and later fully enclosed within market buildings (Les Halles, Paris) were increasingly oriented inwards, continuing the practice of physical separation from the surrounding urban environment (Coleman 2006: 28–9). In some cases, this tendency offered a fruitful playground for new theatrical forms to unfold. The annual fairs of St Germain and St Laurent contributed to the emergence of musical theatre, especially comédie en vaudevilles. Even though different forms of marketplace existed simultaneously throughout medieval Europe, the transition from early open-air market stalls to later enclosed shopping areas paved the way for the architectural typologies that followed. As a result, the conditions were prepared for scenographic interventions gradually to develop their influence over commercial spaces.

In North Africa and Southwest Asia, as in Europe, adding roofs to the market served not only to protect merchants and patrons from the climate but also to shield particular goods and high-quality fabrics like silk (Hmood 2017: 265). Mixing trade with other functions within larger building complexes was characteristic for the region since ancient times. Qaysariyya, khans and wakalas combined the market with lodgings and the storage of goods and, in some cases, with a water supply and a school,¹¹ while souks and bazaars, though predominantly oriented towards trade businesses, were embedded in the functional versatility of inner-city structures.¹² Made at first of improvised constructions covered with mats, fabrics and wooden planks, souks and bazaars transitioned into solid architectural buildings with cross-shaped vaulted ceilings and domes, which started to emerge in the late Middle Ages. Their inward orientation blanked out the surrounding distractions of lively city streets, while openings in the vaulted ceilings allowed the goods on display to be illuminated by daylight in a theatrical manner. The familiar image of souks and bazaars that we have today, with lushly decorated shops surrounded by a wealth of exotic goods that scenographically overwhelm the architecture itself, does not exactly recapture the oriental market’s origins. As Walter M. Weiss points out, one of the most famous oriental bazaars, Kapali Carsi in Istanbul (1461), did not feature attention-seeking merchants calling out prices (1994: 171–2). Tradespeople sat quietly in their alcoves, letting their wares do the talking. Weiss emphasises that at Kapali Carsi’s beginnings, there were no vitrines in front of the shops, no lettering to advertise what was for sale; discreet wall paintings were the only ornament (1994: 172). The architecture of the place, its form and materiality, brick and wood patterns, grill decorations, light that entered the space vertically (Isfahan Bazaar, Bokhara Bazaar) or diagonally (the Grand Bazaar, Istanbul) from above through the vaulted and domed ceilings¹³ played the major role in using atmospheric flair to provide visitors with a visual experience. It was not all left to the architecture, though. From the beginning, arranging goods in an attractive way inside their shops was a subtle scenographic art practised by the merchants, who were aware of the relevance of visual appeal to running a successful business. At the peak of Kapali Carsi’s splendour in the nineteenth century, the fine tactility of draped fabrics such as velour, silk and muslin, the glittering reflections of stained glass, weapons and jewellery, and the intense colour spectrum of spices added to the overall scenography of the place. Furthermore, as Weiss highlights, the variety of high-quality products exceeded by far the offer one could find in the shopping arcades of London or Paris at the time.

Examples of markets from the classical civilisations, medieval Europe and the Orient suggest that the early stages of scenographic interventions in enclosed marketplaces present more a story of fragmented highlights than the continuous evolution of the visual appropriation of an architectural typology (Coleman 2006: 51–4, 57). Viewed from the perspective of the market’s theatricality, however, even this initial, haphazard history points towards the presence of scenographics in the marketplace over several centuries. The continuation of this story in the next chapters will show how scenography further expanded its influence in a specific type of marketplace, which laid the foundations for simulations of spatial reality and the establishment of a tradition that is still practised today. Through all the historical forms of the enclosed marketplace, a single scenographic principle shines through: the need to find an adequate means of compensating for what got lost in the transition – the atmosphere of the city.

1.2 Industrialising pleasure: Shopping arcades and department stores

Architecture’s contribution to ‘pleasure’¹⁴ and the scenographic in Western commercial spaces was introduced with the advent of shopping arcades in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. A long way from the unpaved, muddy market streets of days gone by, the first arcades in Paris and London propelled the unique use of scenography into places for trade, spreading the practice across Europe and overseas to her colonies. Tracing the origins of modern consumerism, Colin Campbell calls attention to the preoccupation with pleasure, ‘envisioned as a potential quality of all experience’, which focused ‘on the meanings and images which can be imputed to a product’ (2005: 463). Taking its cue from daydreams and fantasy, the scenographic approach to the manipulation of space and introduction of illusion in shop-window displays set in motion the individual substitution of ‘illusory for real stimuli’ (2005: 463). The dreamy worlds of shopping arcades thus seduced consumers, encouraging them to create their ‘own pleasurable environment’, and established the modern approach to consumerism ‘by creating and manipulating illusions and hence the emotive dimension of consciousness’ (2005: 463).

The three- to fifteen-metre-wide passages that connected inner-city streets and the facades of alleys in enclosed blocks presented exterior architecture in semi-interior spaces,¹⁵ giving them a theatrical and aesthetical character. Offering a stylish interpretation of the outside world, stained-glass roofs flooded tiled floors and shop windows with light, placing the objects in the windows and the people gazing at them centre stage. Arcades were among the first public spaces to experiment with gas and later electrical lightning,¹⁶ so it is easy to imagine the advantage during night hours of their lanterns, chandeliers and console lamps among the sparsely lit city streets of the nineteenth century (Geist 1982: 28). As Walter Benjamin puts it, ‘The arcades are the scene of the first gas lighting’ (1999: 3). Apart from the use of light and floors luxuriously designed with tiles and mosaics, decoration also extended to facades adorned with clocks, figures, colourful stained-glass windows and mirrors, all of which added to the visual opulence of the arcades and created a strong contrast to the city streets. Luxury goods were skilfully arranged as objects of desire that, by means of packaging, presentation and advertisement, should find their way to the consumer. ‘The arcade is a street of lascivious commerce only,’ Benjamin notes. ‘It is wholly adapted to arousing desires’ (1999: 828). In this newly conceived setting, shop windows established a special kind of communication between consumers and commodities. Jean Baudrillard writes: ‘That specific space which is the shop-window – neither inside nor outside, neither private nor wholly public, and which is already the street while maintaining, behind the transparency of its glass, the distance, the opaque status of the commodity – is also the site of a specific social relation’ (1998: 166). Signs, painted boards, display cases, posters and lettering on shop windows spoke to the overall atmosphere of visual seduction (Geist 1982: 267). Furthermore, the scent of freshly ground coffee, truffles, pastries, tobacco, exotic plants, lemons and oranges extended the sensory allure of the place (Benjamin 1999: 46; Geist 1982: 266). The objects in the windows, set up ‘in a glorious mise-en-scène’, reinforced what Baudrillard calls the ‘consensus operation’ – a speechless ‘communication and exchange of values’ (1998: 166). The showcased commodities, he continues, ‘aped by the objects themselves on their stage-set, this symbolic, silent exchange between the proffered object and the gaze, is clearly an invitation to real, economic exchange inside the shop’ (1998: 166).

Adhering to the pleasure principle, the architecture of nineteenth-century shopping arcades formed the next stage of the journey of roofed markets and bazaars as scenographic places of commerce. Besides shops, arcades housed restaurants, reading rooms, baths, clubs, hotels, theatres, vaudevilles, cabarets and even scenographic installations such as panoramas, dioramas and cosmoramas, which serve...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Contents 
• List of Figures
• Acknowledgements
• Introducing Consuming Scenography
• 1 Staging Consumer Seduction: A Brief History
• 2 Framing Consumption in Late Capitalism
• 3 Themed Malls as a Global Trend
• 4 Producing Experience
• 5 Consuming Experience
• 6 The Deceitful Charm of Scenography
• 7 Spatial Flexibility: A Yearning
• Notes
• References
• Index
• Imprint