JIANI Gong’s Works 2024/2025 INDEX 
1. Material Exploration 
2. Lighting Exploration  
3. The Sixth Extinction, 2025
4. Self-directed Works 
5. Reference & Inspiration 


INTRODUCTION 
       JIANI GONG 

Welcome to my design world. I’m JIANI, a Product designer and a Scenography/ Performance designer. 

This portfolio focus on ‘material exploring’, ‘lighting exploring’, the projection in group show ‘The Sixth Extinction’ and my personal experimentations to show my experiences and development as a performance designer.

In the course of research and experimentation for various projects, I am committed to realizing the atmospheric expression of scenography through the use of materials, lighting, and projection techniques. Combining the theoretical knowledge I had learned in my previous work with Joslin McKinney, Scott Palmer, and Yaron Shyldkrot on scenography shaping gave me insight into the importance of the components of the stage in shaping the atmosphere.

In this collection, I isolate my experiences with materials, lighting and projections that I have devised in my performances, and carry over their qualities into my personal experimental projects, which have led to the realization of ‘Relationality’, ‘Affectivity’ and ‘Materiality’ in the scenography.


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Observe materials by kneading, folding, and tearing.                             Combine torn pieces of paper with fabric.                                                           
 Material Exploration, 2024
2024.10.17, workshop with Joslin McKinney. 

  • Observing the materials. 
  • Exploring the usage of materials. 
  • Finding the way of building atmosphere through using materials. 

This piece of workshop was about explore scenogrephic materiality. 
In this workshop we were supported to find paper and fabric’s feature, finding the relationship between these materials and our bodies. 

Through observing materials’ texture and combination of different materials, ‘allows a closer look at the reciprocal relationship between materials and bodies of different kinds in scenography’ (McKinney, 2019, p.4), that help designers exploring about the potential of materials on designing scenography. 








Shaping the atmosphere of a scene by understanding the material.



















Unfold the fabric wrapped in confetti from the balcony toward the ground.
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Lighting Exploration, 2024/25 
  • Exploring the light with different perspective. 
  • Observing the effect from different angles of light.  
  • Using light to build atmosphere. 

This pieces of works were focus on lighting’ posibilities on on stage. Through observing different kinds of lighting sources building atmosphere, ‘the consideration of meaning-making in light offers an expanded view of performance aesthetics, positioning the operation of light as a dynamic and consequential language of performance’ (Graham, Pamer and Zezulka, 2023, p.21)，this creates scenography with storytelling.













Workshop with Scott Palmer, 2024

Learn about types of stage lighting and use a flashlight to explore the  possibilities of lighting with other props.







Based on the theme of environmental protection and recycling of waste electronic products, we used LED light tubes and tree branches to build the scene, which is intended to evoke people's thoughts about nature.



Light Night, Art and Light Festival with Steve Ansell, 2024
























Based on the theme idea of Light Night, we used tree branches to build the scene, and experimented with the use of lighting in order to create a tense and depressing atmosphere.


The Light Exploration of
The Six Extinction with Scott Palmer, 2025 

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The Sixth Extinction, 2024/25  
  • Using the projection to build the space. 
  • Combining sound to create the atmosphere. 
  • Giving the meaning of the performance. 


The Sixth Extinction was a performance practice on the theme “Environment”. I focused on building asmosphere by peojection in The Sixth Extinction. The projection is one of the way to creates scenography, I tried to make projection show by myself. 

I try to cover the entire stage with projected images, ‘this sense of in-between-ness—a liminal space operating between the screen images and live performers—is often the essential kernel’ (Dixon, 2007, p.389)， creating an immersive experience.


The Projection Video










OASIS immersion, 2021                      Má Vlast (My Homeland),  2018                                                             

Delphine , 1999 


The image I made to try to achieve the effect above.

Sketches  of  projection &  lighting  






















Project the image with three projectors at different angles to achieve the effect of projected coverage of the whole space.


The Images of Projection

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Self-directed Works, 2024/25 
  • Based on the pre-works, experimented with my own ideas.
  • Summarising experimental experience and developing individual projects.
  • Focus on personal most interested part to develop individual skills.

These pieces of works based on my previous works, focused on using lighting, materials and projection to build scenographic atmosphere. 











These two works focus on experiment lighting. In the first work (left, 2024.10.10), I tried to use different angles of light to observe effect of  scenographic atmosphere. In the second work (right, 2024, 10.23), 
I try to combine multiple colors of lighting to create a dreamy effect.

Light experimentation, 2024















This work is a more complete experimental project based on the previous experiments of “material” and “light”. I combined the characteristics of the fabric to create an abstract image to express the theme, and used light changes and smoke to create the atmosphere.

Material & Light experimentation, 2024.11.13






















Workshop with PCI Tech Team. 2024. Photo by JIANI Gong. 


The project is based on the projected portion of The Sixth Extinction and utilizes an understanding of scenography, combining audio, video, and lighting in an attempt to create an emotional experience of ups and downs.






Projection, Light & Audio experimentation, 2025.05.09
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Reference & Inspiration  
McKinney, J. 2019. Scenographic Materiality: Agency and Intra-Action in Katrin Brack’s Designs by Katrin Brack. [Online]. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC , pp. 57-73 . [Accessed 10 October 2024]. Available from: https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/143921/3/McKinney%20Katrin%20Brack%20final%20accepted%20version.pdf

Graham,K., Palmer, S. and Zezulka,K. 2023.Contemporary Performance Lighting : Experience, Creativity and Meaning. [Online]. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. [Accessed 15 October 2024]. Available from: 
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/leeds/reader.action?docID=7176390&c=UERG&ppg=38

Dixon, S. 2007. Digital Performance : A History of New Media in Theater, Dance, Performance Art, and Installation. [Online]. MIT Press.   [Accessed 20 October 2024]. Available from: 
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/leeds/reader.action?docID=3338680&ppg=390&c=RVBVQg
 OASIS immersion: une exposition immersive à découvrir au Palais de Congrès. 2021. David Saint-Jacques, Alexandra Stréliski, Émile Roy. 
https://www.coupdepouce.com/loisirs/loisirs-et-culture/article/oasis-immersion-une-exposition-immersive-a-decouvrir-au-palais-de-congres

Má Vlast (My Homeland), Audiovisual Installation. 2018. Brno, Plzeň, Praha, Liberec, Hradec Králové, Ostrava; Czechia. 
https://claudiafragoso.com/MA-VLAST-1

Diana Thater, “Delphine” (1999), installation view at Kulturkirche St. Stephani, Bremen, Germany (photo courtesy Diane Thater and Roman Mensing/artdoc.de) 
https://hyperallergic.com/264272/imagining-the-inner-lives-of-animals/
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