From Analog Innovations to Digital Realities: Josef Svoboda’s Technological Vision and its Influence on Contemporary Digital Theatre Design

This study analyzes Josef Svoboda’s technology-driven staging vision and examines its influence on contemporary digital theatre practices. The techniques of lighting, projection,
and kinetic scenography developed within his concept of the “psycho-plastic stage” are recognized as historical predecessors of methods used in scenography today.

The research explores Svoboda’s innovative approaches from the analog era in dialogue with current digital scenographic practices. The multimedia-based narratives of Katie Mitchell, the interactive documentary-performances of Rimini Protokoll, and William Kentridge’s scenographic compositions that integrate light and shadow are evaluated as contemporary reinterpretations of Svoboda’s theoretical legacy.

In addition, although not a scenographer in the traditional sense, Refik Anadol’s data-driven, AI-generated spatial installations are considered among the interdisciplinary productions that extend the psycho-plastic stage into the perceptual experiences of the digital age. Anadol’s visual environments, constructed through projection and dynamic surfaces, present inspiring potentials for contemporary performance aesthetics.

In this context, the study offers a perspective on the aesthetic and technical transformation of digital performance, addressing the reshaping of theatrical space in the digital era through a lens of historical continuity.

Keywords: Josef Svoboda, Scenography, Psycho-Plastic Stage, Technology and Performance