About

Dr Tanja Beer is an ecological designer, community artist and Senior Lecturer in Design at the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Australia. With more than 20 years professional experience, Tanja has created over 70 designs for a variety of theatre companies, events, exhibitions and festivals in Australia (Sydney Opera House, Melbourne International Arts Festival, Federation Square, Queensland Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Arts House, The Arts Centre) and oversees (including projects in New York, London, Cardiff, Glasgow and Vienna). As a leader in ecological design practice, she has received numerous grants and awards including: an Asialink Residency (Australia Council for the Arts) with the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan); and a Norman Macgeorge Scholarship (Australia) with the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and Julie’s Bicycle (London). Tanja has a PhD in Ecoscenography (Faculty for Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne), a Masters in Stage Design (KUG, Austria), a Graduate Diploma in Performance Making (VCA, Australia). She has taught subjects in Scenography, Performance Making, Sustainable Production, Spatial Design, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Design Research, Ecological Design and Climate Change at numerous Universities in Australia and around the world. Her work has been selected for the 2019 Prague Quaddrennial and the British contingent of the 2015 Prague Quadrennial which was also exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. 

Tanja’s latest projects seek to re-think traditional design practices and re-interpret materials to embrace the possibilities of ‘ecoscenography’ – a movement that integrates ecological principles into all stages of scenographic thinking and production. Her focus has been on developing and participating in ecological orientated projects. Tanja’s most celebrated project is The Living Stage (an ecoscenographic concept that combines stage design, permaculture and community engagement to create a recyclable, biodegradable and edible performance space) which has been realised in Castlemaine, Cardiff, Glasgow, Armidale, Lorne, New York and Melbourne.

Tanja straddles academia and practice, and is commited to supporting the next generation of theatre artists to be ecological design thinkers. After 15 years in Melbourne, Tanja recently made the move to Queensland to take up her new role at Griffith University, where she teaches across Interior/Spatial design disciplines.

For more information about Tanja’s current practice in the area of ecological design see: http://ecoscenography.com

Click here for access to Tanja’s writings on ecoscenography and other related topics

Click here for more information of Tanja’s academic profile

Or join the discussion on ecoscenography:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ecoscenography/

CONTACT

EMAIL:
tanjabeer.design@gmail.com

ECOSCENOGRAPHY WEBSITE:
http://ecoscenography.com/

FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ecoscenography/
https://www.facebook.com/TheLivingStage

TWITTER:
https://twitter.com/TheLivingStage
 

Australia Phone: +61 (0) 417 124770