Campbell, Rachel Zoë (2026) Creating a world(ing) United by Music : Interventions of cultural diplomacy between Ukraine and the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. In: Designing Eurovision : Performance Scenography on an International Stage. Routledge, London. ISBN 9781032718750 (In Press)
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 created a unique situation for the shared performance space of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, as this was the first time the contest was hosted by a country that was not the winner of the previous contest due to a war. This chapter identifies and investigates a core dynamic that underpinned the creative, cultural, and political direction of this particular iteration of the ESC: the potential to find shared space through engaging with differences, boundaries, and borders. To this end, this chapter draws on both theatre and performance studies and International Relations to develop an interdisciplinary framework that critically considers the spatial interventions presented by this performance event. Through the conceptual lens of scenographic worlding and the analysis of the scenographic elements of stage design and sound, this chapter brings cultural diplomacy to the forefront of Eurovision scholarship. Through cultural diplomacy between the United Kingdom and Ukraine, the performance space in Liverpool reflected both British and Ukrainian culture, whilst recognizing the juxtaposing backdrop of conflict. This interdisciplinary analysis demonstrates how cultural diplomacy resulted in interventional acts of place orientation in the ESC 2023 that emphasize the separation inherent to borders as well as the crossing of those borders. This shared performance space instantiates and problematizes the boundaries and inclusivity of the ESC, prompting audiences, individual agents, and state actors to consider: is this a world(ing) United by Music?
Altmetric
Altmetric