Katha Seidman, “Historic Drama-Documentaries and Immersive Installations”

Katha Seidman has designed many historic drama-documentaries and built a number of immersive installations. Although these two design challenges often seem to cross-reference, she believes they should be treated quite differently. This talk will compare the development of one specific set, a depiction of Lavoisier’s laboratory in 1778 when he discovers oxygen, with an immersive shadow-play I’m developing that conjures a clandestine meeting of the Vigilant Committee of New York City
abolitionists in 1851.

A five-time nominee and three-time Emmy Award winning production designer, Seidman has designed many historic drama-documentaries for PBS, the History Channel and the Discovery Channel. In addition, she creates immersive installations, some in collaboration with other artists and others as solo shows. She is currently working on two installations, a collaborative 3-D graphic novel and an immersive shadow-play about an imagined meeting of Abolitionists after the passing of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act.