Arteles Catalogue 2023-2020

Back to Basics program / JULY 2022
Fenna von Hirschheydt
Switzerland
www.fvhdesign.com
About
Technically I have a Masters Degree in Set and Lighting
Design from the Lir Academy in Dublin, but I currently work
as a lighting technician at the TAK theatre in Liechtenstein
and as a set design assistant, most recently at the National
Opera in Helsinki and for the opera in Zürich.
I was interested in all sorts of visual arts growing up. In
school we got to try out photography (analogue and digital),
screen printing, linocuts, painting and sculpting and I always
found it very difficult to specialise because I seem to like all
techniques equally. In that sense I think designing for theatre
allows me to combine many of them and learn new ones.
These days I mostly draw, sketch, and make models, but in
my free time I also like taking photos.
I want to use my time at Arteles to design an opera to the
stage of a model box and maybe also bring some order into
a collection of photographs I took over two years ago. I like
to draw a lot of inspiration from nature and my surroundings,
so I think the location of Arteles will be ideal for both these
projects.
Connecting
The journey of my time at Arteles could best be described
as starting with the personal, connecting with the natural
environment and ending with a connection to the people I
have met there, shared food, Sauna, walks and workshops
as well as personal conversations with. It has been a time of
discovery as well: discovering my ability to cope, and well,
without the internet and my phone, beginning to discover the
ability to open to other people again, re-discovering a joy in
living of the land by foraging for my own food, re-discovering
a love for cooking for others, and discovering or rather
becoming aware of the desire to try many new things and
be creative outside the scope of what I would describe as
profession. I think I have come away from Arteles with a
better understanding of my creative abilities and limitations,
an awareness of my empathy and more generally a better
sense of self. So in that sense, though it did not feel like it
while experiencing it, my month in Finland has been one of
personal recognition and growth.
Profile photo by Karin Grace