1st Edition
Designing Eurovision Performance Scenography on an International Stage
Introduction: The Eurovision Song Contest through scenography and performance design
Amy Skinner and Catherine Baker
1. Eurovision as Combinatoire: the complex construction of the lighting and video in the Eurovision Song Contest
Nick Hunt
2. The scenography of backstage labour at Eurovision
Kelli Zezulka
3. ‘Let’s create our own world on that stage’: a conversation with Andrew Cartmell
Andrew Cartmell and Catherine Baker
4. Accommodating multitudes: stage design and live production challenges at the Eurovision Song Contest during the 1980s and 1990s
José Luis Panea
5. ‘It’s a song contest, but it’s also in many ways a technical competition’: A chronology of Eurovision and a conversation with Ola Melzig
Mig Walsh
6. ‘Welcoming Ukraine, Europe, and the world to Liverpool with open arms’: a conversation with Julio Himede
Julio Himede and Catherine Baker
7. A semblance of interaction: exploring logistical and theoretical issues within Eurovision’s interactive digital performances
Ed Grimoldby
8. Designing a space for reflection: the case of Konstrakta
Duška Radosavljević
9. ‘An ever-changing feast of ideas’: A conversation with Jake Linzey
Jake Linzey and Amy Skinner
10. Costuming Eurovision: Trends, bodies, and technological futures
Sofia Pantouvaki
11. ‘That’s how you’re representing yourself to the world’: A conversation with Alin Le’Kal
Alin Le’Kal and Amy Skinner
12. Creating a world(ing) United By Music: interventions of cultural diplomacy between Ukraine and the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023
Rachel Campbell
13. Staging the nation: the politics of Eurovision host stages
Lara Maleen Kipp
14. The city as a stage: urban scenography and Liverpool’s city-based programming at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest
Catherine Baker
15. ‘Scenography gives the starting point for your imagination’: a conversation with TRI.Direction
TRI.Direction and Amy Skinner
Index
Biography
Amy Skinner is Associate Professor in Co-Production in Mental Health Research at York St John University. She has specialist interests in scenography, mental health, and neurodiversity. Her book Meyerhold and the Cubists, on scenography and visual art, was long-listed for the 2019 Prague Quadrennial book prize. Her most recent publication explores scenography as resistance in mental health settings.
Catherine Baker is Reader in 20th Century History at the University of Hull. She specializes in media, popular culture, and national identity in post-Cold-War Europe, and has been publishing on Eurovision since 2008. Her most recent book is the edited collection The Routledge Handbook of Popular Music and Politics of the Balkans (2025).
