In the new landscapes of inter-disciplinary practice explored by designers for performance, we invite two influential practitioners to discuss the dilemmas, opportunities and conflicts presented by the diverse working circumstances in which they operate. 

Over the past twenty-five years, Jamie Vartan has worked on productions across the world, ranging from collaborating with the David Glass Ensemble on the Lost Child Trilogy with disadvantaged children in Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia and the Philippines, to designing for international opera houses across Europe. Recently he has created the space for Have your circumstances changed?, on old age, for Artangel. He is currently working on The Happiness Project at the Roundhouse, which is supported by the Wellcome Trust, and involves children and neuroscientists working together.  He has represented the UK at Prague Quadrennials in 1999, 2007, and 2011 and at World Stage Design in 2013, where he was awarded Best Set Design for Misterman. Vartan studied Fine Art at Brighton Polytechnic and Theatre Design at Central School of Art and Design and was awarded an Arts Council Bursary for Nottingham Playhouse. 
 
Agnes Treplin is the Course Director for the MA Costume Design for Performance at LCF, where the students create costume-based performances and films. Agnes’ own recent performances and films with Andrew Hawkins have been shown at the National Gallery and at the Out of Our Heads Exhibition at Shoreditch Town Hall.  She has designed productions for theatre, dance, musicals and opera in the UK, Germany, Japan and the Middle East for over 20 years, often working on locations outside conventional theatres. Her costume and set designs have been exhibited at the KG 52 Gallery, Stockholm (2011), V&A Museum (1995-2000), The National Theatre, London (1995) and the National Gallery (2013). Treplin studied Fashion design before transferring to Theatre Design at Central St Martins, following which she was awarded the Linbury Prize. 
 
The Q&A will be chaired by Charlotte Hodes, Professor in Fine Art at London College of Fashion, who has led a number of international collaborations and curation projects with artists from a wide range of disciplines. She recently featured in Mirrors to Windows: The Artist as Woman a film by Susan Steinberg. Hodes was Associate Artist at the Wallace Collection, London from 2005-2007 and winner of the Jerwood Drawing Prize in 2006. Her work has been included in the 2013 Venice Biennale and was exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery.