Sven Ortel is a projection and media designer, educator, and creative researcher whose work has helped shape how digital imagery is used in live performance. Since 2000, he has explored how projection, video, and emerging technologies can deepen storytelling and create immersive experiences that put audiences at the center of the event.
Originally from Cologne, Germany, Sven studied lighting design in London, where he developed a lasting interest in the creative possibilities of digital media for the stage. Early in his career, he contributed to video design and projection systems for productions at the National Theatre, in the West End, and at the Royal Court Theatre before establishing himself as a designer in his own right. His breakthrough came with Simon McBurney’s Measure for Measure at the National Theatre, and his first Broadway credit followed with Jumpers in 2004. He went on to design projection and media for theater, opera, dance, and musicals across Europe and the United States.
With the UK company Complicité, Sven’s work on Measure for Measure and A Disappearing Number helped forge a more integrated relationship between imagery, performance, and physical space; both productions toured internationally. His Broadway and New York credits since then include Newsies, The Little Mermaid, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Wonderland, Thoughts of a Colored Man, Parade, and Once Upon a One More Time. He received a Tony Award nomination for Disney’s Newsies in 2012, a Drama Desk nomination for Thoughts of a Colored Man in 2021, and an Outer Critics Circle nomination for Parade in 2023.
Recent projects reflect the breadth of his practice across Broadway, installation, and immersive media: creative direction for NHKS4220 at New York’s Artechouse, projection design for Thoughts of a Colored Man and Parade on Broadway, and the multimedia installation Lamentations at Liesbeek. Across these varied contexts, he continues to investigate how media can build cohesive visual worlds and expand the emotional and spatial possibilities of live experience.
For more than a decade, Sven has also worked in higher education, helping prepare the next generation of designers, artists, and creative technologists. His academic work draws on performance design methods—especially projection and media design—to address challenges in immersive, interactive, and XR environments. This research informs his professional practice and underpins both his role as Professor of Practice in Immersive and Entertainment Design at Arizona State University and his teaching at Mesa’s multidisciplinary Mix Center.
Outside his professional work, Sven is a dedicated landscaper with a strong interest in land restoration and stewardship. He also enjoys camping, running, hiking, and mountain biking.
Regular about Sven’s activities can be found on LinkedIn.
Professor of Practice
With over two decades of experience as an international video and projection designer, he has developed deep expertise in working with ever-evolving technologies for the live entertainment industry and in adapting creative processes to new tools.
Sven is driven to harness digital and emerging technologies to create captivating narrative experiences and cohesive visual environments that place live audiences at the heart of the story, and to pass that on to the next generation.