Mixed Reality and the Theatre of the Future Arts and New Technologies
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FRESH PERSPECTIVES/6 www.ietm.org MIXED REALITY AND THE THEATRE OF THE FUTURE Arts and New Technologies picture from Terranova by CREW_Eric Joris (© courtesy of Stefan Dewickere) Joris Weijdom March 2017 in partnership with ISBN: 978-2-930897-13-4 IETM is supported by: This publication is distributed free of charge and follows the Creative The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an Commons agreement Attribu- endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission tion-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives cannot be held responsi ble for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. (CC BY-NC-ND) FRESH PERSPECTIVES www.ietm.org Mixed Reality and the Theatre of the Future Fresh Perspectives on Arts and New Technologies by Joris Weijdom Published by IETM - International Network for Contemporary Performing Arts, Brussels In partnership with HKU - University of the Arts Utrecht Original edition: March 2017 (pdf version) Editing and general coordination: Elena Di Federico, Nan van Houte (IETM) Proof-reading: Sophie Thompson This publication is distributed free of charge and follows the Creative Commons agreement Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) You are free to reuse and share this publication or parts of it as long as you mention the original source (please add link to https://www. ietm.org/en/publications). For further information please contact [email protected] The publishers have made every effort to secure permission to reproduce pictures protected by copyright. IETM will be pleased to make good any omissions brought to their attention in future editions of this publication. 2 MIXED REALITY AND THE THEATRE OF THE FUTURE FRESH PERSPECTIVES www.ietm.org Table of contents About 4 05. 09. THE ROLE OF MIXED THIRD LIFE PROJECT 40 01. REALITY TECHNOLOGY AS AN INTRODUCTION 5 INTEGRAL PART OF THE EXPERIENTIAL ARTISTIC DESIGN 10. PROCESS 17 TO BE WITH HAMLET 47 SECTION 1: MIXED REALITY AND THE THEATRE OF THE FUTURE 6 06. 11. THE DYNAMIC OF AN THE CUBE 55 INTERDISCIPLINARY 02. COLLABORATION ESPECIALLY WHAT IS MIXED REALITY, WITH NON-THEATRE 12. AND WHY THEATRE DISCIPLINES 21 MOVING BETWEEN WORLDS 61 SHOULD CARE 7 SECTION 2: EXPERIENCES 13. CYBORG DATING 72 03. FROM THE FIELD 22 SCENOGRAPHY OF MIXED REALITY ENVIRONMENTS 8 07. BLACKMARKET 23 04. DRAMATURGY OF MULTIPLE AUDIENCE PERSPECTIVES AND 08. LEVELS OF PARTICIPATION 13 WELTATEM 34 3 MIXED REALITY AND THE THEATRE OF THE FUTURE FRESH PERSPECTIVES www.ietm.org IETM IETM is a network of over 500 performing arts organisations and individual members About working in the contemporary perform- ing arts worldwide: theatre, dance, cir- cus, interdisciplinary live art forms, new media. IETM advocates for the value of the arts and culture in a changing world This issue of IETM’s Fresh Perspectives focused on those same topics, this Fresh and empowers performing arts profession- series has been in our plans since ‘new Perspectives issue hopes to take the dis- als through access to international connec- technologies’ emerged as a key topic cussion to the next level. tions, knowledge and a dynamic forum for debated during IETM meetings. A few exchange. years later it sounds strange to keep calling Are you ready to play with us? Join the dis- these technologies ‘new’, but we now feel cussion at the next IETM meetings and on more and more comfortable talking about the IETM website by commenting on this HKU University of the Arts mixed reality. publication and start discussing on IETM Members’ forum! offers advanced education in the arts and While artists in different countries cer- media and is a driving force in training and tainly have different levels of expertise , Acknowledgments innovation for the creative industry. HKU resources and equipment available, it is University of the Arts Utrecht is a univer- true that many performing arts profession- IETM and HKU University of the Arts sity of the arts that aims to forge new links als increasingly see themselves as ‘creators Utrecht are extremely grateful to the con- with society and develop new applications of experiences’. This, combined with the tributors for the time and care they took to for social issues. With almost 4,000 stu- fact that theatre has always played with share their experiences: dents, HKU is the biggest university of the different levels of ‘virtual reality’, creates arts in the Netherlands and among the top the conditions for an interesting reflection pvi collective: kelli mccluskey & steve bull of its peers in Europe. on the theatre for the future - a future that with steve berrick & chris williams; Abel is already here. Enklaar, Marieke Nooren, Gable Roelofsen; HKU Professorship in Performative David Gochfeld and Javier Molina; Processes, led by Nirav Christophe, The hefty text that follows is divided in two Simon Wilkinson; Maria Lantin, Athomas researches creative processes in all the parts. Goldberg, Ken Perlin, David Lobser, arts that have a performative nature. The Thecla Schiphorst; Sander Veenhof, Rosa research responds to the current situation, In Section 1 the curator of this publication, Frabsnap, Marloeke van der Vlugt where former performative practices are Joris Weijdom - himself a researcher and being replaced by new forms, in which the designer of theatrical mixed reality experi- Special thanks go to the Professorship borders between disciplines, media and ences - takes you on a playful but serious in Performative Processes at the HKU platforms are no longer a defining factor. tour along the issues at stake when design- University of the Arts in Utrecht, the The goal of this research is to generate ing a mixed reality experience. Using a Netherlands, our partner for this publica- acceleration, liberalisation and innovation witty style and practical examples, the text tion, and in particular to Debbie Straver for in creative processes within and outside is appetizing for both total beginners and the invaluable assistance to the publication. the arts. advanced users. In Section 2 fellow practitioners from dif- JORIS WEIJDOM ferent countries share their own experi- ences, give practical insights into their Joris Weijdom is a researcher and designer practices, and share their learnt lessons, of theatrical experiences using mixed real- tips, and possibilities for development and ity technology. He is the founder of the collaborations. HKU Media and Performance Laboratory (MAPLAB), which enabled from 2012 until IETM has explored this topic through a 2015 practice-led artistic research on the series of publications and discussions. After intersection of performance, media and an article on ‘Who is afraid of the digital?’ technology. He works as a researcher at the (2015), a mapping of ‘Live performances Professorship in Performative Processes in digital times’ (2016) and the IETM ple- and teaches at several BA and MA courses nary meeting in Amsterdam (spring 2016) at the HKU University of the Arts Utrecht. 4 MIXED REALITY AND THE THEATRE OF THE FUTURE FRESH PERSPECTIVES www.ietm.org In April 2016 I was asked to give a keynote lecture at the IETM spring meeting in definitely ‘know’, because that would mean Amsterdam about emerging technologies and how these could impact the field of the end of our shared journey of exciting theatre. In this keynote, called Mixed Reality and the Theatre of the Future, I teasingly explorations, glorious failures and inspiring questioned if theatre as a traditional art form would actually have a future in the light new experiences. of developments such as the Internet of Things, Transmedia Storytelling and Mixed Reality. In the last few years, technological developments like Virtual Reality (VR) and I would like to thank my colleagues at the Augmented Reality (AR) have been accelerating at an incredible pace, enabling new Professorship in Performative Processes of experiences. I am strongly convinced, not only that theatre has a future, but that it is the Utrecht University of the Arts for their actually an essential field of expertise in the development of these technologies, espe- help, expert advice and unconditional sup- cially in its role of exploring their artistic potential and depth as a possible ‘new stage’. port, and the publishing team of the IETM for their trust and practical effort for mak- ing this publication possible. rather than a description of the final prod- It’s our sincere hope that this publication uct. We especially encouraged them to will inspire you to start or continue to 01. elaborate on their questions and failures, deepen your own Mixed Reality experi- instead of giving us a polished success ments and feel encouraged to share them INTRODUCTION story, so that we can all learn from each too. other’s professional experience. Let me start by acknowledging that many Joris Weijdom theatre groups have in fact been pioneering All contributors have made a serious invest- this field for quite some time. Well-known ment in their articles to share openly their names like Blast Theory, Punchdrunk, experiments at various stages of their artis- Rimini Protokoll, and many others have tic design processes. As a reader it is very produced works that can easily be charac- important to realize that these projects are terized as theatrical Mixed Reality expe- very different in their artistic goals, disci- riences. In the book ‘Performing Mixed plinary composition of the team, stages Reality’1 Steve Benford and Gabriella of development, availability of resources, Giannachi offer clear insights into how to forms of presentation and target audi- look at these types of experiences. This ences. In this context these processes are book was published in 2011, just before the incomparable when judged by their out- latest VR and AR technology wave started, comes. In my opinion however they do all so most examples do not refer to these give a rare insight into the many aspects latest developments.