Via TU Berlin

During the last two years, with CyberRäuber the artist Marcel Karnapke has successfully brought theatre experiences, stages and actors into virtual reality. However, VR has far broader implications that can help to transform the theatre stage as well as augment acting as we know it today. Building impossible stage sets and merging the physical world with virtual objects and spaces is only the beginning. Giving actors new ways of expression and interaction while transforming the stage will be the topic of this talk.

Today’s virtual and augmented reality technologies are prone to reshape the future of many different areas and trades first and foremost the entertainment industry. In this talk we are going to look at the lessons learned within the last two years of working on concept and examining ideas that have the potential to enhance and transform the theatre stage by utilizing these novel technologies in unconventional ways. Theatre has in a sense always been about creating artificial worlds through the usage of narrative and visions in the form of varying stage sets to give the audience a notion of presence within the play. Building upon these notions we are going to ask what virtual and augmented reality can bring to the table especially when combined with established stage departments like lights, audio or video projection.

Furthermore we are going to talk about ideas that merge the built physical stage set and transform it with the help of these technologies into a shapeshifting plane of possibilities. Lastly we will look at the implications for the actors as well as the directors. We will ask the question, is it possible to bridge the gap between the complexities of the technology to establish an interface for the non-tech-savvy crowd?

Marcel Karnapke lives in Berlin and is developer, lecturer and co-founder of the artist collective “CyberRäuber”, which realizes new formats and applications for Virtual Reality in a theatre context. For Cambridge University (UK) he has developed virtual museums for the dissemination of archaeological research results. This has also resulted in interactive and narrative 3D formats, such as films and virtual reality applications, through which the viewer can experience a virtual 360° experience. In 2017, in collaboration with Schauspiel Dortmund and directed by Kay Voges, the VR play “Memories of Borderline” was created, which was shown both at the Theatertreffen Berliner Festspiele and at Ars Electronica. His work focuses on 3D reality reconstruction in the field of architecture as well as the digitization of complete stage sets of classical theater. New is the full-body recording of performers from the field of dance and the performing arts in the form of VR holography for VR and AR applications. Marcel is the winner of the 3D Guild Award of the International 3D Summit in Liege, Belgium and in 2017 he won the Halo Award in Gold of the VR Days in the category Best 3D VR Animation Film with “Pitoti Prometheus”.

The Memories of Borderline – Trailer
Ars Electronica – Pitoti Prometheus
Ars Electronica – Memories of Borderline
Die Deutsche Bühne – Digitale Erzähler
Süddeutsche Zeitung – Als eine digitale Anstalt

This lecture is part of the workshop “Im/material theatre spaces” by DTHG e.V. (Deutsche Theatertechnische Gesellschaft) within the framework of the project “Theatre Landscape”, supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media – in the European “Sharing Heritage” Year.