The latest hype of virtual and augmented reality has caught the attention of people from the theater, and new artistic forms are being developed focusing on the narrative and performative potential of this medium. This interest is reciprocal, because the technical-design challenges that come with the increasing social dimension of new technologies could also benefit a great deal from the expertise of theater.

In collaboration with the European Theatre Convention, Ars Electronica is hosting a special program to deepen the reciprocal exchange of practical experience about the work on the intersection of digital media and theater.

Digital Theater Network Meeting

SUN Sept. 10, 2017, 1 PM–3:30 PM
Ars Electronica Center, Sky Loft

Welcome: Maren Dey (DE), Gerfried Stocker (AT)
Speaker: Kay Voges (DE), Thomas Jelinek (AT), Kunito Komori (JP), BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc., Uwe Rieger (DE), Carol Brown (NZ)

While the three-hour play overwhelms its audience with a hail of simultaneous information, action, sound, text and performance, the VR scenery tells a story of memories and transience: from the moment one enters, the walls and textures show increasing traces of decomposition. In the background there is an atmospheric noise of music and texts, scenes that once might have taken place here. Scenes from Die Borderline Prozession are shown on the screens; life in all its facets in contrast to the transience of the virtual world.

As a work made for VR, The Memories of Borderline creates a new, hybrid form of art: a combination of visual art, media art, gaming and performance art. It explores the potential of theater working with new technology, creating an innovative form of narration in theater: the user becomes their own narrator.

Credits

Schauspiel Dortmund, CyberRäuber (Marcel Karnapke and Björn Lengers)
Director: Kay Voges, Schauspiel Dortmund
Engineering, 360° camera: Björn Lengers, Marcel Karnapke
Video art, motion capture: Mario Simon
Director of photography, lighting design: Voxi Bärenklau
Stage design: Michael Sieberock-Serafimowitsch
Costume design: Mona Ulrich
Composition, music: Tommy Finke
Coding: Lucas Pleß
Authors: Kay Voges, Dirk Baumann, Alexander Kerlin
Actors: Paulina Alpen, Amelie Barth, Andreas Beck, Carl Bruchhäuser, Raafat Daboul, Ekkehard Freye, Frank Genser, Caroline Hanke, Christoph Jöde, Thomas Kaschel, Marlena Keil, Nils Kretschmer, Anja Kunzmann, Bettina Lieder, Eva Verena Müller, Lorenz Nolting, Uwe Rohbeck, Uwe Schmieder, Julia Schubert, Friederike Tiefenbacher, David Vormweg, Merle Wasmuth, Michael Wischniowski