This article aims to share the vision that drives the communication and dissemination efforts of the project.
These efforts are focused on enabling a bi-directional communication interface between the project and its exterior, the research community, the performing arts sector, cultural and creative industries, dance and theatre lovers, in order to build a symbiotic relationship between the project as an organism and its environment.
In practical terms, what we do in the communication team is to create content synthesizing the information regarding the objectives, progress and outcomes, creating opportunities for knowledge transfer and promoting the dialogue between the members of the project and the broader community.
“Excellent science needs effective communication and dissemination”
Premiere is part of Horizon Europe, the key funding programme for research and innovation of the European Union. In this sense the project results are outcomes of the union’s investment in R&I and in order to increase the impact, dissemination activities aim to ensure the data, research and development “are transformed into sustainable products, processes and services that bring economic value and benefit society”, as detailed in the relevant documentation about results valorisation of The European IP Helpdesk.
For this, the mission of communication and dissemination in this framework is to bring the research and its outcomes closer to the scientific and non-scientific audience, allow a wider societal understanding of its relevance and also foster collaborations, business opportunities, and policymaking.
Researching AI, XR and the performing arts.
© Drawn by Erik Lint / IDlab Studio 2023
© Documented by La Tempesta
So, research is one of the fundamental components of the project. State-of-the-art AI and XR technologies are brought into the project by the research centres that are leading the technological developments of Premiere.
The Athena Research Center, through the Institute for Lanugage and Speech Processing – ILPS (Greece), a part from being the project coordinator, is also the leader of the research on Multimodal semantic analysis that includes audio indexing and language processing technologies, computer vision for motion analysis and archive cross-linking.
The Hubert Curien laboratory team, of the Saint-Etienne University (France), is leading the 3D and XR research tasks that lay the scientific basis for an efficient use of 3D and XR technologies. They are experimenting with methodologies for 3D scene analysis and understanding, 3D pose trajectories in complex scenes, human sentiment analysis from face expression, and light estimation.
The CYENS – Centre of Excellence, is responsible for transversal research tasks, such as human body pose and motion analysis, 3D scene editing and human avatars modelling, while is also leading the development of the 3D Virtual Theatre infrastructure.
Instituto Stocos, combines the qualities of a technical and artistic partner, bringing in the Premiere setting expertise on machine learning for dance-based creation, and developing a set of AI tools of interactive media that can enhance artistic workflows.
The performing arts are the stage where these technologies are applied. We aim to build a dialogical relationship between these two worlds, so that they can communicate and exchange knowledge, skills and tools. The teams that are involved represent venues, companies and educational institutions and aim to lead the application of digital technologies in the performing arts, under the view of the proper needs and vision of the sector.
Forum Dança and FITEI are offering at the project their extensive video archives, specialised in dance and theatre respectively, and are working on the definition and of the archive of the future; open, interactive and multimodal.
Coliseu Porto Ageas and Argo Theatre are the two theatre venues that are looking on how the audience’s experience of a performance can be not only offered in a remote way, but enhanced through the virtual experience.
Finally, the Amsterdam University of the Arts and ICK Dans Amsterdam are an educational institution and a platform for contemporary dance, that are exploring the digital means in terms of interdisciplinarity, co-creation, collaboration and discourse making.
Behind the project’s research there are researchers, artists, engineers, managers, theatre producers.
After all, Premiere is made of people with a diverse background and professional positions, coming together in order to build a communication channel between their respective disciplines. We believe that despite the different objectives and visions between science and the arts, the two of them share exploration and experimentation as a methodology for reaching new horizons for knowledge and creativity.
This dialogue represents a common quest and a need to redefine working methodologies, reconsider the environment and reposition the point of view: for this, (Re)searching.
We invite you to follow our forthcoming social media campaign dedicated to the ongoing research on AI, XR and the performing arts, presented by the people that make Premiere happen.