The round table “Extended Stages and Performing Practices” took place during the Premiere Open Day in Saint-Étienne on the 14th of October, 2024, at Université Jean Monnet. It included a discussion among participants about the possibilities of AI, XR, and 3D technologies for extending performing arts stages, fostering interdisciplinary creation, and enhancing digital audience engagement.
From left to right: Suzan Tunca (Choreografer, Head of ICK Academy), Philippe Colantoni (Assistant Professor at University Jean Monnet, St-Etienne), Gwendaline Bachini (Dance and New media Artist, award-winning XR Director), Pablo Palacio (Artist, researcher, software developer, composer), Carla Meller (Responsible for international cooperations at the Academy for Theatre and Digitality (partner of the ACuTe project)), Aggelos Gkiokas (Technical Coordinator of the project, Assistant Researcher at ILSP).
The event welcomed creators, performing arts professionals, and researchers in France to join and participate in the discussions both offline and online. Speakers included Gwendaline Bachini (Dance and New Media Artist, award-winning XR Director), Philippe Colantoni (Assistant Professor at Université Jean Monnet, Saint-Étienne), Carla Meller (Responsible for International Cooperations at the Academy for Theatre and Digitality, partner of the ACuTe project), Aggelos Gkiokas (Technical Coordinator of the project, Assistant Researcher at ILSP), and Pablo Palacio (Artist, researcher, software developer, and composer). The round table was moderated by Suzan Tunca from ICK Academy, Amsterdam.
Gwendeline Bachini introduced the project Spiritus Mundi, partially developed with Premiere. Mixes dance, movie and creative coding: volumetric video for interactive dance. A poetic utopia where nature and magic blend, inspired on nature and the plant world. AI links the user to the nature to make dance and create a common destiny.
Philippe Colantoni discussed the challenges of using motion capture in contemporary dance, where body movements differ from the datasets typically used to train motion analysis models. Pablo Palacio from Instituto Stocos presented his involvement in the development of their own tools, as part of the creative process in their works. Carla Meller spoke about the work of the Academy for Theatre and Digitality on research and development of projects between creative technologists and performing arts venues, as well as the ACuTe project, which sits at the intersection of performing arts and technology.
Find the recording of the streaming here.