CyberBallet

CyberBallet is a project that underwent a drastic transformation: originally planned as a live VR installation, we shifted the venue according to the new normal of Covid-19. We transferred *CyberBallet* into Cyberspace: a performance in front of a live audience, sharing the virtual space with their avatars and our performers on a social VR-platform.

CyberBallet, a collaboration with Badisches Staatsballet, composer Micha Kaplan and choreographer Ronni Maciel, turned into a series of public rehearsals, enabling the team and our audience to learn the basics of performing arts in new surroundings.

Artistically, the project stayed very much the same:
What does it mean to have a body, to move in space? Can AI truly grasp the basics of the human experience if it lacks a physical body? We used extensive video recordings of our dancers and machine learning to isolate and analyze them; motion capture of dance movements and interpretative reactions to them.

Logistically it changed a great deal: we not only had to build a whole new stage and devise mechanics to direct the performance in front of a live crowd. We also had to reflect about how a stage works when the usual theatre conventions and learned modi operandi are simply not applicable.

With the public rehearsals ending, the work will premiere in September 2020 at Ars Electronica Festival, in front of an audience that can join the performance in VR, with a desktop PC within VRChat (the platform we use) or via livestream on Twitch.

The workshop is held via the landing page of cyberballet.net for active participation and presented on the streaming channels of Ars Electronica. Instructions for participation in the workshop will be sent to all participants by e-mail at least 2 days before the workshop.
Registration required: https://arselectronica.kupfticket.at/events/cyberballett/