ACT II – NEW TECH, NEW STAGE

FUTURES IN PLAY: AI AND IMPACT IN THEATRE

Matthieu Lorrain (US/FR), AC Coppens (FR), Carla Meller (DE), Nils Corte (DE), Michael Rau (US), Ali Nikrang (AT), Silke Grabinger (AT), Victorine van Alphen (NL), Pablo Palacio (ES)

Leading technologists and practitioners take the stage, to first share their speculative visions for the future, and then participate in a hands-on session to explore AI tools for the theater sector. We open with technologist Matthieu Lorrain, Creative Lead for AI & Creativity Research at Google DeepMind and co-founder of Liquid Logic, in a conversation with AC Coppens.

A FIRESIDE CHAT WITH MATTHIEU LORRAIN
What happens when generative AI abandons its role as mere tool for automation and becomes an instrument for artistic imagination? Matthieu Lorrain—Creative Lead for AI & Creativity Research at Google DeepMind and co-founder of Liquid Logic—joins AC Coppens for a conversation on the future of creative tools. With two decades of experience shaping interactive media, Matthieu explores how new AI-driven tools can support, expand, and even rewire creative processes. A strong advocate of “liquid media”—modular, adaptive, and ever-evolving—he brings fresh perspectives on how fluid forms of content might influence live performance and audience engagement. From speculative design to hands-on experimentation, this dialogue sets the stage for a practical deep dive into how tools augment artistic vision across disciplines, offering valuable insights not only for designers and digital creators but also for artists and storytellers working in live performance today.

TOOLS IN ACTION
This hands-on session dives into the practical landscape of AI tools for theater and live performance. The format begins with a fast-paced series of short pitches—each presenter demoing their tool of focus. Nils Corte writes and directs interactive theater with AI-choreographed robots and holograms. Michael Rau presents LLM-based live scripting, where audience input generates real-time dialogue. Ali Nikrang shares how datasets shape AI-generated music, from Strauss-style waltzes to co-creative tools. Victorine van Alphen explores AI image generation as a poetic, introspective medium, shifting how we perceive bodies, identity, and presence. Silke Grabinger combines choreography with performative art and robotics, focusing on the anthropomorphization of technological tools. Pablo Palacio is one of the co-authors of the AI Toolbox, a set of open-source tools designed to support generative computer methods for creative work in the performing arts.

Participants will then break out into workshop clusters to explore the tools more deeply: How does the tech work? What are the creative and operational benefits? What datasets or systems fuel it? How might these tools meaningfully shape their practice? Designed to be interactive and inquiry-driven, this session invites participants to test, question, and reimagine how AI systems might support theater—as both as an art and an operational structure.

POSTCITY, First Floor, Conference Hall

Sa. 6. Sep. 2025 13:30 – 15:20

Sprache //

Ticket //

FESTIVALPASS+, FESTIVALPASS, ONE DAY PASS, FREE / No Ticket

Jihyung Kim
Matthieu Lorrain

For the past two decades, Matthieu Lorrain has been at the frontier of digital storytelling shaping creative experiences with some of the world’s most iconic artists, including Gorillaz, Darren Aronofsky, Star Wars, Marvel, Space Invaders and Donald Glover. Currently Creative Lead at Google DeepMind, Matthieu works across creativity, AI, and emerging media to invent the next-generation content experiences.
- Linkedin
- Matthieulorrain.com
Photo: Till Fiegenbaum
AC Coppens

AC Coppens is a strategist, curator, TED speaker/moderator, and founder of THE CATALYSTS, a boutique agency boosting the development of innovative and creative players in digital technology, media, science, film, music, design, and the arts. Blending critical thinking, creative strategy, and future-oriented research, as well as a solid background in the performing arts, AC is frequently invited to major international events to host, present keynotes, and moderate thought-provoking discussions.
Photo: Harrison Truong/Stanford University
Michael Rau

Michael Rau is a performance director specializing in new plays, opera, and digital media. His production of temping was featured in The New York Times and named a top pick of the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe by The Telegraph and The Guardian. He has directed at Lincoln Center, The Public Theater, A.R.T., and internationally. A Stanford professor, he is a recipient of Google’s 2021 Artists + Machine Intelligence Award and fellowships from the Kennedy Center and the Akademie für Theater und Digitalität.
- Facebook
- Michaelrau.com
Photo: Philippe Denis
Carla Meller

Carla Meller works at the Academy for Theatre and Digitality in Dortmund, Germany, where she is responsible for setting up a wide variety of international collaborations and projects. Before joining the team of the Academy, Carla worked for ten seasons in various positions at the Residenztheater in Munich. Her academic background includes a degree in political, economic, and social sciences from Sciences Po Paris and McGill University in Canada, as well as a master’s degree in cultural management.
Photo: vog.photo, Ars Electronica
Ali Nikrang

Ali Nikrang ist ein multidisziplinärer Künstler und Forscher im Ars Electronica Futurelab sowie Professor für Künstliche Intelligenz und Musikalische Kreation an der Hochschule für Musik und Theater München. Mit einem Background in Computer Science und klassischer Musik erforscht er seit vielen Jahren das kreative Potenzial von KI in der Musik. Im Rahmen seiner Forschung entwickelte er das KI-gestützte Kompositionssystem Ricercar, das unter anderem in Aufführungen mit den Münchner Philharmonikern, dem Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks sowie auf Festivals wie der Biennale Musica in Venedig zum Einsatz kam.
- Ars.electronica.art
Photo: Julia Puder
Nils Corte

Nils Corte is a German author, director, and creative technologist. He currently works as the artistic director of the Extended Reality Theater at the Staatstheater Nürnberg, where he explores the potential of digital technologies for use in performative contexts. He has designed and developed numerous apps in the theater context. In 2022, he was nominated for the Faust Prize for the production Pan’s Lab at Staatstheater Nürnberg.
Photo: Victorine van Alphen
Victorine van Alphen

Artist, director, and philosopher Victorine van Alphen—together with data scientist Valentin Vogelmann—explores AI image generation, using it both as a poetic, introspective medium and as provocative tool for (non)consensual (self-)image transformation, shifting how we perceive bodies, identity, and presence.
Photo: Meinrad Hofer
Silke Grabinger

Silke Grabinger ist eine österreichische Künstlerin und Choreografin. Ihre Kunstwerke und Konzepte verbinden zeitgenössischen Tanz mit performativer Kunst und Robotik. Ihr Fokus liegt auf der kritischen Auseinandersetzung mit gesellschaftlichen Phänomenen, künstlerischen Paradigmen und der Funktion und Position des Publikums. Sie ist Gründerin und künstlerische Leiterin von SILK Fluegge und SILK Cie. Im Jahr 2021 eröffnete sie das KLISCOPE, eine ehemalige Kapelle in Linz, als kreativen Raum für neue Experimente und Visionen.
Photo: Lolo Vasco
Pablo Palacio

Pablo Palacio ist Komponist elektroakustischer und instrumentaler Musik. Im Zentrum seiner Arbeit stehen die Entwicklung algorithmischer Kompositionsverfahren und neuer Technologien im Bereich der interaktiven Musik. Als Gründer des Instituto Stocos widmet er sich der Erforschung des Zusammenspiels von Musik und Körperbewegung. Dabei integriert er abstrakte Konzepte aus Disziplinen wie Künstlicher Intelligenz, Biologie, Mathematik und experimenteller Psychologie in künstlerisch-szenische Kontexte.
- Stocos.com