Hybrid Real Stage Spaces

The scenographers Franziska Ritter and Pablo Dornhege show various fields of application for scenographic work with immersive technologies at the interface of theatre and digitality. The starting point for this lecture is their current research in the DTHG project “Im/material Theatre Spaces”, where they have developed a number of prototypes over the last two years and investigated the potentials that new technologies such as virtual and augmented reality can unfold in front of, behind and on stage – whether as a creative design tool, as a shared rehearsal space, as a didactic teaching and learning space, as a construction aid for virtual construction rehearsals or as a mediation tool for theatre history.

A concrete example of the project is the stage space “Spatial Encounters”: a hybrid-real space in which artists and audience meet and become both actors and designers of a jointly created experience. Through their movements and their relationships in the space, the visitors create a visual scenery that is then interpreted musically by a live ensemble. What constitutes a co-creative process? What are the potentials and limits of such a hybrid space?