An Immersive Dance Project Radicalizing the Physical Body in the Virtual World
A contemporary dance performance pioneering the human body through the virtual space. This joint-institution, international, and interdisciplinary research project explores the dancing body through technologies such as motion-capture sensors, virtual reality headsets, digital avatars, and the physical stage to wield a narrative between man and machine. The resulting work seeks to question the human body’s engagement, sensorial response, and viewership with advanced technologies in the fields of virtual design and dance.

https://www.carlylave.com/golem
Together a cross-disciplinary team from gamelab.berlin (of Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, the Virtual Design Lab of Kaiserslautern Hochschule, and Carly Lave forged in December 2018 to envision new methodologies of using motion-capture technology and virtual reality in a performance space.

The feasibility and creation of this project is entirely dependent on the novel and exciting art-tech collaboration. The performance will feature a radical use of the Optitrack motion-capture system with accompanying body sensors and Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs) onstage. Through live projections, the dancers will interact with a motion-captured representation of their body in the virtual environment, engineered in Unity by the Kaiserslautern team. Collectively, each party brings domain knowledge in order to complement the research and application necessary for production.

Golem will premiere July 25, 26, 27 at Uferstudios 1 in Berlin, Germany. This unique space is an old swimming pool transformed into a theater. We’ve selected this venue due to its immersive quality, creating a physical performance space to mirror the immersion accessible in the Virtual theater (in VR).

Carly Lave has been exploring the human body’s relationship to the world around us since the beginning of her career. She takes particular interest in the bodily engagement with technology, societal systems and the Earth beneath us. To check out her extensive work thus far, go to www.carlylave.com.

For more informations and to support the project visit https://www.carlylave.com/golem