image credit: project archive

The PREMIERE aims to develop and validate a comprehensive ecosystem of digital applications, powered by leading edge AI, XR and 3D technologies, designed to fulfil the needs of diverse end-user communities involved in the main stages of the of the lifecycle of performing arts productions, including amateur and professional performers, performance art producers and curators, performance art spectators and scholars. The use of digital technologies, from 3D to artificial intelligence and virtual/augmented reality ensures preservation and wide access to cultural heritage and the arts.

Presenting Premiere: Performing arts in a new era

Key aspects: Access, understanding the context, creativity, visibility

Premiere aims to broaden accessibility to audiences who cannot attend live performances due to physical distance, health reasons, or economic causes, enhance the understanding of present and past performances for audiences with diverse cultural, social, historic, and educational backgrounds, enrich the creative process by incorporating new elements, dimensions, and capabilities offered by advanced digital technologies, and enable international collaboration. Additionally, Premiere seeks to increase the visibility of performances by aiding spectators in finding relevant content and helping producers and curators communicate their work to the most relevant audiences.

Performing Arts enhanced with VR Technologies

Archives Browsing: Semantic analysis technologies applied to dance and theatre archives, projected onto VR space for interactive exploration.

Live Performance: Advanced capturing and streaming techniques broadcast live performances into VR, providing spectators with immersive experiences.

Virtual Co-Creation: Actors and dancers rehearse and perform remotely in a VR space, exploring new creative processes using mocap technologies.

Dance-Based Creation: Software development combines VR/AI tools to facilitate creation processes based on dance movement interaction.

Research and Innovation for Digital Solutions

The focus is to establish the state of the art of digital methodologies and tools to protect the rich and diverse European cultural heritage, including the “born digital” heritage, in complementarity with more established conservation and protection methods. By creating new or fostering existing tools, projects aim at boosting the socioeconomic sustainability of cultural and creative industries in the COVID-19 postcrisis period and provide sustainable applications and solutions to strengthen their innovation potential.

The Challenge of Recording Performing Arts

Performing arts is an important part of Europe’s intangible cultural heritage. The live display makes it, in most of its part, unrepeatable. Even if the same show is performed twice, in the exact same conditions, cast and audience, it will still be different. Theatre and dance performances have not been recorded to an extent and even when recorded, this is done by methods of controversial quality. Even nowadays, that a large variety of digital tools is available, there is still the risk of losing the chance to deliver new-born cultural heritage to future generations.

Development of Recovery Tools

The cultural and creative sector is faced with a new crisis brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic surge. The live arts sector was of the most affected ones and there emerges the need to employ specific recovery tools that help professionals and services come back to business. Thus, it is critical to develop a variety of tools that will not only preserve in a typical sense, but also support the whole lifecycle of a performing arts artifact in a remote manner.

Project Partners

Transfer of expertise and reuse of the tailor-made know-how through the collaboration between technological firms, research institutes, universities and cultural and creative sectors/industries is a fundamental part in order to foster the digital transformation of Cultural Heritage institutions. 

Premiere is created with support from the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. The project is led by Athena Research Center in collaboration with Forum Dança – Associaçao Cultural, La Tempesta, CYENS – Centre of Excellence, Amsterdam University of the Arts, Argo Theater, Medidata.net – Sistemas de Informação Para Autarquias, FITEI – Festival Internacional de Teatro de Expressão Ibérica, Instituto Stocos, Laboratoire Hubert Curien – Université Jean Monnet Saint Etienne, Coliseu Porto Ageas and ICK Dans Amsterdam.