The residency took place from July 12 to August 8, 2021. Take a look at the detailed project documentation here!

In this research project, the residency team from Hamburg and Halle/Saale - virtual reality experience designer Lena Biresch, puppeteer and creative coder Nico Parisius, and 3D animator Tore Nobiling - looked at the performative significance of avatars and exploring the opportunities and limits of their use in virtual reality. The mentor of the project is Stefanie Rinke.

Theoretical background

Central to the project is the concept of "homuncular flexibility" by Jaron Lanier et al., which is about the extensibility and mutability of the homunculus - the term used to describe the mapping of movements and sensations experienced by the body located in the neurocortex of the brain. For example, when a limb is injured or amputated, the corresponding regions in the homunculus shift to other parts of the body. This flexibility is a prerequisite for identifying with the body of an avatar in VR at all.

Research into these processes combines findings from psychology, neuroscience, philosophy and computer science and is based on the thesis that the homunculus can adapt bodies that differ significantly from the typical human form. Since there is no absolute separation between avatar and world in VR, the shape one takes on is of great importance.

In addition, there is the assumption of an increase in empathy: if one moves through water like a fish, can one not also think more like a fish? Thus, the use of peculiar avatars can awaken previously unused areas of the brain that are linked to the body. VR thus becomes a toolkit for exploring homuncular flexibility and offers the possibility of better understanding the relationship between the brain and the rest of the body (cf. Lanier, 2018).

The research project

The research findings of Lanier et al. were explored with today's technical means and made tangible in the interdisciplinary implementation. Which possible avatars (e.g. non-human, multiple or consisting of the environment) can the human brain adapt to?

Lena Biresch tackled the programming of the avatars' controls, Tore Nobiling tinkered with their three-dimensional form and Nico Parisius contributed his know-how from puppetry for the movement sequences.

Was passiert, wenn wir die Wahrnehmungsmöglichkeiten eines Computers ernstnehmen? Welche neue Welten kann ein Algorithmus erzeugen? Was für Gedichte kann er hervorbringen und was haben wir eigentlich von alldem?

Um diese und weitere Fragen zu erforschen, verglich das Künstler*innen-Team Friederike Schmidt-Colinet, Robert Läßig, Li Lorian und Carlos Franke Inszenierungspraktiken im Objekttheater mit Bilderkennungsmechanismen. Sie hoffen dabei nicht nur Neues über Algorithmen zu lernen, sondern auch neue Erkenntnisse und Vorgehensweisen für das Objekttheater zu gewinnen.

Blog-Dokumentation des Residenz-Teams

Die Forschungsresidenz 2020 wurde realisiert aus Mitteln der Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa.

Developed during the Schaubude residency 2019, this research project by Dohi Moon and Bjoern Erlach aimed at exploring how Human Computer Interaction design (HCI) can go wrong when engineers try to make machines more relatable to humans.

With “Clippy Embodied” the artists wanted to bring a Clippy into an old fashioned office space and give it control over its environment.

Blog Residency Team

In collaboration with Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung
Funded by THEATERPREIS DES BUNDES

Alina Weber and Sven Björn Popp (virtuellestheater, Berlin) + Kathia von Roth and Torben Spieker (Spieleberatung, Hamburg)

Mentor: Christian Heller/plomlompom

»Taking Pepe as an example, we’ll ask ourself and the holy internet how Memes as virtual objects are bearing history, emotions and perceived realities« (Kathia von Roth)

Interview with the reasearch team (in German)

Wikipedia on the internet phenomenon Pepe, the frog

With: Larissa Jenne, Salomé Klein, Alexander Hector
Mentor: Helge-Björn Meyer

»REBELL_boy is a spiky character; he gets worked up. We’ve drawn him out and now that he’s here, we want to get under his skin and find out what he looks like inside.«

Blog documentation + Teaser:

With: Daniel Huber, Alessandro Maggioni, and Tinka Legvart
Mentor: Sandy Schwermer

Blog documentation