Art and entertainment
in tomorrow's world will look and sound and feel quite
different in many unexpected ways. To take full advantage
of the potential of new media such as virtual reality,
and of new combinations between the virtual and the
material, writers, designers, actors, directors, musicians
and others need new tools to build and to explore new
worlds and to draw others into challenging, poetic and
revealing experiences within these worlds.
During an
intensive three-year research project, funded by the
European
Commission's i programme,
the eRENA consortium worked
together to build a new generation of these tools. Tools
for planning, tools for producing, tools for managing
and tools for understanding how art and entertainment
will take shape in the 21st century.
The consortium
was particularly concerned with large-scale participatory
projects that can take place in real-time. A central
strand in the work addressed how creating and controlling
events in electronic environments differs from the traditional
practices of filmmaking or theatre production. Also
underpinning many of eRENA's initiatives was an embrace
of the changing roles of performers and of the audience;
in worlds combining the real and the virtual, the passive
viewer is often encouraged to become an active participant.
The research
was rigorous and far ranging, but it was always focussed
by the imperatives of producing achieved performances
and installations for audiences across Europe. Every
stage of the research was exposed to and shared with
viewers and users of all ages and interests and
their comments and reflections helped shape the partners'
ongoing investigations.
eRENA brought
together academic institutions in Germany, Sweden, Switzerland
and England, as well as a major corporate partner and
a commercial SME. The results of its work were seen
in galleries and concert halls, online and on mainstream
television. Collaborators contributed from many other
cultural worlds, including those of the traditional
theatre, of avant-garde performance and of puppetry.
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