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The Academy for Theatre and Digitality sees itself as a laboratory for linking artistic practice with technical innovation—a space where digital and hybrid theatre forms are not only conceived, but also tested and developed in practice: a place for experimentation, critical inquiry, and creative progress.
At a time when digital technologies have long been an integral part of artistic processes, the question is no longer whether, but how we can use them meaningfully: How can immersive media, AI-supported dramaturgy, or interactive performances create new narrative spaces? What role will hybrid stage formats play in the theatre of the future? And how will these developments shape not only aesthetics, but also production methods and training paths in the performing arts?
The academy advises numerous art and cultural institutions around the world. It sees itself as a mediator between art, technology, and science—with a wide range of offerings and formats that provide established and emerging artists and technicians with new opportunities for networking and further education. It opens up new perspectives and brings digitality into the theatre—in front of, on, and behind the stage.
Marcus Lobbes
Director of the Academy for Theatre and Digitality
Since its founding in 2019, the Academy for Theatre and Digitality has established itself locally, nationally, and internationally as a central point of contact in culture, science, and teaching. It is recognized as a consultant to a whole range of national (cultural) policy institutions and cultural policy project developers, and acts as a point of contact for expertise and, above all, as an internationally outstanding artistic research institute and network hub.
The new 2,000-square-meter building at Dortmund Harbor houses a total of seven research laboratories where a wide range of projects can be carried out. Motion capture systems and a built-in green screen studio allow the real world to be combined with the digital world. Here, people can be transported into the digital world and new environments can be created – from digital backgrounds in photo and video productions to livestreams, numerous ideas can be realized. The team at the Academy for Theatre and Digitality is on hand to answer researchers' questions and advise artists on technical, artistic, and dramaturgical matters. The focus of the consultation is on the meaningful use of new technologies that serve the artistic creative process and theatrical narrative.
The combination of the technical-digital and narrative levels offers new possibilities for theatre. With programs such as OBS (Open Broadcaster Software – a program for livestreams) or Resolume, video projections can be played onto the architecture of a stage set, objects, or people. Various motion and facial recognition systems can be used to digitally recognize real people and their body language and reuse them in an artistic context to appear as characters on stage.
The digitized reading of the audience's body data can also be transformed into a live orchestra suite using artificial intelligence and is therefore no longer a dream of the future.