Experiments in real-time hybrid performance

Case study: Real-time hybrid performance

This report by StoryFutures audience insight researcher Dr Laryssa Whittaker details the opportunities for live musical events that occur simultaneously in physical venues and digital spaces. Capitalising on a unique opportunity to capture the experience from the perspective of performers as well as audiences (whether present in the physical venue or attending online/in virtual reality), the report documents a live event that implemented a software solution for hybrid performance called MetaMirror.

Bringing in-person and remote audiences together in the metaverse, and bringing avatars into the physical performance space via videostream and VR, the MetaMirror project yielded insights into the experience of both audiences. The project also tackled the communicative challenge of capturing facial expression for digital avatars, and the report documents the creative opportunities of this kind of motion capture for performers and practitioners.

This project was a collaboration between StoryFutures Senior Audience Researcher Dr. Laryssa Whittaker and creative producer Piotr Nierobisz of MunchingSquare, the developer of MetaMirror, as part of the 2022 StoryFutures Academy Early Career Researcher Bootcamp. The research report is one of three outcomes of this project, which also included the MetaMirror software pipeline and the live hybrid event itself.

Download the report for more detail on the technology, the audiences, and the performances.