Theatre in the Digital Age
Marcus Lobbes is the Director of the Academy for Theater and Digitality, the sixth division at Theater Dortmund, which was founded in 2019.
As director of the Dortmund Academy, he is in demand locally, nationally and internationally in lecture and discourse formats; an important concern for him is the formation and promotion of various networks for the performing arts as well as the communication of artistic research in correspondence with the latest technologies to theatre and educational institutions, politics and the public.
We sat down with Marcus during his recent visit to Melbourne as a guest of the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music where he gave a public lecture in conversation with Robert Walton.
Q: Can you tell us more about the vision behind the Academy and what enticed you into taking on the role of Director?
When the Academy opened in January 2019, many German-speaking people in the theatre bubble saw it as something that wouldn’t take off. Whereas I thought the ideas behind it were brilliant. The founder, Kay Voges, had a film background and was very interested in technology. I was curious by possibilities like — how could the actors’ bodies control lights and sound? How could we have two productions on different stages, connected to each other by a fast internet lane so the performers could sing and dance in unison and give the audience a unique viewing experience?
The traditional model of theatre-making usually involves a series of well-worn steps. Firstly, a lot of money is invested into a single production. Cast and creatives are sought a year in advance, there is a specific budget and 6-weeks rehearsal, followed by a 10–20 show season. There is a pressurised deadline to present the work to an audience…and then that’s it. Think of it as a ‘lighthouse production’. You are working towards a set outcome and there is no potential to reinvent, fail or change the work.
This isn’t a sustainable model. Kay Voges realised we need a place for prototyping — with no pressure to premiere. The Academy offers a unique opportunity for practitioners — the time, space and money to figure out what is possible, scalable and useful — not just for one premiere but for the future possibilities of art-making.
Q: Why Dortmund?
ML: Dortmund is a city with a strong vision. It has transformed from an industrial town with an expansive coal mining industry to a digital hot spot. When the mines were closed in the late 1980s, Dortmund began prioritising science, economics and art and investing in digital transformation. It is a central European city for research and innovation — and I am very curious to see how it continues to grow.
Q: How did COVID affect the way theatre and technology intersect?
The idea of ‘digitality’ in theatre until 2019, was video projection. Then, during COVID, ‘digitality’ became streaming of live performances. At the Academy, we view ‘digitality’ as any kind of technology within the production of art.
For example: working with robotics, artificial intelligence apps, motion-capturing, projection mapping with VR/AR, generating hybrid spaces and site-specific works, developing new ways to interact with the audience, the pioneering of immersive technologies…and that’s just the beginning.
Q: What does the Academy offer to creative practitioners?
Firstly, no one else in the world is doing what we are doing. We’re part of the Theatre Dortmund but are our own laboratory. We’re the only theatre in the world that is not a producing platform — we are focused on prototyping and research.
We also offer fellowships. Over the last five years, our fellowship program has invited practitioners from all over the world. We accept applications from both groups and individuals. The participants stay for five months and prototype new ideas. Once their fellowship is finished, the participants are connected into the broader European theatre community — teaching, producing, networking and creating collaborative projects. We have supported 70 practitioners with 55 projects to date.
We are also excited to be establishing a Master’s program of study with the University of Applied Sciences — creating a degree which unites arts and technology. We want to educate students in the history of both fields and equip them with the skills needed to co-produce and collaborate. This program is our next big venture.
Q: So much of art is done on a slim budget. Does this factor into the fellowships you choose to support? Some project proposals must be quite ambitious in their scope?
ML: We receive fellowship applications from all over the world. The jury who assesses the applications is made up of individuals from varied backgrounds (not just from the Academy, but TV, IT, etc.) The question they always ask of the applicants is: do you think this project is scalable? For instance: You want to work on an opera, but can we apply this idea to drama or ballet? Do you really need 80,000 euros to achieve this, or could you do this project with 800 euros and two smartphones? We try to implement the idea from the outset that things do not have to be as complicated and expensive as they may seem!
Q: What does co-authorship look like at the Academy? I assume the fellowship participants expect to be co-authors as they develop their work.
Yes. Since our fellowship program is for established practitioners, they have been working in their fields for a long time. The Academy offers them new possibilities for discovery and collaboration.
We had an interesting collaboration recently between a couple who applied with a project involving live-coding and dramatic performance. They had met online during COVID — he’s from Japan, and she’s from Argentina. Their application was accepted, but the first time they met in person was at the Academy on Day 1. The idea of collaboration has changed so much since COVID.
Q: Speaking for a moment about the intersection of art and tech within the theatre… Can certain discoveries (e.g. an app that measures bodily sensations within the audience) be transferrable to other contexts? Such measurements of human response do connect to other fields — psychology, sociology, anthropology — do you hope these discoveries within the theatre can be applicable to other disciplines?
Yes, definitely. We had one project where we read bodily functions from 200 members of the audience via certain devices (heartbeat/fitness/blood pressure trackers) while they listened to an orchestral piece of music. We also traced facial expressions, and we collected key biographical details from the audience. We tracked their responses to the piece of music. Did they hear with their body and their minds? The audience were enthused by the idea that their bodies ‘produced new music’ in response to the music they had just heard. This kind of experiment certainly creates a bridge with psychology, philosophy or biology.
Q: The Academy seems like a place which embraces a love of the unknown, to open up new discoveries. It is wonderful that you have been awarded a place for prototyping, enabling you to delve into that chaotic space of experimentation.
Yes — everything in the Academy is allowed to fail. There is no director saying, ‘we open the show next week!’ Most projects are still in development even after the five months. The participants then form part of a community and can return to continue their research or to collaborate with their fellow alumnae.
Q: What would you like to see other countries adopt in terms of these multi-disciplinary practices?
Once theatres opened again after the pandemic, questions emerged as to where tech and art could intersect.
We need to stop thinking of the classic binary between old and new: the old way (analogue) vs. the new way (digital). I believe we need to identify a new category of performing arts. In the long run, we need to establish spaces that are dedicated to this new frontier. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland we are seeing new platforms emerge — institutions are building up whole new departments for digital theatre.
It is also valuable to think about ways to connect with non-artistic institutions. The Academy hopes to work with groups including The Helmholtz, The Data Science Academy and The German Aerospace Centre — to combine our interests and encourage knowledge transference between disciplines. We need to have long-term thinking about the implementation of theatre into a new age.
This interview was conducted by Kirsten Doert-Eccles, Executive Officer, Melbourne Centre for Data Science and written and edited by Anna Rodway, Project Officer, Melbourne Centre for Data Science.
