Experiencing Augmented Reality in Staged Entertainment

Sectors that rely on bringing people together, such as the events and culture sectors, have proven vulnerable to the economic impact of the covid pandemic. In addition to short-term financial support, it is important that these sectors become more resilient. When it comes to making these sectors more resilient and agile, digital transformation is an essential theme to get started with. The dependence on physically meeting has become too great. Moreover, digital transformation in general is of primary importance for the futureproofing of sectors. This work package of Fieldlab Events III therefore focuses on this theme. The relationship between 'the sector' and digitization is ambiguous. On the one hand, people are avidly experimenting. On the other hand, a frequently heard conclusion is that ultimately nothing can replace the value that arises from face-to-face interaction.

The research
This research is a collaboration between Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUas), and 4DR Studios in Eindhoven. Apart from this official collaboration, the Effenaar will also be involved in this investigation. A performing artist will be sought via the Effenaar who will design a short (10-15 minutes) dance performance and perform it several times. This dance performance is tested by the public in various settings:

• live act without Augmented Reality in a concert hall
• live act with Augmented Reality in a concert hall
• broadcast live act without Augmented in a home setting
• broadcast live act with Augmented Reality in a home setting

In each of these four conditions the experience of 40 visitors / participants is measured. In doing so, it can be determined whether AR can reduce the difference in visitor experience between 'live' and 'at home'.

We hope to discover what live means for a young target group

"Experience in a home setting with friends is compared with a live performance on the Effenaar pop stage. Aside from exploring how we can enrich dance with augmented reality and volumetrically recorded dancers, we will also study how the audience's body responds to the show using observational measurements from the experience lab. We hope this will provide important insights into what live means to a young audience and whether the context of home and location calls for different experiences." - Marnix van Gisbergen (professor Digital Media Concepts Breda University of Applied Sciences)

GOAL
The research aims to contribute to the development process of new immersive experiences in the live entertainment sector. This innovation aims to reduce the differences between a live experience and a (live, but mediated) experience in the living room, thereby making the live entertainment sector more resilient to disruptions such as COVID.

€49,800 will be deployed as a PPP program allowance.