SPARK FESTIVAL 2021
Home X Digital Live
HOME X, a new live digital performance was commissioned by British Council Hong Kong for the SPARK Festival 2021.
CAN artists are working together simultaneously in the UK and Hong Kong to create these two interactive free public performances
Audiences enter a virtual world as an avatar that changes and grows as they interact with this strangely familiar but altered place full of trees, flowers and birdsong. In this virtual world they encounter characters created by the dancers and singer, performing together live using VR technology. No longer either in Hong Kong or the UK, we all exist together in this virtual third space.
The performers see and immerse themselves in the digital environment using virtual reality headsets, so although they are not in the same place physically, they see themselves and each other together inside the 3D game world.
The audience also enter the same world as avatars.
HOME X connects the London and Hong Kong performers in real time, which means the artists can act, dance and interact with both their digital selves and the audience avatars.
HOME X uses the gaming engine Unity to create a three-dimensional, virtual world.
In separate studios in Hong Kong and the UK depth-sensing cameras capture 3D video of the performers and “holoport” – that is, insert – that video into the HOME X world in real time.
CREDIT
UK
Director/Composer: An-Ting Chang
Creative Technologist: Ian Gallagher
Designer: Donald Shek
Choreographer/Dancer: Si Rawlinson
Assistant Director: Anna Clart
HK
Choreographer/Dancer: Suen Nam
Singer: Colette Wing Wing Lam
Tech Partner: Don’t Believe in Style
Produced by: Chinese Arts Now
Commissioned by: British Council Hong Kong
Sponsored by: Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, London
Realtime streaming technology supported by Millicast