CULTURE CLUB
HOME X DISCOVER THE SHOW THAT’S USING PIONEERING TECHNOLOGY AND AN INTERNATIONAL APPROACH TO BREAK DOWN BORDERS AND EXPLORE THEMES OF BELONGING LIKE NEVER BEFORE SHOW SPOTLIGHT
VIRTUAL REALM Performances from Hong Kong and Cambridge meet in a digital world
A live digital performance mixing music, dance, gaming and virtual reality (VR), Home X pushes the boundaries of theatre as we know it. Conceived by director and composer An-Ting Chang, creative technologist Ian Gallagher and 3D designer Donald Shek, Home X brings together in-person and online audiences for a mesmerising journey into a rich virtual world of flora, fauna and fantasy.
It combines the live performances of two actors – one in Cambridge Junction and one in Hong Kong – whose movements are captured and transposed into a digital environment.
A live audience at the Junction will be able to watch the two characters explore this world on a screen, while an online audience engages with the performance from the comfort of their own homes: entering the virtual world as avatars, they will be able to interact with other audience members and the performers using gestures and emojis. They can even complete gaming objectives such as planting seeds or cutting down trees to drive the plot forwards. Captivating visuals will be accompanied by a mesmerising soundscape, reflecting the inter- disciplinary approach of Home X ’s creators. “I believe it’s extremely important to learn from artists in other disciplines,” says An-Ting. “My professional life started with mixing classical performance with theatre. In more recent years, I have started to combine technology and
audiences, as it allowed them to interact with each other and the performance itself.” Home X takes these ideas and techniques a step further, offering audiences a hybrid in- person and digital experience. “What we learned from previous work is that the digital environment presents opportunities to cross physical boundaries to other parts of the world,” says An-Ting. “In Home X , performers in Hong Kong and the UK dance together via virtual reality, and musicians play together through
for most of my professional life,” says An-Ting. “At home in Taiwan, I am perceived as a foreigner – but people also see me as a foreigner in the UK. I came here to pursue my artistic dream, but I wonder if at some point I may have lost my roots. “Home is a universal concept which resonates with most people, whatever their background,” she continues. “I felt it was important to include the voices of people sharing their ideas about home and leaving home.” This led An-Ting to incorporate interviews with around 30 people from London, Cambridge, Hong Kong, Ukraine, Iraq and other places around the world: “Through hearing different perspectives about home, you get a sense of a universal oneness, and an eagerness for people to break down barriers and preconceptions. One of our interviewees from Cambridge said something I really love, which is that ‘we are all migrants of the earth’. That’s what we are led to explore through the piece.” Home X will be performed at the Junction on 15 and 16 February. Digital audience tickets are available from junction.co.uk . To find out more about the project, head to homexvr.com
digital interfaces. The audiences in the UK see one performer in-person and the other in the virtual world on the projection screens. The digital audience sees both performers in the virtual world with
storytelling in a way that sparks the imagination of audiences and widens their understanding.” Her first digital work, Augmented Chinatown 2.0 (an app that is available to download from the App Store
Home is a concept which resonates with most people
them. It’s very fun to see the performers react to the virtual environment and the other live performers on the empty stage. It really drills in the question of what is real and what is not!” By establishing a direct, live link between the UK and Hong Kong, Home X draws attention to the increasing interconnectedness of the modern world. As the title suggests, this raises interesting questions about the concept of home – a theme that’s explored throughout the performance. “I’m originally from Taiwan, but have worked in the UK
and Google Play), taught users stories about London’s Chinatown through augmented reality combined with audio, drama and music. During the pandemic, An-Ting also worked with a team to develop a virtual 3D gallery with an immersive performance inside, which won Arts Council England’s Digital Culture award for storytelling. “We were looking to create a collective experience for the digital audience,” she explains. “What we found was that gaming technology offered us the best way to engage with online
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