The ACuTe Symposium, held on November 2024, provided a glimpse into the future of theatre. Held in conjunction with the ETC International Theatre Conference and the IMPACT Festival at Théâtre de Liège, the symposium showcased innovative projects and explored the transformative potential of digital technologies in theatre production.
Attendees were treated to an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at cutting-edge digital theatre projects and participated in insightful discussions on the evolving landscape of the performing arts. A special highlight was the engaging Design Thinking Toolkit workshop led by Herman Paassen and Hester van der Ent, and the inspiring keynote delivered by Pål Mørk Hansen from NetNordic. The ACuTe Symposium proved to be a resounding success, fostering collaboration and igniting excitement for the future of digital theatre.
Here’s the full programme that attendees enjoyed:
Monday 04 November 2024
16:00 – 18:00
ACuTe Symposium: Design Thinking Toolkit Workshop
Design Thinking is an iterative approach to creating better products by focusing on user needs. It helps you understand the user, challenge assumptions, and redefine problems to uncover alternative strategies and solutions that may not be immediately obvious. This method combines a way of thinking and working with hands-on experimentation techniques.
The Design Thinking methodology was selected to develop a toolkit in close collaboration with ACuTe consortium partners. These testbeds will enable the testing and prototyping of new technologies for use in performing arts productions.
This short crash course was developped to provide a practical understanding of Design Thinking. In small teams, participants will tackle a design problem, gain deeper insights into user needs, define the challenge, brainstorm innovative solutions, create prototypes, test them, and ultimately apply the product in practice — all within a condensed timeframe.
With:
Herman Paassen, Lecturer & Researcher at Saxion University of Applied Sciences
Hester van der Ent, Teacher at the Bachelor Course of Creative Media and Game Technologies of Saxion and coordinator at the XR lab of the Saxion School of Creative Technology.
Tuesday 05 November 2024
10:00 – 13:00
ACuTe Symposium: Synergies
In this session, partners from ACuTe – Culture Testbeds for Performing Arts and New Technologies will offer a deep dive into their experimental productions created during the project. They will explore how digital technologies are transforming international theatre production, offering insights into how digital tools facilitate creative collaboration across borders and offer new ways of working together. The panel will also highlight the new collaboration between the arts and academia, where researchers and artists are working side by side to push the boundaries of theatre-making. The session will examine how these innovations are reshaping the production process, from concept development to performance. Attendees will gain a behind-the-scenes look at the impact of the ACuTe project and learn from the cutting-edge digital strategies driving the future of European theatre.
With:
Keynote speech by: Pål Mørk Hansen, NetNordic Norway
Florence Minder, Venedig Meer
Julien Jaillot, Venedig Meer
George Albert Costea, Theater Marin Sorescu Craiova
Catinca Drăgănescu, Directress & Playwright
Paulien Geerlings, Toneelmakerij
Vanessa Hannesschläger, Ars Electronica
Taavet Jansen, EKA Estonian Akademy of Arts
Liis Vares, Artist
Moderated by Carla Meller (Dortmund Akademie für Theater und Digitalität) and
Jonathan Thonon (Théâtre de Liège)