Modern technologies theatre

Art is an area where new technologies are always treated with interest. For example, the first personal computers were developed based on the wealth of American advertising and music market, as well as on the use in the film industry. And if the live broadcasts and multimedia web sites are no longer a surprise, interactive scenography, virtual museums, «3D mapping» - are the technological innovations, which are increasingly used in Russia. Among those who actively contribute to the development of innovations in the culture field, one of the leaders is considered to be the ITMO University.

In the year 2013, in the framework of the 5-100 Project, the Information Technologies in Art, Culture and Design international laboratory was created on the basis of the ITMO University. In fact, this is a creative cluster, which includes not only the divisions of ITMO University, but many other universities as well. They all share a common goal - integration of modern technologies in the sphere of art and culture. ITMO University in the cluster is represented by the Center of design and multimedia, Department of engineering and computer graphics and a number of other departments.

As Artem Smolin, the head of the Department of engineering and computer graphics, the lead engineer of the Center of design and multimedia, says, the ITMO University experts started to interact with the St. Petersburg cultural institutions five years ago. However, the appearance of the laboratory allowed increasing the work scope of and the Centre activities expanding.

"We all know that today the ITMO University has ceased to be just a technical university. He is actively developing the interdisciplinary research, social and humanitarian fields of study," Artem Smolin says. "People, who work in our laboratory, can be called the humanities and technical specialists at the same time. And it gives the amazing results."

One of the biggest projects of the laboratory was the cooperation with the Alexandrinsky Theatre during the building of the New (small) stage. It mostly owes its reputation of the most innovative theater in Russia and Europe to the ITMO University staff. The Information technologies in art, culture and design laboratory produced a number of developments by the opening of Alexandrinka-2.

Most of them were implemented during the New (small) Stage grand opening. The event received an unusual name: for a day Alexandrinka-2 was renamed in the shopping center "Dostoevsky". During the debut presentation all of the four theatre sites were used - the stage, rehearsal hall, educational building, media center and lobby. To make the event seen for as many people as possible, about 40 cameras filmed and broadcasted everything on the Internet. The ITMO University Laboratory provided a good performance of the virtual stream, so that the viewers could select any of the cameras, and also optionally switch between sites.

It was important to provide a high-quality translation for the People's Readings event project. As the organizers planned, different people around the world were to read a passage from Dostoevsky's works.

In addition, a special program was developed by the ITMO University staff for the Theatre of the text performance. Four young playwrights were writing their works on the stage online and the audience was watching it, and commented on it.

The cooperation with the theater was not limited by the participation in the activities of the New Stage opening. To the Choice play, which is included in the permanent theatre repertoire, the Information Technologies in Art, Culture and Design Lab has developed a complete hardware and software system. Along the perimeter of the stage there are 17 cameras, which, during a minute, shoot 17 dancing actors. After this video is automatically generated, the image is projected onto the screen. Special programmable playlist is recorded for each performance anew. One can run the appropriate mechanism by pressing a single button.

Also, a special booth with information about the New Stage is made, in which there is a pseudo-holographic system (it can be controlled with gestures), as well as two official web sites of Alexandrinka-2.

"The whole last month before the New Stage opening, we were literally spending nights in the theater", Artem Smolin says. "The amount of work was very large, and the cooperation with creative people, who were far from modern technologies, to be honest, complicated the task. They can suddenly just change the concept. And sometimes they ask for unreal tasks, and it is difficult to explain why they cannot be solved. But we always try to find a compromise."

Currently, the laboratory is thinking of the possibility of cooperation with the Mariinsky Theatre.