AN INNOVATIVE live video theatre project at Coventry University has won a Guardian University Awards 2020.
An expert panel of judges from across the UK’s higher education sector crowned Coventry University’s Telepresence in Theatre project winner of the Internationalisation category. It allows students in two different countries to appear as if they are sharing the same rehearsal room.
Dr Tom Gorman, Assistant Professor, School of Media and Performing Arts, who co-ordinated the project at Coventry University said: “This win gives us some much-needed good news in 2020 which has otherwise been a grim year for the arts.
“To have this project recognised and to be included among other superb and innovative projects shows the importance of working across borders and making art with students and practitioners across the globe.
“The real credit belongs to all of the students who have worked on this project from Coventry, Tampere, Helsinki, Gothenburg, Illinois and Poznan and to those students who will make exciting work using this system in the years to come.”
As part of the project, BA Theatre and Professional Practice staff at Coventry collaborated with Finland’s Tampere University to create a unique ‘immersive space’ in order to explore theatre rehearsal and arts education.
This space, created in both cities, uses cutting-edge technology, life sized projection, high-speed internet connections and directional sound, giving the participants the illusion of occupying the same rehearsal room.
Highlights of the project have been a ‘telepresence banquet’ and performance in support of Coventry’s successful bid to be the UK’s City of Culture for 2021 and a performance at the New World Symphony Centre, Miami, using a blend of live actors working in the USA in real time with motion-captured actors and musicians in Tampere, Finland.
Read more about the award-winning project here.
