Last year was an unprecedented year for the domestic performing arts industry with a variety of ‘science fiction (SF) plays’. This year, as social topics such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the climate crisis are still attracting attention, the enthusiasm for science fiction plays is not expected to die out easily. We looked at how the science fiction genre is being digested in performing arts, which have many physical constraints such as limited stages, focusing on hot works.
● Implementation of technology to help audience immersion
As science fiction plays emerged as a trend, interest in the mariage of performance and cutting-edge technology also increased. A representative example is ‘Projection Mapping’, a modern art technique used in the National Theater Company’s ‘Village Without Electricity’ last year. Projection mapping refers to projecting an image made of light to make a real object appear to have a different personality. The video projected on the horizontally long and narrow stage wall also created a dream-like feeling. In some scenes, actor movements were calculated in real time using a LiDAR sensor (laser distance detection technology) and implemented like clones in a game.
The reason the National Theater Company used this technology was to embody the ‘simulation cosmology’ that is the setting of the work. The hypothesis is that the universe we live in is a giant virtual simulation. Director Kim Yeon-min said, “I thought about how the principles of technology and audio-visual effects could be connected to the worldview or message of the work.”
Stereoscopic (3D) audio technology commercialized in virtual reality (VR) content was also introduced. In the play ‘Under the Earth’, about 40 speakers were arranged in a hemisphere shape from the ceiling of the performance hall to the bottom of the audience seats. A head tracker was attached to the headphones provided to the audience so that the sound changed according to the audience’s movements. Sound artist Jeong Hye-soo explained, “It is a device to maximize immersion in the virtual worldview,” and “A play can be carefully designed by calculating the location and movement of sound, taking into account the way the story progresses and the characteristics of the theater.”
● Insufficient technology can stimulate imagination
Although it is a science fiction play, there are also notable examples of intentionally emphasizing analog. ‘Rocket Candy’, which was performed in November last year, was developed with a focus on psychological drama on a stage with minimal equipment. In the work, which is set in 2045 when humans have colonized the moon and robots have replaced human labor, the monster that appears on stage was expressed by the cast overlapping their bodies and hands.
‘A Physicist’s Nap’ performed in the same month used three-dimensional spatial sound but delivered analog sound with an emphasis on warmth. The image of a cluster of stars expanding into space was expressed through a scattering synthesizer performance. No special video visualizing the universe was used.
This attempt can be read as an intention to further expand the audience’s imagination by breaking away from standardized techniques. Kang Hoon-gu, director of ‘Rocket Candy,’ said, “The rise of technology is only a one-dimensional way of expressing the future,” and added, “SF is ultimately a matter of individual perception. “If you can’t show ‘Boa Constrictor’ on stage, it’s better to stimulate the imagination through a hat,” he said. Sound designer Mokso of ‘A Physicist’s Nap’ also said, “When audiences who are accustomed to science fiction movies hear unexpected sounds, they feel more fresh and think about the message of the work.”
Therefore, in science fiction plays, appropriate ‘directing’ that matches the theme of the work is important. Researchers Choi Jae-ran and Lee Sein of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) Music and Audio Computing Lab said, “Directions that focus only on technology make the performance boring,” adding, “If the technology works too perfectly, the presence is not conveyed. “The key is to direct the audience to naturally perceive their presence,” he explained.
Reporter Lee Ji-yoon [email protected]
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