Day 3 | Talks & Masterclasses | Onassis ONX / AiR Open Days 2024

11:00 – 12:15: Talk | Exploring new dramaturgies in the digital age

Marcus Lobbes & Michael Eickhoff, Academy for Theater and Digitality

The Academy for Theater and Digitality in Dortmund operates at the intersection of art and technology. This presentation will explore how technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and robotics enrich artistic practices and open up new aesthetic perspectives. Additionally, it will highlight the Academy’s role as a research platform, its international networking efforts, and specific projects that address the future of theater and new forms of digital storytelling. The focus will be on practical insights and the opportunities that arise through collaborations with theaters, festivals, and universities.

About Marcus Lobbes

Marcus Lobbes has served as the director of the Academy for Theater and Digitality, the sixth department of the Theater Dortmund, since its founding in 2019. In this role, he is a sought-after figure locally, nationally, and internationally in lecture and discourse formats. An important concern for him is the formation and promotion of various networks for the performing arts, as well as the communication of artistic research that incorporates cutting-edge technologies with theater and educational institutions, politics, and the public.

Lobbes has been active as a director, set and costume designer, and author in both drama and operas since 1995, and has been regularly invited as a guest lecturer at various prestigious colleges and universities in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland since 2014.

About Michael Eickhoff

Michael Eickhoff studied history, German language and literature, and sociology in Bielefeld and Paris. Since 2000, he has been working as a production manager, dramaturg, curator, and lecturer with various theaters (Theater Bonn, Wiesbaden, and Bielefeld) and universities. From 2010 to 2020, he was part of the artistic management team at the Schauspiel Dortmund under the artistic direction of Kay Voges. During this time, he accompanied numerous productions, curated discourse series, festivals, and international guest performances, and co-created the concept and secured funding for the Academy for Theater and Digitality. He is particularly interested in how theater converses with various social actors – in dialogue with political-artistic activism, journalism, and related art disciplines.

Since summer 2020, he has been part of the Academy for Theater and Digitality, where he is responsible for (international) networking and cooperation between art, science, and business.

About Academy for Theater and Digitality

The Academy for Theater and Digitality was founded in 2019 as the sixth division of Theater Dortmund (Germany). At the heart of its work is how digital technologies can be used in theatrical spaces. Its activities concentrate on four core areas: artistic research and development, professional training and further education, cultural policy consulting, and national and international cooperation. Five years after its founding, the Academy has established itself as a worldwide point of contact for cultural institutions, festivals, and independent actors. As an important hub for networking and advancing digital transformation in culture, the Academy takes part in major European and international projects such as PlayOn!, ACuTe, and EXCENTRIC. It offers various research labs, workshops, an audio/video studio, and a green screen studio equipped with a motion capture system, spanning an estimated 2000 square meters. Here, theater makers from all over the world find space to develop and test research projects with digital tools. The work created at the Academy can be seen on stages across the globe, setting new standards in the field of digital performing arts.

12:30 - 14:00: Masterclass | How to survive a robot apocalypse

Andrea Gatopoulos, Film Producer, Director and Distributor | THE EGGREGORES' THEORY – Award Winning AI movie

“How to survive a robot apocalypse” is a lecture that contextualizes artificial intelligence in the broader panorama of today's tech philosophies and capitalistic eggregores, trying to understand its implications as a weapon, tool, and financial instrument and how they impact creativity. Most of all, it's a lecture that, through a conscious approach, explores how to escape the echo chamber most people find themselves in while dealing with it, transforming it into a tool for growth and creativity.

About Andrea Gatopoulos

Andrea is a film producer, director, and distributor born in Pescara, Italy, in 1994 and currently based in Rome. Graduating cum laude in Modern Literature in 2016, Andrea founded the publishing house and production company Il Varco, producing over 26 short films, 4 feature films, and 11 books. As artistic director of the Il Varco International Short Film Festival and founder of the film distribution platform Gargantua Film, Andrea’s work has been featured in over 120 festivals worldwide. Collaborations include working with Werner Herzog on “Accelerator” (2020), presenting “Happy New Year, Jim” at Cannes Quinzaine (2022), and participating in the Locarno Spring Academy and Berlinale Talents. Most recently, Andrea premiered “A Stranger Quest” at the Turin Film Festival and the AI-driven short “The Eggregores’ Theory” at Venice Film Critics’ Week (2024).

15:30 - 16:45: Roundtable Discussion | AI in Creativity: Friend, Foe, or Tool?

Moderation: Prodromos Tsiavos, Head of Digital & Innovation, Onassis Foundation

Panelists:

• Steve Vranakis, Founder, Catalytic | Former Executive Creative Director, Google Creative Lab
• Maria Mavropoulou, Photographer & AI Artist
• Ioanna Zouli, Researcher & Curator | Communications Coordinator, Onassis AiR
• Aristodimos Komninos, Product Manager - SketchUp AI & XR
• Socrates Stamatatos, Independent Curator / Artist

This roundtable brings together diverse voices to discuss the role of AI in shaping creative practices. Featuring a creative leader, an artist, a curator, an engineer, a skeptic who questions the role of AI, and even an AI bot, this discussion delves into the opportunities and ethical dilemmas of AI in content creation. Topics include how AI multiplies creative output, transforms storytelling, and reshapes user engagement. Through diverse perspectives, we’ll tackle critical questions about authorship, authenticity, and the future of creativity.

17:00 - 18:00: Talk | Space as an actor: Using technological tools to enhance the agency of space in a performance

Dimitris Mairopoulos, Digital Artist, Scenographer and Computational Designer

A set can be an integral part of a performance, as it provides context to the actions that unfold. Space inherently possesses the ability to create immersive experiences by generating worlds in which the performers act. Space is often a passive element which serves as a backdrop to the performers’ actions. However, we can utilize the power of space to create context by treating it not as a passive vessel of action but rather as an actor in its own right. Through the use of technology, we can endow space with agency, enabling it to act and form situations as another performer. We can thus blur the lines between performers and space, actor and recipient, and create an amalgam of a unified performative entity. In this presentation, I will share personal examples where I utilize technological tools (robotics, digital fabrication, smart materials, etc.) to enhance the role and performativity of space, leading to unique immersive experiences.

About Dimitris Mairopoulos

Dimitris Mairopoulos is a digital artist, scenographer and computational designer. He holds a degree in Architectural Engineering from the Technical University of Crete (TUC), a Master of Science in Design and Computation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and is currently pursuing a PhD with research focused on creative robotics. He has experience working as a researcher in labs such as the Self-Assembly Lab at MIT and the Transformable Intelligent Environments Lab at TUC, in fields such as robotics, smart materials, digital fabrication, design research, and product design. Mairopoulos also has teaching experience in universities such MIT, the Boston Architectural College, and TUC, and was teaching his own class in the field of creative robotics at MinesParis PSL. As an artist, he specializes in digital art and scenography. He designs installations, performances, and scenography which incorporate many aspects of his multidisciplinary background, both theoretical and practical, such as spatial manipulation, critical academic thinking on human-technology relations, sci-fi and post-human imagery, computational design technologies, mechanical design, and material science.

18:15 - 19:15: Talk | Feral Futures: Worldbuilding, Production, and Play

Theo Triantafyllidis, Feral Theo Triantafyllidis, Artist, Onassis ONX Member & Onassis Scholar

In “Feral Futures,” Theo Triantafyllidis delves into the making of “Feral Metaverse,” an experimental online multiplayer game that explores survival, non-verbal communication, and collective action in a stark, persistent virtual world. Through this talk, Triantafyllidis unpacks the artistic vision and iterative design process behind the project, from crafting immersive and tactile environments to implementing intuitive, constraint-based interactions that foster emergent player behavior. Bridging the conceptual with the practical, he discusses the challenges of large-scale game production, the use of advanced technologies for multiplayer systems, and the logistics of creating diegetic mechanics. The session highlights the game’s potential as a model for rethinking online interaction, reflecting on opportunities for its distribution and broader applications in the creative industries.

About Theo Triantafyllidis

Theo Triantafyllidis (b. 1988 Athens, GR) is an artist who works with digital and physical media to explore the experience of space and the mechanics of embodiment in hybrid realities. Utilizing algorithms and game engines, virtual reality headsets and experimental performance processes, he creates interactions within immersive environments. In Triantafyllidis’s worlds awkward interactions and precarious physics mingle with uncanny, absurd and poetic situations, inviting the viewer to engage with new realities.

Through the lens of monster theory, Triantafyllidis investigates themes of isolation, sexuality and violence in their visceral extremities. He offers computational humor and AI improvisation as a response to the tech industry’s agenda. He tries to give back to the online and gaming communities that he considers both the inspiration and context for his work by remaining an active participant and contributor.

Triantafyllidis holds an MFA from UCLA, Design Media Arts and a Diploma of Architecture from the National Technical University of Athens. He has shown work in museums, including House of electronic Arts in Basel, Hammer Museum in Los Angeles and NRW Forum in Dusseldorf and galleries such as Meredith Rosen Gallery, The Breeder and Nagel Draxler. He was part of the 2021 Athens Biennale: Eclipse, Berliner Festspiele 2021, Sundance New Frontier 2020 and Hyper Pavilion in the 2017 Venice Biennale.

19:30 – 20:30: Talk | Rewriting the Future of Fashion | Design, Fashion & Innovation

Costas Kazantzis, Lead Creative Technologist, London College of Fashion’s Fashion Innovation Agency

Costas Kazantzis will give a talk and Q&A on how emerging technologies – ranging from 3D scanning and avatar creation to motion capture, interactive virtual experiences, and augmented reality – reopen new possibilities for immersive fashion and retail experiences. The Fashion Innovation Agency team has been working on projects that showcase how these technologies can revolutionize the way fashion brands and retailers design, present, and sell their collections. Through collaborations with leading organizations such as Microsoft, Burberry, MIT, Epic Games, ILMxLab, and Kering, the Fashion Innovation Agency is at the forefront of preparing both the industry and students to adapt to the rapidly evolving fashion landscape.

About Costas Kazantzis

Costas’ work focuses on exploring innovative pathways in game engine technology, 3D design, and extended reality (XR), with an emphasis on their transformative potential in fashion and contemporary art. With a background in computer engineering, fashion media production, and visual communication, Costas’ practice positions immersive technologies not as substitutes for physical experiences but as tools to enhance real-world environments and enable real-time interactions. His research investigates the complex interplay between human experience and interconnected cyber-physical ecosystems, challenging traditional gaming mechanics that prioritize finite gameplay, instant gratification, and purpose-driven design while often excluding queer narratives.

Costas is the Lead Creative Technologist at the London College of Fashion’s Fashion Innovation Agency, where he also lectures on immersive technologies and their integration into fashion and the creative industries. Additionally, he is a PhD candidate at UAL’s Creative Computing Institute.