<h3>2024</h3><h4>November</h4>Motion Capture for Performance (3 week workshop) Foundations in capture motion, exploring cyborg actor, more than human avatars and hacking the system.<a href="https://tuni.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=fdbfb5e9-420c-44bf-99bf-b24a0136d3ef" data-entity-type="external">Cyborg-Avatar-Virtual trailer (2:52)</a><a href="https://tuni.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=ebfbf1f6-d3a1-44a1-94ad-b2a300d93a5f" data-entity-type="external">Cyborg-Avatar-Virtual demo (56:28)</a><a href="https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025112630090" data-entity-type="external">Masters Thesis - Performance Capture for theatre</a>

Workshops & Labs (Past)

<figure role="group"><img src="https://content-webapi.tuni.fi/image-style/max_1300x1300/proxy/public/2026-01/plip-plop.png?itok=jIzQPBRe" alt="" >Photo: Carlos Portilla</figure>

<h3>2025</h3><h4>May</h4>Morphing Avatar Lab Real-time avatar transformation in relation to music

<h4>November</h4>Finland Dramatic Combat Lab Combat movement for motion capture, dialogue between performers and avatar in stage-virtual combat.

<h3>2026</h3><h4>March</h4>Cyborg &amp; Avatar and AI Dramaturgy Labs Registration opens February 2026.<h4>May</h4>Cyborg, Avatar, and Virtual 10 day workshop Motion capture for games and animation movie, transformation through digital theatre, new narratives. Call for participants published in April 2026.

Agenda

Näty is the Degree Programme in Theatre Arts at the Tampere University. It is a community of professionals concerned with actor training and the study of theatre arts at the Tampere University. Näty emphasizes the actor as a thinking, creative artist, not just a performer. The curriculum integrates artistic, professional, and social perspectives, encouraging students to explore the evolving nature of acting as a lifelong process. The training and research at Näty combine artistic, professional and social points of view.<a href="https://www.tuni.fi/en/about-us/naty-theatre-arts">https://www.tuni.fi/en/about-us/naty-theatre-arts</a>&nbsp;

Näty (Degree Programme in Theatre Arts)

The research group gathers the research of performing arts at Tampere University. The group combines artistic research with art research, artistic pedagogy and the applied research of performing arts.<a href="https://www.tuni.fi/en/research/boundaries-performing">https://www.tuni.fi/en/research/boundaries-performing</a>&nbsp;

Boundaries of Performing (Research group)

<a href="https://www.tuni.fi/en/study-with-us/media-and-arts?gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=23361663793&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQiAprLLBhCMARIsAEDhdPfWx_FCa72ruoeqjCq7cmFUsD2Mm3JIQlzKqWPKAieW4xtXN4EvK8EaAqDJEALw_wcB">Media and Arts | Tampere universities</a>&nbsp;

TAMK-Media and Arts

Media designer specialising in general 3D and motion graphics tailored for stage contexts. Expertise in product visualisation, projection mapping and visual effects for live shows.<figure role="group"><img src="https://content-webapi.tuni.fi/image-style/max_1300x1300/proxy/public/2026-01/bull.png?itok=bjFH-2cw" alt="" >Photo: Konsta Fed</figure><a href="https://www.konstafed.com/">https://www.konstafed.com/</a>&nbsp;

Konsta Fed (Media Designer)

Dramatic Combat Finland is the biggest professional group in Finland providing education in the field of dramatic violence and stunt work on stage and film.<a href="https://www.dramaticcombat.fi/">https://www.dramaticcombat.fi/</a>&nbsp;

Dramatic Combat Finland (Stage fighting)

The InterReality Research Group is a multidisciplinary research group at Tampere University that focuses on the interrelations between different virtual spaces (and their “inhabitants”) and the real world.InterReality’s research is situated at the intersection between the Humanities (Semiotics, Translation Studies, Speculative Design, Architecture) and Social Sciences (HCI, Media Studies, Games Research, Participatory design).<a href="https://inter-reality.com/">https://inter-reality.com/</a>&nbsp;

InterReality (Research group)

Vapriikki is a versatile history, natural sciences, and technology museum.<a href="https://www.vapriikki.fi/en/">https://www.vapriikki.fi/en/</a>&nbsp;

Vapriikki Museum Centre

Gamification Group (GG) is a multidisciplinary research group at Tampere University that examines the gamefulness of technology, society, culture and economy.<a href="https://webpages.tuni.fi/gamification/">https://webpages.tuni.fi/gamification/</a>&nbsp;

Gamification Group (Research group)

We work with leading partners in gaming, inter-reality research, and performance innovation:

<figure role="group"><img src="https://content-webapi.tuni.fi/image-style/max_1300x1300/proxy/public/2026-01/cyborg.png?itok=DoGKePIF" alt="" >Photo: Carlos Portilla</figure>

To explore how motion capture and virtual avatars transform the art of acting and performance.We investigate how motion capture, avatars, and immersive virtual environments expand the vocabulary of live performance. Our work bridges acting, digital embodiment, and audience experience across hybrid stages. Join us as we test new boundaries of theatre in inter-reality spaces.<figure role="group"><img src="https://content-webapi.tuni.fi/image-style/max_1300x1300/proxy/public/2026-01/cyborg.png?itok=DoGKePIF" alt="" >Photo: Carlos Portilla</figure>

Why we do this?

This research establishes the foundations of acting with digital technologies, exploring how the actor’s body, stage, play, and pedagogy transform within hybrid theatrical contexts. At its core, this approach defines the actor’s body as a site for performance where wearables, interactive costumes, and computational augmentations merge with the holistic presence of the performer.

Acting with digital technologies

1. Hybridization of Performance Spaces This research redefines the stage as a continuum between physical and virtual realms, integrating immersive, distributed, and networked environments. This is beyond traditional VR or AR—it’s a fully hybrid theatrical ecosystem.2. Actor as a Cyborg Entity The actor’s body becomes a site of convergence for organic presence and computational augmentation. This includes wearables, interactive costumes, and psychophysiological sensing—technologies rarely combined in live performance research.3. Pedagogical Innovation It proposes new training frameworks for actors and designers to work in hybrid spaces—pioneering because most theatre pedagogy still assumes a purely physical stage.4. Future-Hybrid Theatre As digital and physical realities converge, theatre must evolve. This research ensures performance remains relevant in post-digital culture, where audiences expect interactivity and hybridity.5. Expanding Artistic Possibilities By merging technology and embodiment, it opens new dramaturgical forms—performances that oscillate between worlds, creating experiences impossible on a traditional stage.6. Cross-Disciplinary Impact This research informs gaming, XR design, wearable tech, and human-computer interaction, making it valuable beyond theatre—impacting creative industries and tech innovation.7. Human-Centered Technology It prioritizes actor experience and agency, ensuring technology enhances rather than replaces human creativity. This is critical in an era of automation and AI.

Objectives of this research

<h2>We are a research team based at Näty, Tampere University, working at the intersection of live performance, technology, and innovation.</h2>

Cyborg, Avatar and Virtual

We are a research team based at Näty, Tampere University, working at the intersection of live performance, technology, and innovation.

Why we do this?

Acting with digital technologies

Objectives of this research

We work with leading partners in gaming, inter-reality research, and performance innovation:

Näty (Degree Programme in Theatre Arts)

Boundaries of Performing (Research group)

TAMK-Media and Arts

Konsta Fed (Media Designer)

Dramatic Combat Finland (Stage fighting)

InterReality (Research group)

Vapriikki Museum Centre

Gamification Group (Research group)

Want to Join? Contact Us

Workshops & Labs (Past)

2024

November

Workshops & Labs (Past)

2025

May

Workshops & Labs (Past)

November

Agenda

2026

March

May

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