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Dr Kerryn Wise

Job: Senior Lecturer in Performing Arts

Faculty: Arts, Design and Humanities

School/department: School of Humanities and Performing Arts

Address: º£½ÇÉçÇø, The Gateway, Leicester, LE1 9BH

T: 0116 366 4583

E: kerryn.wise@dmu.ac.uk

 

Personal profile

Dr Kerryn Wise is a dance artist, performer and researcher exploring the intersection of dance and digital technologies and is co-lead of Displace Studio, a Mixed Reality Performance Studio. Kerryn is a QuestLab Dance Artist alumnus at Studio Wayne McGregor and a member at Near Now, Broadway’s Studio for Arts, Design and Innovation. Kerryn has been creating interdisciplinary performance work for over 20 years and has shown her work at festivals and venues nationally and internationally. Kerryn is a Senior Lecturer in Performing Arts at º£½ÇÉçÇø (º£½ÇÉçÇø), Leicester and a freelance digital dance artist and producer. Kerryn will be beginning a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship at º£½ÇÉçÇø in October 2024 titled ‘Dancing with a Digital Twin’ funded by Midlands Four Cities.

Publications and outputs

Wise, K. (2024) ‘Dancing invisible duets: using volumetric capture to create one-to-one performance in virtual reality’, International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, 0(0), pp. 1–10. Available at:  

Wise, K. (2021) ‘Dis_place: Reflections on Creating Mixed Reality Performance using Virtual Reality Technologies’, IJCMR [Preprint], (7). Available at:

Key research outputs

Wise, K. (2024) ‘Dancing invisible duets: using volumetric capture to create one-to-one performance in virtual reality’, International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, 0(0), pp. 1–10. Available at:  

Wise, K. (2021) ‘Dis_place: Reflections on Creating Mixed Reality Performance using Virtual Reality Technologies’, IJCMR [Preprint], (7). Available at: 

Wise, K. (2021) Facades [Virtual Reality]. Available at:  

VR Dance Theatre Work – toured to16 venues internationally, received 4 VR film festival laurels & was long-listed for the Digital Culture Awards, 2023. 

Wise, K. (2019) Displace. Available at:  Live immersive and VR performance which took place at the People’s Hall, Nottingham.  

Research interests/expertise

Practice-based Research, Dance, Performance and Technology, 360 Video and Virtual Reality, Embodiment in Immersive Environments, Audience Studies, Contemporary and Site-specific Performance, Immersive Dance and Theatre Practices.

Areas of teaching

Dance, physical theatre, choreography, digital dance and performance, site-based practice, devised performance practices, creative media in performance.

Qualifications

Doctor of Philosophy,  MA Arts (Distinction), Graduate Teacher Programme: Dance, BA hons Contemporary Arts (1st)

º£½ÇÉçÇø taught

BA Acting, BA Dance, BA Performing Arts, MA Choreography

Honours and awards

Questlab Digital Dance Artist, Studio Wayne McGregor, 2018-19

Forthcoming events

Displace Studio has recently been awarded a Space Digital commission to develop a new mixed-reality dance project titled Replica, premiering in spring 2025.

Conference attendance

  • Paper - Immersive Arts and Technologies: Public Space and Collective Experience - University of Nottingham, June 2024 Poster Presentation: Facades - CREATECH ‘23, University of Westminster, September 2023. 

  • Paper - Perceiving Facades - Speaking Volumes Symposium - OCAD, Toronto, Canada, March 2023. 

  • Paper -Perceiving Facades - Cultural eXchanges Festival - º£½ÇÉçÇø, Leicester, March 2023.  

  • VR Performance and Artist Talk: Facades, Extended Senses and Embodying Technology Symposium, University of Greenwich, London, September 2022. 

  • Paper / Artist Talk, Performance Futures: Immersive Week, London School of Fashion, February 2021 

  • Paper - Dis_Place: reflections on practice, Midlands4Cities Research Festival, Online, July 2020.  

  • Paper / Artist Talk, Live Performance in Virtual Environments, Audiences of the Future Event, Online, November 2020. 

  • Practice Paper - Dis_Place: Presentation at Cracking the Established Order, º£½ÇÉçÇø, June 2019. 

  • Performance Paper - Exposure: 360 Video and Live Performance presented at Per/Forming Futures, Artistic Doctorates in Europe, Middlesex University, London, April 2019. 

  • Paper - Dis_Place: Exploring Kinaesthetic Empathy in Virtual Reality, TaPRA Performance and New Technologies Conference: Immersive and Interactive Technologies and Live Performance, University of South Wales, Cardiff, April 2019. 

Key articles information

Wise, K. (2024) ‘Dancing invisible duets: using volumetric capture to create one-to-one performance in virtual reality’, International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, 0(0), pp. 1–10. Available at:  

Wise, K. (2021) , IJCMR. Available at: https://www.creativemediaresearch.org/post/dis_place-reflections-on-creating-mixed-reality-performance-using-virtual-reality-technologies

Consultancy work

Digital Dance Consultant for Tom Dale Dance Company

Freelance Digital Producer for Near Now, Broadway Media Centre

Freelance Researcher for BFI 'Broader Screen' Project

Current research students

David Hughes, P-T, 3rd supervisor

Externally funded research grants information

Funder: The Space

Date: 2024-25

Project: Replica

Total Funding Amount: £15,000

Funder: University of Nottingham 

Date: 06/2023 

Project: Digital Twins Artist Residency 

Total Funding Amount: £3,000 

Funder: Arts Council England 

Date: 04/2021 to 01/2022 

Project: Facades 

Total funding amount: £29,726 

Income generated from Facades Tour: £10,575 

Funder: Arts Council England 

Project: Dis_Place 

Date: 08/2019 to 06/2020  

Total funding amount: £13,398 

Funder: º£½ÇÉçÇø Academic Innovation Fund 

Date: 09/2021 to 07/2022 

Project: Digital Innovation through Risky Play with Virtual Reality Technologies.  

Total funding amount: £4,185.90 

 

Internally funded research project information

Academic Professional Development Bid, º£½ÇÉçÇø for £5k to develop a project Digital Innovation using 'RiskyPlay' with Virtual Reality Technologies. Sept, 2021

PhD project

PhD title

Walking through Walls: Artistic Strategies and Audience Engagement in Virtual and Mixed Reality Performance

Abstract

This thesis reflects on my practice-as-research (PaR) study on the convergence of 360-degree video (360V) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies with performance practices. It charts the underpinning research and creative development of mixed reality (MR) and virtual performance work, particularly concerning the use of 360V and Volumetric Capture (VolCap) technologies. At the centre of this study is the creation of two artworks, Dis_Place (2019) and Facades (2021), which have been shared widely with the public, resulting in a rich body of audience data that I have analysed and placed in dialogue with a range of related critical concepts. Furthermore, I use the insights gained from both the audience feedback and my practice in the field to offer an array of practical strategies and tips for future performance makers wishing to engage with performance and VR.

The study highlights the possibilities and challenges for capturing and sharing performance work using VR, noting the tension that can exist between materials and content-led approaches (Coniglio, 2006). It reveals that despite 360V often being perceived as a lesser technology than computer-generated VR, it can affect audiences powerfully and can provide ripe opportunities for ‘conducting agency’ (Breel, 2022). In contrast, VolCap is more complex to use, in terms of building the virtual environment (VE), yet offers the potential of room-scale VR with a cinematic aesthetic, which can be useful for building intimacy. This study has found that the film qualities and photorealistic visualisations found in 360V and VolCap can also enhance the emotional intensity experienced by audiences and both technologies offer unique ways to represent real performers in VEs. Moreover, it proposes that cross-fertilisation of approaches from performance and technology can have potent effects, providing audiences with new embodied experiences.

In my analysis, the application of concepts of embodied spectatorship has exposed the somatic potential of these mediums when used with a specific set of dance approaches and artistic content. My findings lead towards new understandings of embodiment through disembodiment (Popat, 2016), towards a mode of audience engagement I term ‘ethereal embodiment’, unique to the VolCap approach used. The techniques used cultivate a corporeal liminality for participants, drawing an awareness to their invisible, yet present body. Overall, this thesis presents an innovative body of artefacts and audience data which contributes original knowledge to the field of performance and technology, related practices and industry.

Keywords: 360-Video, Virtual Reality, Volumetric Capture, Performance, Dance, Embodiment, Audience, Intimacy.

Supervisors

Dr Kelly Jordan, Professor Sophy Smith, Jonathan Hamilton; external advisor: Dr Ruth Gibson

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