COVID-19, which occurred in December 2019, has had a huge impact on our lives and society as a whole. COVID-19, which can be transmitted into the air, has caused great damage to Korea's performing arts industry, which has a high proportion of small pe...
COVID-19, which occurred in December 2019, has had a huge impact on our lives and society as a whole. COVID-19, which can be transmitted into the air, has caused great damage to Korea's performing arts industry, which has a high proportion of small performance halls. As the damage of offline performances accumulated due to social distancing, the performing arts industry began to broadcast performances through online platforms. Online broadcast performances grew in number, but there was inevitably a limit to giving the audience a sense of realism and immersion. Therefore, the performing arts industry began to incorporate Metaverse virtual technology into online performances.
Metaverse is a space where you can engage in various social and cultural activities under an environment where you can create and interact with avatars in the virtual world using digital technology. Metaverse virtual technology includes VR(virtual reality), AR(augmented reality), MR(mixed reality), and XR(extended reality). Metaverse virtual technology not only gives a sense of realism and immersion to online performances, but also has the potential to embody various types of performances.
The purpose of this study is to find out the current status and prospects of online virtual performances by analyzing how much the characteristics of performing arts, such as sense of realism, immediacy, and one-off, have been reflected in online virtual performances. Examples of performances were limited to domestic plays, dances, music, and musicals using virtual technology online from 2020 to 2022. There were a total of 11 performances, including 5 plays, 2 dances, 3 music, and 1 musical. The virtual technology used in the performance were seven VR, six AR, one MR, and nine XR. In the play, there were four works that revealed sense of realism and immediacy, and five works that revealed one-off. In dance, there were two works that revealed sense of realism and immediacy, and two works that revealed one-off. In the music, there were two works that revealed sense of realism and immediacy, and three works that revealed one-off. A musical piece revealed all of its sense of realism, immediacy, and one-off.
Since the first year of 2020, experimental virtual performances using technology of VR, AR, MR, and XR have been attempted, but soon faced the problem of limited participation of the audience. Therefore, from 2021, VR HMD (Head Mounted Display) was introduced for the interaction between the audience and the actor, and performances began to be produced where the audience could freely experience the work. And from 2022, Metaverse virtual performances that interact with avatars using VR and XR technology have been produced, revealing all three characteristics of performing arts in each performance.
These Metaverse virtual performances properly took advantage of the characteristics of performing arts that were lacking in online performances, and are expected to eventually become one of the performing arts, not video arts. Virtual technology can help produce quality-enhanced performances by preventing problems on stage in advance and saving time and money through simulation with digital twins in the pre-production stage. Furthermore, the waste consumed in stage production can be reduced using virtual technology, and performances can be enjoyed at home without visiting the concert hall, so carbon footprint levels can also be reduced to contribute to climate issues.
If art and technology are not converged in the rapidly changing era, the future of the performing arts industry will be dark due to the departure of audiences, a decrease in income, and a lack of diversity in performances. However, if the support and investment of the performing arts industry and the government for virtual technology continues, it can be the best medium to reach not only domestic audiences but also audiences around the world. It is hoped that this study, which examines the current status of online virtual performances in Korea and the characteristics of performing arts, will help produce online and offline performances using virtual technology in the future and help develop domestic performing arts.