Liveness einer Maschine? Überlegungen zum Digitalen Musiktheater während der COVID-19 Pandemie

Abstract

The following text was inspired by the lecture Mensch, Musik, Maschine: Wer gibt den Takt an? by Bernhard Glocksin (Artistic Director of Neuköllner Oper, Berlin), which took place on December 5, 2023, as part of the digital lecture series Oper und Co. Für die Zukunft!?: Musiktheater zwischen Institution, Digitalität und Künstlerischer Forschung. The lecture presented productions by the Neuköllner Oper from 2020–2022, including the project oper.digital. The productions, which were created during the COVID-19 pandemic, focused on the integration of digital media at various levels, from artificial intelligence that generated works or parts of works to the transmission of the performance via the internet in the form of streaming. This text examines how the performance situation changes in such productions. Among other things, audience applause, which is considered conventional in live performances, proves to be one of the aspects of the performance that, on the one hand, enables interaction between the performers and, on the other hand, poses new challenges in digital formats.