Kafka�s 3-D mystery science theatre

It hadn’t occurred to me that 3-D imagery might have a place in live theatre.

It’s a good thing I’m not in charge of a theatre.

CPU, a production of the German new-media performance collective 1n0ut, interprets Kafka’s The Trial for the stage with stereoscopic projections of recorded imagery and on-stage performers. Winner of a medal for media art at last year’s Salzburg Festival, CPU appears to be a kaleidoscopic piece, with imagery that isn’t content to serve as backdrop, but jumps up to play onstage alongside the performers. It makes projected 3-D imagery look like a natural component of live theatrical performance. Indeed it always has been�directors have long used mirrors, lights, and other effects to embody illusions onstage. New image-making technologies extend the artistic toolkit, but the vision of what might be possible is always just a little bit farther out.

[via Create Digital Motion. See a longer video take of CPU on 1n0ut’s Vimeo channel.]