KUKA, a German manufacturer, is known globally for production, performing automation tasks such as welding and assembly. However, coming up this Fall, the prominent industrial group will be dipping its toe into another kind of performance.

This is not the first time KUKA has branched out to the arts to showcase the future of automation. In the past, KUKA has been displayed as part of an art installation at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. The installation showcased a KUKA robot writing Hebrew across a roll of paper at the speed of human writing using a quill and ink. During a festival in Düsseldorf in 2019, Huang Yi, a dancer, and choreographer, found a dance partner in a KUKA KR CYBERTECH. And at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria, a festival that celebrates the connection of arts and technology and their relation to the human experience, KUKA was a part of the “Creative Robotics” exhibition. The exhibition explored the role of robots and creative expression.

Taking creative exploration to the ballet

In a 360-degree virtual reality ballet at the Staatstheater in Augsburg, Germany, the KUKA plans to deliver a lead performance by the KR IONTEC. Along with 17 dancers, the KR IONTEC is scheduled to make its theater premiere in a virtual reality performance with a focus on human-machine synergy. The dance will delve into technical programming and analyze the connection of human consciousness. The performance, created for audiences to view from the comfort of their living room, uses virtual reality glasses.

The KUKA innovative ballet experience, “kinesphere”, premiers on September 10, 2021, at which time it will be available to order for German audiences who can order the VR glasses from the Staatstheater Augsburg.

Press photos of the Augsburg State Theater on “kinesphere” can be found here.