OOTFest25 (UN)SEEN: Vision and Panel Discussions
- Elspeth Chan
- Jun 30
- 4 min read
OOTFest25 was conceived as a site for radical experimentation and dialogue at the intersection of embodiment, technology, and artistic innovation. Beginning as an Open Online Theatre (OOT) initiative during the pandemic, the festival aims to support underrepresented artists by providing residencies, mentorship, and technological training, with a focus on curiosity and creative risk-taking. IJAD Dance Company (IJAD) Artistic Director Joumana Mourad’s vision was to recalibrate the artistic ecosystem, holding space for multiplicity, risk-taking, and the unseen dimensions of creative practice.
Holding Space for the Unseen
Mourad described her curatorial approach as “sitting on giants’ shoulders”, acknowledging the historical lineage of technology in performance-making while actively building new methodologies in real time. The festival’s title, Unseen, was inspired by glitches — moments when hidden structures or overlooked voices are revealed. Mourad emphasized that her role was not to orchestrate a “marriage” between artists and technology, but to offer a space for experimentation, where artists could choose their own paths and sustain their creative voices.
Emphasizing the importance of authenticity and purpose when using technology in art should help progress the artistic intent rather than technology being used for its own sake. Critically examining what technology could bring to the arts, Mourad’s core vision is the concept of “Sensography”. Describing a methodology that innovates artworks across multiple spaces & platforms, “Sensography” refines performance by creating for and within digital contexts, considering space, time, and sensory dimensions. With meticulous preparation and careful rehearsal, Mourad’s goal is to foster live-hybrid performances in every theatre, creating a unique experience to online and offline audiences through inclusivity and accessibility.
Mourad’s concern on ethics and inclusivity of technology in art springs from the experiences working with neurodiverse artists, where she offers patience and genuine understanding. She also sees technology as a means to connect past and present, inside and outside, and to create a “latent space” for new forms of collaboration and meaning-making.
Panel 1: NoBODY Left Behind
The first panel was brought together Dr Tia-Monique Uzor, Professor Kristina Höök, and Clemence Debaig, moderated by Tom Hobden. The discussion revolved around soma-aesthetic design, haptic wearables, and the primacy of movement over language, drawing on theories by Donna Haraway and Maxine Sheets-Johnson. Panelists also discussed how wearables can translate and transform sensations, how digital embodiment in creative projects explores intimacy and control in immersive environments, and how these technologies might broaden conversations around environmental justice, colonialism, and Black ecology.
The conversation touched upon the theme of double sensation of skin — both touching and being touched — and the potential for technology to create new spaces where the body and technology meet. The panelists debated whether technology risks relying too heavily on visualization, but they all seemed to agree AI can reconfigure the boundaries of corporeality, magnifying and preserving hidden traits in traditional and communal movement. The conversation reminded participants to arrive at one’s body first, and then engage with technology in a way that welcomes new sensations and experiences. It also invited participants to consider how technology might unearth novel emotions and creative expressions available to artists.
Panel 2: Embracing the Unexpected: The Open-Ended Possibilities of Digital Co-creation
The second panel featured Professor Jane Harris, Dr Ruth Gibson, and Professor Maaike Bleeker, moderated by Ghislaine Boddington. The conversation shifted to robots as agents of behavioral understanding and the dramaturgy of materiality. Panelists put forward a metaphor suggesting that AI/technology is like structured improvisation — once all elements are gathered and structured, then we can let go. If the “liveness” and unfixed forms that arise in and through digital interaction allow non-linear and open-ended approaches to creation, could these forms possibly provide insights on destructuring or even re-constructing epistemology?
A critical point emerged around the consciousness and conscience of AI — while AI may exhibit forms of consciousness, it lacks human conscience, raising ethical questions for artists who employ these tools. As such, the panelists emphasized the importance of human agency and responsibility. After the panel discussion, I exchanged an interesting conversation with a participant who experienced slight discomfort when he heard about the production involving interaction of the performers and their avatars with the audiences. The blurred boundaries between human and avatars may bring up hybrid and provoking shifts of perspectives, challenging the traditional notions of embodied and sensorial connections.
Panel 3: Exploring Digital Worlds Beyond the Proscenium Arch
The third panel included Lucy Bayliss, Aurora Hawcroft, and Mourad, again moderated by Ghislaine Boddington. This session focused on accessibility, care, and the potential for technology to dissolve the traditional separation between the physical and digital. Panelists discussed how AI and digital tools can support non-normative bodies and expand the role of theatre as a social construct, reaching into communities beyond the traditional stage.
Radical, open curation was proposed as a means of decentralization, steering the field toward process-driven, participatory art. Various relevant programmes/projects were mentioned: future physical, Digital Body Festival and Figural Bodies.
The panelists challenged the audience to consider how art can become more participatory, inclusive, and responsive to the needs of diverse communities. Mourad urged to reflect on finding common lexicons — live-hybrid performance not only treats audiences as proactive players in theatre, but is a negotiating intersection of space and platforms. The conversation questions how to evaluate the impact of technology on dissolving boundaries — of body, environment, theatre, and time-space — and what kind of new frameworks/methodologies are needed to progress further.
Mourad’s vision and the three panel discussions at OOTFest25 collectively foregrounded the importance of holding space for experimentation, multiplicity, and the unseen. The panels did not shy away from paradox or contradiction; instead, they embraced uncertainty as a site of possibility, inviting artists and audiences alike to reimagine the future of dance/embodiment and digital art.
*** Follow the works of IJAD Dance Company and the Open Online Theatre (OOT): https://ijaddancecompany.com/oot/ https://openonlinetheatre.org/
