Replica

Replica – created by Displace Studios – is an emotive Mixed Reality performance which uses immersive technology to display a virtual dancer who interacts with, and occupies the same space as a live performer – allowing her to duet with a digital double.

This unique and innovative production combines live dance, XR and Volumetric Capture.

Replica asks you to consider human issues around liveness, mortality, memory and ageing – exploring how we present ourselves and connect with each other in a world of growing digitisation.

The virtual dancer is viewed through a Meta Quest 3 VR headset which the participant wears during the experience. In this 10-minute performance audiences discover how it feels when real and virtual performers interact in real-time, and are prompted to consider key human issues around digital doubles, presence, and ownership of their body/image – exploring how we present ourselves and connect with each other in a world of growing digitisation. The imperfect, fragmented, and glitchy hologram maintains something of her original presence, but also conveys a sense of loss, entrapment or erosion.

The experience has been shortlisted for a 2025 Lumen Prize in the Performance & Music category.

Studio Displace is : Creative Technologist Ben Neal and Choreographer Kerryn Wise with Dancer Kim Bormann and music by Daniel Frazer. The project was funded by : The Space and Arts Council England and supported by : Near Now, Broadway Cinema, Virtual and Immersive Production Studio, University of Nottingham.