The relationship between technology and the performing arts is far from new. The Greek onkos and deus ex machina, as well as the brilliantly inventive devices of non-Western theatres, already consolidated the technological dimension on stage. In theatre courses, the introduction of electric lighting in the early 20th century is often seen as a major turning point in staging practices. For decades now, audiovisual resources have been used to challenge the perception of space and time in the "here and now” — so central to the so-called arts of presence.
Today, in everyday life, AI-powered devices operate with relative autonomy, and we can already consider the diminishing role of “human people” as the sole authors in major decisions and in the labor market a consolidated and growing phenomenon. Likewise, these technologies are expected to enter the performing arts just as they have taken over the audiovisual field. At the very least, we can anticipate a level of apprehension in performative practices that mirrors the widespread unease about AI in everyday life and the economy.
As Yuval Harari warns us, if the threat posed by machines is not exactly new, neither are human vulnerabilities in the face of power structures. Throughout history, we have witnessed countless forms of domination that have threatened the very existence of entire groups, enabled by political and technological mechanisms. In Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life, Giorgio Agamben introduces the notion of a permanent state of exception, a device that legally legitimized the extermination of millions under the Nazi regime. Hannah Arendt, in Eichmann in Jerusalem, reveals how the banality of evil took root through bureaucracy, allowing atrocities to be committed without their agents questioning their own ethical responsibility. Michel Foucault, in The Birth of Biopolitics, demonstrates how biopower not only regulates bodies but also manages life itself according to the interests of capital. Achille Mbembe, in Necropolitics, expands this discussion by examining how the logic of the state of exception extends beyond war and totalitarian regimes, perpetuating violence rooted in 300 years of slavery that still operates in contemporary times. These analyses reveal how power struggles have historically generated politics of death, discarding bodies deemed undesirable.
Within this context, Artificial Intelligences and new technologies emerge as forces capable of transforming and challenging the poetic and epistemological models of the performing arts. While they may expand creative possibilities, they also risk reinforcing pre-existing inequalities. The pressing question is: how can the arts appropriate Artificial Intelligence in creative processes? If technology can question and transform poetic and epistemological models, to what extent can it also be appropriated by structures of domination?
This dossier aims to address these issues in relation to our field of work through a constellation of realistic, enthusiastic, cautious, critical, and propositional viewpoints, and everything in between. This call seeks to gather analyses on the scenic-performative dimension as a way of engaging with power structures — both on stage and in life — as shaped and modulated by new technologies.
The idea is to discuss, propose, and analyze new politics of perception generated from strategies of coexistence with Artificial Intelligence, technological mediation, and the Infosphere — strategic perspectives of invention, survival, and potency. We aim to bring together debates on aesthetic appropriations of place, ways of living, producing, and educating in light of the aforementioned issues.
This call invites researchers to share their reflections, tensions, escape routes, and compositions in the face of the rise of these forces now and in the future. We welcome submissions in the form of Articles, Interviews, Reviews, Dramaturgy, and Performative Writings in dialogue with the production of works, interventions, and pedagogies in the field of performing arts that address:
- Reflections on the impact of new technologies, Artificial Intelligence, and the Infosphere in the performing arts, considering their challenges and potential in creation, education, and the labor market. Technology is discussed as a constitutive element of the scene and its implications for the sustainability of performing practices in a transforming world;
- Political, historical, environmental, ethno-racial, terminological, and/or conceptual discussions on the relationships between performing arts, new technologies, and the Infosphere;
- The impact of immersive Extended Reality technologies (Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Mixed Reality) and the use of AI in authorship, perception, and reception of the performing arts;
- Technology as a factor of accessibility in education and in performing works;
- Performative initiatives that may contribute to the field of AI and new technologies by suggesting alternative ways of generating knowledge beyond those commonly produced in this relatively new field;
- Reflections on the use of technologies in the performing arts as a critical tool to question power structures, confront inequalities, and challenge states of exception.
This edition features the collaboration of Marcelo Rocco (Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto) and André Magela (Universidade Federal de São João del Rei) as Guest Editors (marcelorocco1@ufop.edu.br; andremagela@ufsj.edu.br).
Submissions for this call are open until September 2, 2025, or until 25 texts have been published.
Further guidelines can be found here.