PREMIERE – cross disciplinary intersections of performing arts and technology: key questions, findings, and challenges

The EU-funded project PREMIERE brought together a multidisciplinary consortium of twelve partners from six European countries, spanning technology research centres, performing arts companies, universities, archives, and performance venues. The project investigated how emerging technologies, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Virtual Reality (VR), can intersect with performing arts practices. This article presents PREMIERE’s research-through-practice approach and reflects on insights gained from sustained interdisciplinary collaboration. It highlights both the creative potential and the structural, ethical, and educational challenges that arise when advanced technologies are introduced into artistic contexts. We outline the project’s methodology and discuss a range of applications developed, including AI-assisted archive enrichment, remote collaboration, experimentation and rehearsal in VR, live VR streaming of performances, and the use of generative AI in artistic creation. From a performing arts perspective, the article examines how these technologies affect artistic authorship, embodiment, collaboration, and representation. Particular attention is given to ethical concerns such as bias in AI-based body recognition, data ownership, the implications of non-binary and synthetic avatars, and the broader impact of AI and VR on artistic practice. The article concludes with a set of considerations and recommendations for the responsible and reflective integration of AI and VR within the performing arts ecosystem.