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Culture

Stan Hema developed the 23/24 season campaign for the Deutsche Oper Berlin – a campaign that positioned the institution as a driving force. It addresses human questions that are raised in opera and always remain topical. With the help of the AI tool NeRF, surprising images are created that invite the audience to think about their own point of view.

What is the significance of opera in times of crisis and social division? In the 23/24 season, the Deutsche Oper wanted to provide impetus and space to consider that kind of question. To that end, the campaign focused on questions about what it means to be human, raised by current premieres. It depicts individuals at the very moment of grappling with questions that remain unanswered: Who decides the path to be followed? What is the source of confidence? Why do we seek happiness?

In order to visually express perplexity, we experimented with various AI tools and came across NeRF, Neural Radiance Fields, in the process. This groundbreaking method of AR/VR technology allowed us to construct photorealistic 3D scenes and objects from a series of 2D images.

We chose six locations to suit the premiering operas, where we photographed people from different angles. With the help of NeRF, we generated a spatial representation from approximately 600 photographs. For the design of the final campaign motifs, we used an open flank of the technology: by manipulating the data, we scattered disruption into the realistic-looking scenes.

This resulted in animations that oscillate between reality and fiction. We see people in familiar places, surrounded by blurs at the edges of the AI-generated space. Still images and video journeys provide the visual material for the campaign. It is precisely in movement that they reveal their disruptive effect: as the room glides, the person remains motionless in the middle.