Foto: Knut Bry
News
From the Archive: Puppets & Gods in Japan
Before theatre in Japan, there were puppets, and the puppets were gods. apanese performance was born from ritualistic beginnings where figures of deities were carried out of temples and shrines and into the streets. Ulrike Quade studied inside that tradition; its craft and care for objects today inform her understanding of technology.
Immersive Experience Day for Performing Arts
What can you concretely do with immersive tech as a cultural organisation? During the Immersive Experience Day for Performing Arts, UQC along with other makers Urland and Studio Marble, presented three immersive performances. Heleen Rouw, Director of CIIIC, also spoke to us about the growing immersive experience indurstry. The event was organised by DEN and Innovation:LAB.
IOOI selected for ADRIE
July 2026 – We are delighted to announce that our consortium Inside Out Outside In (IOOI) has been selected for round 1 of ADRIE – Artistic & Design Research for Immersive Experiences, a grant launched by CIIIC – Creative Industries Immersive Impact Coalition.
Kilowatt Festival 2026
July 2026 – UQC was invited by the Dutch Embassy in Rome to be part of this year’s Kilowatt Festival, a festival for the performing arts in San Sepolcro, Italy. We met several partners from the consortium of the Creative Europe project Digital On Stage to share insights about the field of art and technology.
DataCARE Festival 2026 with Inclusive AI Lab
Artistic researcher Ulrike Quade and dramaturg-researcher Sorcha Ní Bhraonáin were invited to speak at the Data CARE Festival organised by Inclusive AI Lab.
A look back – Highlight Festival 2026
February 2026 – What if robots are not almost-human, but fundamentally other? Science fiction and robotics alike have long been shaped by the assumption that robots should resemble humans as closely as possible in appearance, communication, and behaviour.
Griefbots in Research and on the Stage (Utrecht University)
May 2026 Utrecht – This seminar looked at the intersection of grief and technology through the lens of performance and artistic research. Ulrike Quade spoke about this creation of Roman & ELIZA, joined by dramaturg-researcher Sorcha Ní Bhraonáin (UQC), and media and performance studies artist-scholar Evelyn Wan (UU).
D4D Consortium Meeting
How will robots be designed and puppeteered? What kind of strings are attached? The central question of Dramaturgy for Devices consortium remains how the performing arts can help develop human-robot interaction (HRI) so robots can be integrated better into society.
Roboverse – No human in the loop
Autonomous drone kills human being. No human in the loop.
Roboverse explores the underbelly of technology, the robot from within. What would the world look like from a robot’s perspective? A dancer, a drone and different robots share the stage — their sensors turning movement into sound and music. Human and machine mirror and challenge each other, from target to companion.
Roboverse explores the underbelly of technology, the robot from within. What would the world look like from a robot’s perspective? A dancer, a drone and different robots share the stage — their sensors turning movement into sound and music. Human and machine mirror and challenge each other, from target to companion.
Theatre of the Future: Choreography of Flesh and Steel – A conversation with pioneer of human-machine performance Ulrike Quade
Ulrike Quade interviewed by Hayel Ali Al-Mathabi for Arab Theater Magazine. At the heart of the radical transformations taking place in contemporary performance, the work of Netherlands-based director and scenographer Ulrike Quade stands out as a bridge between the richness of tradition and the precision of technology.
A peek inside the robotics lab
Ulrike Quade Company is conducting research in several areas related to the use of robots in theatrical settings. In this video, Suze takes you on a tour of the robot lab in Almere.
COME TOGETHER (11)
The annual gathering for performance COME TOGETHER returned for its 11th edition. The program was curated through a chain-curating principle whereby Amsterdam-based collectives invite other artists. Ulrike Quade Company was a curator and partner of the festival which celebrated unexpected collaborations in performance practice.
Job profile: Board member of the Ulrike Quade Company Foundation
We are looking for an enthusiastic chairperson to strengthen the Ulrike Quade Company Foundation.
Ulrike Quade speaks at Vrije Universiteit
Ulrike Quade gave a lecture as part of the Master’s course ‘Expanding Performance’ led by Dr Laura Karreman (Utrecht University) alongside AI students of the MSc course Socially Intelligent Robotics at VU Amsterdam.
Roman & ELIZA at Society 5.0 Festival
At the Society 5.0 Festival in Amsterdam, we presented a VR theatre experiment from Roman & E.L.I.Z.A.—a hybrid convergence of performance, XR, and digital puppetry exploring how technology reshapes memory, grief, and humanity in a new digital society.
Roman & ELIZA in Porto
During PREMIERE Live in Porto, Ulrike Quade Company unveiled the first scenes of Roman & E.L.I.Z.A. — a poetic encounter between human, avatar, and artificial intelligence. Exploring how technology shapes memory, grief, and connection, this research grows into a new performance-in-the-making.
SPOTxKAFKA at the opening of the Feringa Building
At the opening of the Feringa Building (University of Groningen), we presented SPOTxKAFKA: a playful, Kafkaesque encounter with robot dog Spot probing the urgency of now—how robots shape our world and identity, between assistance, autonomy, and empathy.
The robot, the puppet and the soul
In a poetic encounter between robot arm KUKA and Bunraku puppet ORITO, Ulrike Quade explores the urgency of the present: how humans and machines live, feel, and sing together. With music by Stephanie Pan, this research evolves into a new opera-in-the-making.
Acting Like a Robot: The Finale
On 30 and 31 January 2025, Ulrike Quade Company will conclude the four-year research project Acting Like a Robot at De Paardenkathedraal, Utrecht. The programme will include workshops, presentations and drinks, celebrating the collaboration between theatre and robotics and looking ahead to the future.
Interview with Ulrike Quade: on UNBORN’s unheard perspectives
UNBORN: Interview with Ulrike Quade about a theatrical concert by OTION and Ulrike Quade Company. It explores human experiences and perspectives through music, magic, and innovative art.
