Skip to main content

A mobile site performance with extended reality (March 2022)

Hello and welcome, all, to the inaugural post of this, the Song of the Female Textile Workers, past, present and the future project Project blog! Here, I will be sharing updates on the project, including new developments, interesting asides, and maybe even some teasers of what is to come along the way.

'That's very exciting!' I hear you cry. 'But... what exactly is this project?'

A fine question indeed! And in order to explain that, I will need to dive a little into the history of the project as a whole.

For some time, a number of AHRC award research projects, led by Dr. Haili Ma at Leeds University have been working in association with Shanghai Yue Opera House, Shanghai Textile Museum, Leeds Industrial Museum, HUMAN VR and stage@leeds to explore the development of creative industries [1] across China and the UK. It is our hope that by uncovering the stories and experiences in these sectors of the local populations - both here in Leeds and in Shanghai - we will be able to bridge the cultural and socio-economic gap between our two nations.

Song of the Female Textile Workers [2] was the most recent performance to come from this collaboration. Starred in the Chinese national class A performer Wang Rousang, Song explored the naissance of creative industries in Shanghai, birthed as a result of sweeping closures in the textile industry, through the medium of yueju, a form of Chinese folk song that itself thrived in this period. It was screened in both stage@leeds and the Shanghai Textile Museum.

Wang Rousang performing Song of the Female Textile Workers

The next step in the collaboration, and the one to which this blog will speak, will be an extended reality experience right here in Leeds, exploring the themes of the Song performance and digging in to the cultural heritage - past, present and future - of the locale. We will follow the story of Lu, a Chinese immigrant with ties to both the textile and creative industries, as she endeavours to discover how the UK and its people handled the transition with which she is so familiar. The performance is designed to be highly interactive, and we are very much looking forward to hearing the stories - and perhaps even songs! - that you, the audience, will share with us!

Leeds Industrial Museum, at Armley Mills near Kirkstall, will play host to the experience, offering its rich history and exhaustive collections as a perfect backdrop to this tale of industrial evolution.

Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills, Kirkstall

And how exactly will Lu's story unfold? Well, you'll just have to come along and find out!

Okay! So now that you're familiar with what Song: The Future is, it's update time!

Although the project has been on-going since the completion of the original Song, it has only been this past week that preparations have really kicked off in earnest.

The script - which has already been through a number of versions - is rapidly approaching its finalised state. In addition, coordination has been carried out with the audience enhancement team, to prepare marketing and press releases for the upcoming event.

But most excitingly, last Friday brought together all of our digital partners at the venue for the first time. There, we met our existing friends and colleagues from HUMAN VR, as well as our new collaborators from the creative digital experience company, Megaverse. Together with the keeper of the mill and other LIM employees, we explored the museum's historic halls.

The team exploring Leeds Industrial Museum

The visit produced an engaging and productive dialogue, which explored the spaces and equipment of the museum, and how they could best be utilised and enhanced in the performance. Plenty of thoughts were also put towards the practicalities of the project, with a keen eye being turned towards its accessibility and inclusivity.

Reading through the script in situ provided plenty of creative opportunities for the whole team, and no end of new ideas and inspirations surfaced during the tour. As you might imagine, the exact format of the experience is still evolving, but you can expect plenty of exciting AR moments, and interactions with the virtual avatar of our protagonist, Lu.

Of course, this is still just the beginning, and we expect the pace of development to continue ramping up in the immediate future. The plans of the museum and performance script are now in the hands of HUMAN and Megaverse, and we are excited for further discussions and growth in the project.

Right, that's all the news that I have for you this week, but I hope that you will keep checking back to keep up to date with developments and news on the project as they arise!

 

Footnotes:
[1] Creative Industries, for the unaware, are more or less exactly what they sound like; economic activities based around creative endeavours.
This can be anything from music, theatre and the performing arts, to advertising and marketing, and even architecture.
Museums, galleries, libraries, TV and film production also fall under this banner.
[2] https://stage.leeds.ac.uk/events/song-of-the-female-textile-workers/