Fairy Detector – Festival della Scienza
Performative concert with augmented reality, robotics, and participatory theater
The audience is the protagonist of a real narrative treasure hunt: between songs, participants are involved in solving puzzles and quizzes based on the lyrics and imagery of Max Manfredi’s album The Cry of the Fairy (finalist for the 2022 Tenco Prize). Each puzzle solved symbolically frees a ‘fairy’ from the matter that imprisoned her, transforming the concert into an initiatory journey through music, folklore, and poetry.
The interactive show “Rilevatore e Rivelatore di Fate” (Fairy Detector and Revealer) was staged in November 2023, chosen from thousands of other proposals at the important Festival della Scienza (Science Festival) in Genoa. The concept was conceived by Lorenza Saettone together with Vibrisse Studio Savona (Gabriele Santucci and Marcello Stefanelli) and built around the songs from The Cry of the Fairy by Max Manfredi (finalist at Tenco 2022 as best work overall), for which Vibrisse was artistic producer together with Maestro Fabrizio Ugas. Fabrizio Ugas also took to the stage as musical director and guitarist, alongside Laura Merione (on violin) and Nicola Bruno (on bass). Lorenza Saettone, Max Manfredi, and the Nao robot performed. Marcello Stefanelli played the role of mediator and link between the audience and the actors in the audience. Gabriele Santucci directed, as sound, lighting, projection, and “fantasy” technician.
The show alternates between:
- Live performance of songs from Max Manfredi’s album, “The Cry of the Fairy”
- Interaction with Nao, the humanoid robot from SoftBank Robotics
- Dreamlike settings created using video projections specially designed by Vibrisse and immersive soundscapes
- Game phases, participatory theater with the audience, and puzzle solving
- Narration, gags, and improvisations, all written and directed by Lorenza Saettone and Marcello Stefanelli.
A “magical” app developed by Vibrisse Studio allows the audience to use their smartphones inside the theater: when they frame a painting, an augmented reality Sylph appears with immersive animations.
For the first time, the phone does not distract from the theatrical experience, but becomes a narrative tool.
What we did:
- Artistic direction and direction
- Music composition and production
- AR app development
- Nao robot integration
- Puzzle game design
- Narrative design
In short, the result was a theatrical performance that we staged at the prestigious Teatro della Tosse – Sala Luzzati. A dedicated AR app was programmed, as well as interactions between the actors and Nao. The set design and script were curated, videos were created to be projected in the background of the performance, and paintings by Vibrisse Studio were used as “magic portals” from which the fairies were released in AR.
Photos by Rossana Ghigo and Bruno Oliveri and Lorenzo Gammarota