CREW Brussels

CREW is an international team of researchers, performers, technologists, dramaturgs, musicians, programmers, writers and designers with currently at its core two artists: Eric Joris and Isjtar Vandebroeck. As an arts company crossing the boundaries of art, science and technology, CREW continues to ask a simple question: how does technology change us? Immersive performance is the perfect medium to investigate this: we envelop the spectator in a different world and interact with them in the (not) here & (not) now. CREW was founded by Eric Joris in 1990 and has been a trailblazer in linking art and science. Various technologies were developed for the artistic needs of CREW, for example putting the first VR headset on a theater stage with the help of the University of Hasselt in 2003. CREW served as a model case in the European Union’s stART program and is currently active in national and European Union research programs. CREW offers different perspectives to scientists and innovators: the arts tend to travel different roads. As technology progresses, our interaction with it is constantly redefined. CREW offers a critical, but not paranoid perspective. We believe this needs to be informed by practice, not only discourse: the human experience should be central. CREW is currently working on new productions that redefine the role of performer, immersant and audience in XR performance.