Liveness is not only important in the performing arts but also in many other aspects of daily life, such as political rallies, sporting events, virtual reality and distance learning.

However, it is not precisely clear what makes such live experiences special. The EU- funded* Neurolive project (PI Dr. Guido Orgs, Goldsmiths, University of London, Artist Director, Matthias Sperling) proposes that the live experience can be seen as a form of sustained entrainment in which performers' and spectators' minds, brains and bodies are linked. To understand how liveness is generated and experienced, the project aims to combine theoretical concepts from theatre and performance studies, artistic research in performance making, and psychological experimentation. The experience of liveness will be measured with mobile neuroimaging devices (hyperscanning).
At the core of the project stand four live dance performance experiments to provide insight into what makes live experiences special (London), as well as complementary studies performed at the Max Planck Institute for empirical Aesthetics.

*This research project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 864420 - Neurolive).

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