Song: The Future

Explore the evolution of industry. Witness the renaissance of the creative. Discover a shared cultural heritage.

Song: The Future is a digital human mobile interactive performance with extended reality. It sees the creation of a digital human character based on Shanghai Yue Opera House star performer Wang Rousang, sharing stories with the UK audiences on the commonality of UK-China creative industries’ transitional era and its digital future. This performance takes place at Leeds Industrial Museum from 11-31 October 2022, whilst being test-launched in Shanghai.

Headphones recommended

The performance will take place through a web app on your phone or mobile device, and is best enjoyed with headphones – please make sure to bring some with you!

Background

Song: The Future is a practice-led research project following on from Song of the Female Textile Workers (2020-21), awarded by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). The performance is created by HUMAN and Megaverse, in collaboration with Shanghai Yue Opera House, Shanghai Textile Museum and Leeds Industrial Museum, and led by the University of Leeds.

The initial UK-China collaboration saw the creation of a filmed version of the mixed reality performance Song of the Female Textile Workers (2020-21), which tells the story of three generations of women and their intertwined love and passion in pursuing their careers, set against individual historical socio-political background. The performance was created entirely online, in response to COVID travel restrictions. The film will be shown in the cinema room at Leeds Industrial Museum.

Song: The Future continues to connect UK-China audiences through the sharing of people’s stories of post-industrial transition, and celebrates the commonality of UK-China communities in the digital era.

Song: The Future with Lu

Transcript

Lu: Hello, my name is Lu, your companion and guide for your visit at Leeds Industrial Museum.

Some of you might have seen my story in Song of the Female Textile Workers. I was born and raised in China. I moved to the UK to pursue my dream of becoming a computer programmer.

My family has played many parts in the shifting cultural industries and textile industrial landscape of China, and I have naturally grown curious as to how these evolutions took place in the UK, and how ordinary people were impacted.

I have come to Leeds Industrial Museum today in the hope of finding these answers – perhaps you will be willing to help me!

Audience feedback

An important part of the performance and research project will be collecting feedback from you – the visitors!

If you would like to leave a comment or message, or are interested in attending the follow-up workshops for the project, please email us and we will contact you with further details in the near future.