The Dramaturgy of Telepresence: A Dialogue Between Milan and Montréal

The Dramaturgy of Telepresence
June 23, 2026, 4:45–6:00 p.m.
MEET Theater
As part of The New Atlas of Digital Art | Culture Dome

One of the focal points of the seventh edition of The New Atlas of Digital Art will be Telepresence, a topic that will be explored in depth during the panel discussion on Tuesday, June 23, titled “The Dramaturgy of Telepresence”

The event is the result of a collaboration between MEET Digital Culture Center and the Société des Arts Technologiques (SAT) in Montréal, one of the most influential international institutions in the field of immersive technologies and telepresence. Via a live video link between Milan and Montréal, the panel will bring together artists, researchers, and cultural production professionals to explore how digital technologies are redefining the concepts of presence, corporeality, collaboration, and participation across geographical boundaries.

The discussion will be opened by Maria Grazia Mattei, founder and president of MEET Digital Culture Center, and Jean-Michel Célérier of SAT Montréal. The conversation will offer insights into the role that immersivity, artificial intelligence, and connected virtual environments are playing in the development of new forms of interaction and creativity.

Jean-Michel Célérier, in particular, will present SCENIC: one of the most advanced platforms developed by the SAT for immersive telepresence and remote collaboration. The system allows performers, institutions, and audiences located in different places to share experiences in real time while maintaining a strong sense of collective presence and spatial immersion.

Claire Paillon, Strategic Development Advisor at SAT Montréal, will explore the topic of telepresence as a narrative and performative device. Drawing on SAT’s pioneering experience, her presentation will highlight how remote connection technologies can become tools capable of generating new forms of dramatic encounter, transforming connected spaces into places of shared experience.

The relationship between technological innovation and event production will be the focus of the presentation by Adriano Martella, Creative Director at Filmmaster, who will discuss the challenges and opportunities presented by the integration of telepresence, immersive media, and real-time interaction in large-scale contemporary events.

Rounding out the program will be UBIQUA, an immersive XR dance performance created in collaboration with AIEP | Avventure in Elicottero prodotti, which connects Milan and Montréal through telepresence systems and shared virtual environments. The work reimagines and expands upon artistic research in virtual reality, exploring the evolution of relationships between avatars, movement, shared space, and the perception of the body at a distance. The performance demonstrates how choreography can extend beyond traditional physical boundaries, generating new forms of embodied interaction in which physical and virtual presence intertwine within a single, connected performative environment.