Projects

GIRLGANTUA – a project led by Stealing Sheep, is investigating how live music performance can be expanded through real-time motion capture, immersive visual systems, participatory audience engagement, and hybrid presentation formats.

Developing a new live performance strategy, the team will test new ways of creating performance experiences where musicians directly puppeteer digital characters and visual environments in real time through real-time motion capture, experimental sound design, and immersive 3D animation. How participatory fan experiences can shape future immersive performance formats will also be investigated; through audio samples collected from fans to create a collective “super chord” embedded with the sound design of the performer. The long-term aim is to develop a scalable performance concept that can be adapted for live venues, public spaces, and future multi-platform distribution.

What the project is researching

GIRLGANTUA is researching how live performance can move beyond conventional stage formats by combining:

• Real-time motion capture and animated digital characters
• Synchronised audio, visuals, and live performance with minimal latency
• Immersive and extended reality (XR) approaches to audience experience
• Participatory fan engagement and co-creation
• Scalable workflows for touring, venue-based, and hybrid presentation
• Accessible production methods for artists working with advanced live technologies

An additional strand of the project explores a new musical and cultural language described as “Scouse K-Pop”. This is a creative framework that draws on Liverpool’s musical identity, future-facing pop aesthetics, and the performance-led worldbuilding associated with K-pop. Through this research, the project is examining how local cultural heritage can be reimagined through contemporary technology and global pop forms.

The project is also investigating audience participation as a creative method. Rather than treating audiences as passive viewers, GIRLGANTUA is exploring how fans and communities can contribute to the mythology, sound world, and live experience through workshops, shared sound collection, and collaborative storytelling.

What areas the project is looking to improve

GIRLGANTUA is focused on improving several areas of live music and immersive performance:

1.Real-time technical performance – The project is testing ways to reduce latency between motion capture, animation, video output, and live sound. This is central to developing a reliable workflow for real-time performance on vertical LED screens and other immersive display systems.

2. Audience participation and fan co-creation – The project is developing new approaches to fan engagement that go beyond standard live show formats. It is exploring how audiences can contribute material, ideas, and presence to the work before, during, and after performance.

3. Accessible and democratic workflows – A key aim is to create more open and usable production methods for immersive work. GIRLGANTUA is interested in ways of making advanced live technologies more flexible, collaborative, and accessible to artists and creative teams.

4. Hybrid and distributed live experiences – The project is exploring how immersive performance can travel across venues, public settings, and digital platforms. This includes research into scalable formats that can support touring, site-specific presentation, and future multi-platform distribution.

5. Representation in music technology and performance – GIRLGANTUA places women and feminist-led creative practice at the forefront of a technically ambitious work. The project aims to improve visibility, representation, and authorship for women working across music, technology, and experimental performance.

6. New models for live spectacle – By combining large-scale visuals, immersive sound, choreography, and mythology, the project is testing how a live performance can become both an artwork and a repeatable experience that is artistically distinctive and commercially viable.

The GIRLGANTUA project is one of two SME-led projects awarded funding from the MusicFutures Future Live Fan Experiences R&D challenge in collaboration with Liverpool Experience Campus to develop the next wave of live fan experience across music events.