A New Type of Technology Art Performance—Historical Research and Diverse Presentations of Drone Stage Performance

Abstract

Technology art performance is an emergent interdisciplinary form that integrates visual art, performing arts, and digital technologies. This paper examines how unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), first developed in the early twentieth century, have been adopted within technology art performances in the early twenty-first century. With rapid advancements in UAV technology and the miniaturization of hardware, drones began to appear in both outdoor and indoor stage productions in the early 2010s. Contemporary drone-based performances can be broadly divided into two categories: small-scale indoor stage drone shows and large-scale outdoor swarm formations. This study investigates the global and Taiwanese development of UAV-based stage performances and exhibition formats, while also exploring the potential of drones as a medium for technology art. In Taiwan, drone performances have become increasingly popular in festival contexts. Artists Helin Luo and I-Chun Chen are among the earliest contemporary Taiwanese practitioners to integrate UAVs into technological performance art. Their works—Prisoners under the Torch, Child (L’ENFANT), Child 2.0 (L’ENFANT 2.0), and Beams of Weighted Light—open new possibilities for theatrical creation, automated and semi-automated drone choreography, aerial cinematography, and the incorporation of augmented reality (AR). These performances expand the vocabulary of contemporary stagecraft and open new directions for interactive, immersive, and technologically mediated theatrical creation.