RESEARCH
Alongside Elsbeth’s practical work in theatre, playful research also forms the foundation of her academic work. Her focus lies on themes such as human perception and contemporary technologies, including AI, deepfakes, algorithms, Virtual Reality, and robotics. During her master’s studies, she explored postdramatic theatre, the role of the spectator, and expanding performances, engaging with themes like feminist and queer dramaturgy, ecology, posthumanism, and postcolonialism/decolonisation.
Her bachelor’s thesis, “Onbezonnen” (2021), at ArtEZ University of the Arts, focused on the influence of algorithms on social media and their impact on the human brain. This research advocated for a curious, patient, and understanding perspective, aiming to foster in the reader a critical awareness of their subjective perception and the influence of social media upon it. Elsbeth’s research delved into sensory processing in the brain and discussed the concept of subversive affirmation. The Truman Show was an important inspiration in this study.
Her pre-master’s research, “Am I My Data?” (2022) at Utrecht University, continued the thematic thread of her bachelor’s thesis. Here, Elsbeth analysed the performance #2 BIAS (2021) by the theatre collective playField. Central to this research was how algorithms, due to the subjective nature of data, can generate perceptual biases in their predictions, thereby leading to exclusion based on prejudice. The research focused on how audiences are addressed, employing concepts of theatricality and absorption, as well as the terms discernable and integrated relationships, derived from game theory, to analyse the concept of response-ability within the performance.
Her master’s thesis, “Embodied Empathy Explored: Unravelling Our Perception of Robots” (2023), in the programme Contemporary Theatre, Dance and Dramaturgy at Utrecht University, lay at the intersection of performance and robotics. This study examined how dramaturgical insights from performance could be relevant to the field of robotics. She analysed two robots: a social robot named Phi and a robot featured in Simple Machines (2019), a performance by choreographer Ugo Dehaes. Elsbeth explored how our embodied perception of robots is constructed and posed the question: ‘How do robots evoke empathy?’ The research also advocates for the importance of creativity and imagination in designing human-robot interactions, and it highlights how the performing arts can play a crucial role in this. Through questions such as, ‘What else might a robot look like?’ and ‘What if this were a robot?’ she encourages rethinking robot design.
During her master’s, in addition to her thesis, Elsbeth wrote several other essays, including “A Robot in Its Natural Habitat: The Performativity of a Believable Robot Character” (2023) and “Imagining the Power of a Smelly Robot” (2023). The latter essay was published on Utrecht University’s Transmission in Motion site.
In “A Robot in Its Natural Habitat: The Performativity of a Believable Robot Character”, Elsbeth argued for the relevance of the concept of performativity in designing a credible robot character. To support this argument, she analysed two case studies in completely different contexts. The first was the NAO robot, designed to function as a social robot, and the second was a robot from the exhibition Robots in Captivity (2021) by artist Bram Ellens.
Elsbeth wrote “Imagining the Power of a Smelly Robot” following a Meet the Makers session organised by Utrecht University. In this session, the interdisciplinary Dutch collective Polymorf was invited to discuss their award-winning installation Symbiosis (2022). Symbiosis is a VR installation that offers a multi-user experience by reshaping the human body to create a non-human reality for participants. This non-human reality is induced not only through VR but also through the use of scent, taste, and soft robots that move and inflate, distorting the participant’s body. Inspired by this session, Elsbeth wrote this essay, where she reflects on the applications of scent in robotics and the ethical questions that accompany it.
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