Åsa Unander-Scharin

Om mig

Åsa Unander-Scharin (PhD, Prof.) is an artist-researcher active in the intersection between opera, dance, music, interactive technology and robotics. She holds a position as professor of music performance at Luleå university of technology, and years 2013-15 she was member of The Committee for Artistic Research at The Swedish Research Council.  

Her internationally acclaimed artistic work started in 1998 when she created the first choreography for an industrial robot, The Lamentations of Orpheus, that was awarded an honorary mention from VIDA 2.0. Year 2008 she choreographed The Crystal Cabinet at Piteå Chamber Opera and Desire, Chaos and Geometry for The Vietnam National Opera Ballet. In the same year her doctoral thesis: “Human mechanics and soulful machines” was published. Her interactive mechatronical puppet  Petrushkas´ Cry received a special prize in VIDA 9.0, and in 2010 her emotionally captivating robotic swan Robocygne created a newsworthy item that reached as far as the USA, India, Canada and Singapore. In 2012 Robocygne inaugurating the International Tanzmesse at Deutche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf 2012.

Since then, a long series of interactive and robotic works have been created by the Opera Mecatronica team touring to Operadagen Rotterdam, Deutche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, Cape Town Opera, The Liszt Academy in Budapest, and the Computer-Human-Interaction conferences in Toronto, Paris and San José. She has choreographed the Nobel Banquette and two dance films Elevation and Artificial Body Voices produced by the Swedish Television. Recent works include two experimental operas Callas:Medea for the Croatian National Opera and The Tale of the Great Computing Machine commissioned by the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Suite Processionis, and a new creation at Studio Acusticum for double choir, dancer and hyperorgan in October 2023.

Video exceprts and more information about her artistic work can be found at https://www.operamecatronica.com