Presentation
An amazing sandbox where technological innovation meets human performance.
Based at The 7 Fingers Creation and Production Center, LAB7 offers motion capture technologies, a video game engine and stage integrators.
We explore how to adapt cutting-edge technologies to the physical realities and limitations of live performance, in partnership with CRITAC and other research institutions and programs.
LAB7 contributes to transform the performing arts traditional stage into new, hybrid spaces: immersive scenography, interactive experiences, augmented, virtual or mixed reality.
Dedicated to prototyping and applied research, LAB7 offers a collaborative approach to develop new artistic languages and to experiment with innovative creative processes.
The labs
LAB 1 - Augmented reality and hybrid creative work
This first lab is essentially an opportunity to start using LAB7's equipment in real conditions and to validate the complete workflow of capture, modeling, real-time projection, and recording.
LAB 2 - From quantum physics to pictoral art, sets made from movements
This second lab hosts two projects exploring non-figurative visual representations based on different types of motion capture.
LAB 3 - Extreme acrobatics and stage costumes
This third lab is an opportunity to push the limits of our Optitrack system, with the capture of extreme trampoline-wall movements. We are also exploring another technical challenge: motion capture in live performance conditions, notably using stage costumes.
LAB4: Towards markerless motion capture
The fourth LAB7 lab focused on markerless motion capture, explored through a series of tests conducted with LAB7’s research partners, the National Circus School of Montreal’s Centre for Circus Arts Research, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer (CRITAC), and Polytechnique Montréal.
LAB 5 – Motion capture technology overview
Done in collaboration with our research partner CRITAC, our fifth laboratory was dedicated to evaluating and comparing different motion capture systems, and assess their performance on a selection of circus disciplines.
News
The LAB7 team is excited to launch its new prototyping support program for creations combining performing arts and technology.
September 13, 2023, saw the first meeting of LAB7's brand-new Advisory Board, bringing together renowned professionals from the performing arts, multimedia creation, research, education and financing. They shared their knowledge and experience with LAB7, helped us identify trends and challenges, and made sure our strategic vision remains relevant and effective.
For several years we’ve been exploring how technology can enhance live performance.
What a pleasant surprise for our team to receive the HUB Innovation Award for Carry Me Home: the first-ever multi-reality show in Montreal!
Equipments
Equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, LAB7 has an inventory that can be used for a variety of purposes, from small-scale experiments to more advanced productions. With multimedia creation processes in mind our equipment inventory includes : Disguise's xR technology video server, Optitrack's real-time motion capture system, GrandMA, Unreal Engine, Notch, video projectors, gray projection screens and floor tiles, sound and lighting equipment.
Along with the Lab7 team, the equipment can be used in our different studios according to the desired configuration, with spaces ranging from 1,350 sq. ft. to 4,104 sq. ft..
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Team
Advisory board
Anne is a special-effects, video game, and digital art producer.
With SYNTHÈSE, she works as a Project Manager, Skills and Careers. Her role is to contribute to know-how in the sector through consultation and in-depth surveys of professional practices in video games, visual effects, and immersive experiences. Anne has worked in the field of visual and digital art for over 25 years. Her understanding of digital production technology and the three professional sectors makes her an excellent leader of 2D and 3D artists and programming teams. She is responsible for following trends in new digital creativity professions in Quebec. She is director of research conducted for the Ministry of Higher Education Working in digital creation: Evolution of 2D-3D graphic professions and training issues. She has experience in the field of visual effects, 3D technology, and video games, and she has worked on numerous films, video games, and digital exhibitions.
Anne has been a lecturer in digital production management at UQAC and Université Laval since 2012. She studied political science and journalism at Université de Montréal and 3D animation, film, and television at École NAD.
Expert in the screen-based industry and award-winning documentary producer, Florence Girot has spent the last 20+ years working with a wide range of international players, such as FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Associations), Disney, Women in Animation, NewImages Festival, On Screen Manitoba, and the Cannes parallel section ACID. Her career has involved various leadership roles with the constant objective to support creators and the industry, and to help them forecast and face new challenges. For 10 years, she’s focused her expertise on ties between the screen-based industries and new technologies.
After studying dramaturgy and staging at Laval University in Québec City and UNICEN in Argentina, Mireille studied acting at the Superior School of Theater of University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM).
As a director, she produced The Dog, the Knife and the Night of Marius von Mayenburg, in February 2012 then The Golden Dragon of Roland Schimmelpfennig at the Theatre Prospero. In 2015, she staged an adaptation of Donizetti's La Fille du Régiment opera in London, ON. In March 2017, she presents Ivresse at La Chapelle, a work that stands out and redefines the relationship with the audience. In 2016, Mireille was awarded the J.-B.-C. Watkins’ grant by the Canada Council for the Arts for her professional development project with renowned author and director Falk Richter in Frankfurt, Germany.
She creates Intersections, a project bringing together on stage 5 actors in 5 different countries connected. Inspired by telepresence, she presented Bluff where 3 actors on 3 different stages in the province of Quebec were interacting simultaneously in the same show. She is an artistic consultant at the Society for Arts and Technologies.
As a director, she is constantly looking for a redefinition of the relationship with the public, she creates theatrical events that allow a collective experience, where the encounter between the auditorium and the stage is the lifeblood of the work.
Myriam Achard is the voice and face of PHI internationally. Her mission is twofold: to promote the development of local and international artistic avant-garde, while paving the way for new creators.
Since 2006, she has worked with Phoebe Greenberg to promote PHI's creative impulse, driven by an ambitious message: to develop and promote artistic innovation in the world. Thanks to its efforts, the group today occupies a prominent place in the artistic avant-garde, both as producer and distributor. PHI exports its creative impulse to three continents, from New York to Tokyo, via Venice.
As head of new media partnerships and public relations, Myriam Achard travels the world in search of the most innovative and immersive works in order to present them in Montreal.
Nicolas S. Roy, President and Executive Creative Director at Dpt., has built an enviable reputation in the creation and production of experiences for emerging platforms for over fifteen years.
With a vision that integrates technological innovation and creation, Nicolas has orchestrated successful collaborations with leading institutions such as Google, Nike, Samsung, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Cirque du Soleil, Ubisoft, and France Televisions.
His interactive and immersive productions have been presented to international audiences at prestigious events such as the Cannes Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival, the Tribeca Film Festival, and South by Southwest.
In addition to his professional achievements, Nicolas is also a speaker, sharing his expertise at events such as SXSW, the World XR Forum, the Immerse Global Summit, Unity for Humanity, Mutek, and Infopresse Training.
Obsessed with the meshing of the physical and virtual worlds, Nicolas is constantly imagining and defining the future of immersive experiences.
Sevan Dalkian is a Senior Technical Product Manager at Epic Games where he helps define the Unreal Engine product roadmap for virtual production, with special focus on live venues and digital installations. Alongside industry-leading features required for live events such as DMX and video playback, he also oversees nDisplay, a real-time graphics clustering technology that enables deployment of any Unreal-based content on complex displays regardless of their shape, size, and pixel density.
Previously he was co-founder, CEO, and CTO of Float4, a multidisciplinary studio that integrates award-winning digital experiences in physical spaces, amplifying their identity. In this adventure, he led the development of RealMotion™, a technology platform designed for creative minds and AV Integrators, supporting the latest achievements of Float4 around the world and holders of numerous industry awards.
His contagious and undeniable passion for real-time visual effects, parallel computing, and modern 3D rendering technologies allows him to design and continually improve technology solutions from the user's perspective. He believes that one day, we will change the way we see digital and architecture as a new canvas for creativity.
After obtaining his degree in Computer Engineering at the École Polytechnique in Montréal, Sevan has accumulated over 15 years of industry experience, particularly in the field of video games, VFX, and interactive multimedia environments.