A Networked Music Performance (NMP) is a musical performance done over a computer network. It enables musicians in different locations to perform together in real time as if they were in the same room, connected via low-latency audio-video technology. NMP began as a practice for musical collaboration but has since evolved into a broader artistic framework that connects sound, movement, and digital media.
With Telematic@Popsenteret, we expanded conventional NMP applications by bringing musicians and dancers together in a shared, distributed environment. The performance took place at Popsenteret,Oslo’s Museum of Popular Music, where we transformed two floors of the museum into interconnected performance spaces. Stage 1 (first floor) and Stage 2 (fourth floor) each hosted live performers, while large screens and sound systems allowed them to see and hear one another in real time.
In addition to these two live stages, we created a third stage, which was a dedicated streaming room where video feeds from both floors were merged into a single composite view. This room functioned as an audiovisual installation that the audience could also visit within the building, offering a different perspective on the performance. Beyond the physical venue, we streamed the entire event live on the University of Oslo’s official YouTube channel, extending the experience to an online audience and creating a fourth, virtual stage that connected local and remote viewers in real time.
A sketch of the three performance stages across floors during Telematic@Popsenteret
We collaborated with four professional musicians (vocal/keyboard, guitar, bass, and drums) and three contemporary dancers who performed both arranged songs and free improvisations. To make the interaction possible, we built a portable, modular streaming system architecture that can be easily deployed in other venues and research projects. The system combined two network infrastructures:
- a low-latency audio–video system (LoLa) linking the musicians, achieving an audio latency of 19 milliseconds and video latency of 108 milliseconds;
- a separate OBS–NDI video network connecting the dancers’ screens, with video latency around 300 milliseconds.
This dual-system setup allowed us to compare how different transmission technologies shape communication between dancers and musicians. We found that maintaining consistent latency and stable audio–video synchrony was just as important as minimizing delay—small mismatches could easily affect timing, attention, and the performers’ sense of connection.
After the performance, we conducted post-event interviews with the musicians and dancers and a short audience questionnaire to understand how participants experienced co-presence and coordination across spaces. These reflections contributed to our broader research on performative togetherness—the feeling of shared presence and collective meaning-making that emerges when people perform together through technology.
By merging artistic experimentation with technical innovation, Telematic@Popsenteret demonstrated how networked systems can extend the boundaries of live collaboration, opening new possibilities for embodied, multi-site performance.
Telematic@Popsenteret: A networked music-dance performance, Stage 2 on the 4th Floor. Photo Credit: Thusha Rajendran
Musicians:
- August Kann (Vocal, keyboard)
- Leo Anders Gr?nli Geller (bass)
- Aksel Undset (guitar)
- Elias Tafjord (drum)
Dancers:
- Ida Bakke Andreassen (4th Floor)
- Dina Borge (4th Floor)
- Mina Engen Wang-Hansen (1st Floor)
Project Design and Responsible Researchers:
Bilge Serdar, Aleksander Tidemann
Systems Development and Technical Support Team:
University of Oslo, Department of Musicology Tom Oldfield, Karenina Juarez, Juliana Bigelow, Nino Jackelli, Joseph Paul Clemente
AMBIENT Project Team:
Maham Riaz, Arthur Jinyo Guo
Project Leader: Alexander Refsum Jensenius
Popsenteret:
Julius Jacoby-Pflug, Eirik ?verby Vist
Special Thanks to:
Irene Velten Rothmund (Kristiania University – Department of Performing Arts)
Publications:
Serdar B., Tidemann A., Jensenius A.R, In Review, "Modular Streaming System Solutions for Networked Performances: The Telematic@Popsenteret Case Study"
Serdar B., Tidemann A., Jensenius A.R, In Review, Performative Togetherness in Networked Music–Dance Performance