Innsbruck, June 2026. Performed on 18th and 19th June 2026 at BRUX, Free Theatre Innsbruck.
How Summitwave's Auracast technology turned the immersive performance "BODIES IN BIAS" at BRUX into a social experiment that can be heard.
On 18th and 19th June 2026, choreographer Emmanuelle Vinh transformed BRUX in Innsbruck into a social experiment. In her new OFFTANZ production BODIES IN BIAS, the focus was on power, privilege, and exclusion. Little was explained about this. Instead, the audience was meant to feel these themes in their own bodies. A large part of this was conveyed through hearing, and that is exactly what our Auracast technology was used for.
For us as a young company from Innsbruck, it was a special evening. Normally, our technology ensures that as many people as possible can hear well in churches, halls, or lecture theatres. Here, it was used in reverse. The sound served this time to make inequality tangible.
How Auracast divides the audience
The biggest difference was made by hearing. One part of the audience received additional information through headphones. The other part only heard the normal ambient sound. This created an imbalance in knowledge. Those who had the information found it easier to navigate. Those who did not were left in uncertainty.
This difference was made possible by our Auracast technology. Summitwave provided a Summitwave TX6D as a transmitter and several RX receivers for this purpose. The TX6D transmitted its own audio track into the room. Those wearing a receiver heard it clearly and without noticeable delay. In this way, sound itself became an actor that selects and directs.
A part of the audience follows the performance via Auracast receivers. The person on the right sits without headphones and only hears the ambient sound. This makes the inequality visible.
Why Auracast?
Auracast is a new type of audio transmission based on Bluetooth LE Audio. Unlike a normal Bluetooth connection, a device sends a signal that can be received by an unlimited number of receivers simultaneously. There is no need for an app or cumbersome pairing. For an immersive performance, this has several advantages:
• For many at once: A whole group could listen to the same channel. Or be deliberately excluded from it.
• Controllable: The production could determine who receives which information.
A dedicated audio channel guides individual audience members through the space. |
The sound source: Live music and sound design provide the signal that the TX6D distributes to the receivers. |
From tool to artistic material
Normally, Auracast stands for participation. The technology is meant to ensure that everyone can hear well, regardless of hearing ability. Emmanuelle Vinh has turned this idea on its head. She has deliberately distributed access to sound unevenly to make exclusion tangible. The same technology that usually breaks down barriers has here shown what inequality feels like.
“This uncertainty is not a cheap dramatic effect, but a productive state.”
Emmanuelle Vinh, choreographer of BODIES IN BIAS
For us, this evening was a good example of what is possible with the technology. Auracast is not just a tool for better hearing. It can also be used where sound needs to be distributed purposefully in space, such as in event technology or, as here, in contemporary art.
Through Auracast, each person receives their own audio channel that runs synchronously for everyone.
About Summitwave
Summitwave is a young company from Innsbruck. We develop Auracast products based on Bluetooth LE Audio, for assistive hearing and for sound distribution at events and in public spaces. Our main products are the transmitter Summitwave TX6D and the receiver RX. Our goal is simple: to bring the right sound to the right ear.
About the Brux
https://www.brux.at/bodies-in-bias/