Counterpilot is a collective of interdisciplinary artists directed by Nathan Sibthorpe, with Mike Willmett (sound designer), Christine Felmingham (technical designer), Elizabeth Hunt (creative producer), and a constellation of Australian artists, technicians and tinkerers.
Together, we create interactive performance works, activating audiences with new technology, rich design, and transmedia storytelling. Counterpilot seeks to transform the familiar, juxtaposing rich fictional worlds against a backdrop of the everyday.
By subverting real social circumstances, we co-opt our participants as authentic performers. In this way we are harnessing what we believe to be the most exciting thing about theatre - the live audience. Our works enable participants to observe themselves responding in real ways to hyper-real situations.
In 2017, Spectate was described as “a groundbreaking new production” (Absolute Theatre), a “psychedelic emotional experience” (4ZZZ), and “spectacularly clever on so many levels, in a way probably never seen before” (Blue Curtains Brisbane). The following year, Crunch Time premiered at Next Wave Festival 2018 in Melbourne and was described as “obviously brilliant” (The Age), a “feast for the eyes and ears” (My Melbourne Arts), and “just about flawlessly realised” (Stage Whispers). Crunch Time went on to receive the Lord Mayor's Award for Best New Australian Work at the 2018 Matilda Awards.
Counterpilot was originally co-founded in 2014 by Sandra Carluccio and Nathan Sibthorpe as a way of combining their collaborative practices in live art and contemporary performance. Nathan and Sandra were greatly influenced by their experiences investigating international transmedia companies including Blast Theory, pvi collective, One Step at a Time Like This, The Border Project, Sandpit, and Il Pixel Rosso.
Counterpilot continues to produce interactive performance works that boldly experiment with new applications of technology. With interactive tools like geo-locative audio, SMS distribution networks, RFID voting systems, multi-layered video, and biometric sensors, Counterpilot seeks to put the audience at the centre of every performance experience – whether it be for physical journeys, experiential narrative, or heightened gameplay.