Blending electronic music, AI technology and a cast of disabled performers, Sensorium Ex breaks open the operatic form to ask urgent questions about humanity, communication and who gets to be heard in the digital age. By Juliette Barber
At first glance, Sensorium Ex may appear to be an
opera. And while it is, it’s not in any traditional
sense. It is a deeply immersive, multi-sensory
experience that synthesises artificial intelligence (AI), disability and the arts, by drawing the audience into
a narrative conveyed not only through movement
and sound, but also through silence. At its centre is Kitsune, a non-verbal boy with a disability, and his
mother Mem. Their relationship unfolds not through dialogue, but through a complex interplay of gesture, music and sensory exchange. Their story—and the opera itself—challenges our conventions of what it means to communicate, inviting us to explore the possibility of voice beyond language.
The opera, commissioned by VisionIntoArt in association with Beth Morrison Projects, and Common Senses Festival, is the creation of composer Paola Prestini, librettist Brenda Shaughnessy, co-directors Jerron Herman and Jay Scheib, and music director Elizabeth Askren, with a principle cast that is predominantly made up of disabled performers.
But Sensorium Ex is much more than a performance. It is the anchor and artistic heart of SENSORIUM, a growing international ecosystem of research, creative collaboration and community impact. Building on the opera’s central themes, SENSORIUM explores what it means to have a voice—and to be fully human—in an age shaped by artificial intelligence and complex, often non-verbal forms of expression. At its core is a commitment to the intersection of disability and AI, challenging how voice, identity and communication are represented and understood.
This wider platform includes artist and impact fellowships, open-source documentation, scientific research and technological development—many of which are led by disabled creators and scientists. SENSORIUM also acts as a pilot platform for testing new, interdisciplinary models of collaboration and impact across the arts, sciences and wider communities. Together, these efforts extend the reach of the opera into a dynamic, multi-sensory inquiry into the nature of voice, connection and creative innovation.
Sensorium Ex tells a dystopian tale of a mother and her non-speaking, disabled son, Kitsune, as they navigate a world in which the essence of humanity is at risk. But beneath this dramatic arc lies a deeper inquiry—the essence of voice itself. Sensorium Ex asks, what happens when voice cannot be given, but must instead be co-created?
Kitsune’s voice is developed through a collaborative process shaped by residencies and workshops with disabled artists, including members of the opera’s development and premiere casts, families and community members, a core research initiative led by VisionIntoArt and the NYU Ability Project. This process culminates in a groundbreaking moment in the opera titled “the escape”, in which traditional musical notation is replaced by medieval neumes. In this shared soundscape of chant, movement and improvisation, Kitsune’s agency is not just implied, but becomes audible, embodied and present to the audience, expressed through Sensorium AI, technology devised as part of the production process. An AI-driven augmented and assistive communication device (AAC), this tech serves as a tool for the opera’s minimally- and non-verbal actors to express themselves through expressive speech and vocalisation.
In addition to this exploration, the voice of Sophia, the opera’s AI narrator, is shaped through choral aggregation representing the memories, experiences and voices of the opera’s characters, which are gathered over the course of
the opera, and culminate in the final scene of the opera
with a combination of live and synthesised singing. Built through community-driven workshops and interactive installations, Sensorium AI evolves as tech continues its development ensuring that the technology at the heart of Sensorium Ex is inclusive, and that the capacity for creative expressive tools continue to both reflect the diversity of human experience and support alternative forms of vocal expression. These efforts will also feed directly into real-world applications, including new, open-source assistive tools and devices for those often excluded from conventional voice recognition systems.
The Sensorium project—including its opera production, AI technology arm, documentary film, and the Sensorium Codex (an open resource guide for developing adaptive and inclusive practices across disciplines)—is supported by a global advisory board. This board comprises arts leaders, performers, practitioners and activists with lived experience of disability, representing cities including London, Cape Town, Copenhagen, Omaha (NE) and Hawaii.
In some stagings, like in its future iteration at Artscape
in Cape Town, the opera will also feature members of
local disability communities, embedding a sense of place
and deepening each production’s relationship with its
host setting.
Disability equity is not just a guiding value but a foundational artistic practice, shaping everything from casting and creative development to fully accessible audience experiences. With a development track that has included residencies with the REACH at the Kennedy Center, Artscape Cape Town and the American Academy in Rome, the opera and Sensorium AI bridge art and real-world impact. The same technologies that shape Kitsune and Sophia’s voices on stage also shape inclusive tools offstage, creating a feedback loop between performance and progress.
At its core, Sensorium Ex challenges the traditional boundaries between art, technology and social change. It asks not only who gets to speak, but who gets to be heard—and how voice can be reimagined in ways that embrace the full spectrum of human expression. The project’s inclusive methods—spanning casting, co-creation, impact fellowships and access—are systematically documented and shared with partner institutions, setting new standards for disability equity and access in opera production and audience experience. Through its layered approach, SENSORIUM demonstrates how art and technology can shape a more inclusive future—not by simplifying the complexity of voice, but by expanding our capacity to listen.
Sensorium Ex is supported by the Ford Foundation’s Creativity and Free Expression Arts and Culture (CFE A&C) programme, the Mellon Foundation, the Doris Duke Foundation’s Performing Arts Technologies Lab, Opera America, New Music USA, and Creative Capital, among others. The premiere of Sensorium Ex takes place at the Common Senses Festival from 10 to 25 May in 2025 in Omaha, Nebraska. For further information, visit commonsensesfestival.com
To find out more about SENSORIUM, visit
