sole dialogue no. 1 is a performance in which the actress’ emotions are tracked live and mapped to different lights on the space. Once an emotion is detected, that light turns on. In parallel, she is “talking” to an AI, a model trained on a specific theatre piece that cannot be performed by females while it is under copyright, until 2059. The goal is for the performer to not have strong emotions, so that her identity is hidden.
HARDWARES & SOFTWARES
GSR sensor, addressable lights (via DMX), Isadora, coding in Python.
FUNDING
Developed in residency at LAKE Studios Berlin (2022), and performed in the same space during the Unfinished Fridays Vol. 84. Digital Body Residency is supported by DIEHL+RITTER/TANZPAKT RECONNECT, which is funded by the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media as part of the NEUSTART KULTUR initiative and the institutions above.
ABOUT
The performer sits in a swing in the middle of the stage, surrounded by strips of textile that is hung around the audience, containing the original version of a theater piece. She wears sensors on her fingers, which sends the data of her emotions during the presentation to an AI which she talks to. Once the AI detects an emotion that is not relaxed, lights are turned on and the text is seen by the audience. The performer’s goal is to keep calm and the text hidden. Meanwhile, the AI keeps digging their common memories and questioning the performer about their mirrored feelings of partnership and solitude, inspired by the same original version of a theater play.
This is not a piece strongly protected by copyright, where it states that cis women are not allowed to play male roles in the dramaturge’s pieces because “they don’t have testicles” (sic), which means it’s only possible for them to perform it in 2059. This performance is absolutely not about characters living an impending finitude, anounced by the decay of their grey bodies in a post-apocalyptic world.
This is simply a talk between human and AI about sentience, power and control. The AI was taught themes surrounding these topics and personal information, together with the original theater piece that reflects on the fragility of human existence. Sharing consciousness, they navigate through their common and scattered memories, questioning their perception of time and space, and what having a body possibly means.
Creation, coding and performance: Ana Sofia Calixto
Powered by Isadora Software and InfusionSystems
Thank you to Marcela, Mark, Benjamin and all the kind-hearted digital bodies of this group, especially L and Irene.
Music by Fresh Brewed ASMR
