AND WHO IS USELESS NOW?
An original performance about a man, four robots, a somewhat elitist artificial intelligence, and the transfer of responsibility towards technology.
While Wendy, an artificial intelligence, quite artfully attempts to gain the acceptance of human beings as a thinking creature for herself, Florent, who shares the stage with her, gradually begins doubting his human sanity. How much freedom and how many human qualities are we prepared to sacrifice for comfort? The show has taken inspiration from Alan Turing, the founder of modern computer science, and Marvin Minsky, a pioneer in machine thinking. They both believed that the human mind is simply a very complicated machine.
Ondřej Holba is a contact juggler. He created his works Still Life as well as And Who is Useless Now? in collaboration with Finnish director and clown Herne Väätäinen. The focus of his work lies on contemporary circus and old pantomime art, whereas his current interest lies with robots and artificial intelligence. His work has been inspired by philosophical questions regarding artificial intelligence, art, music, and the application of light as well as on the combination of all of them.
Duration: approx. 50 min.
In English and German.
Please direct ticket requests for school performances to Maresa Grote-Sinn at:
mgrote-sinn@tanzhaus-nrw.de.
Other visitors are also welcome to attend the school performances.
Direction: Ondřej Holba; Performance, Co-author: Florent Golfier; Artistic Consultation: Heli Väätäinen; Lighting Design: Martin Hamouz; Music: J. S. Bach, Franz Liszt, Roman Zabelov; Tour: Nikola Križková.
AND WHO IS USELESS NOW is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Hlavního města Prahy. It is part of the European project "Circollaborative Tools" and "CircusNext+" (Erasmus+). Co-produced by CIRQUEON - Center for new circus and Palác Akropolis. Sponsored by the Alliance of International Production Houses, supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.
