Autonomous Avatar

Can machines learn on their own? Is an algorithm able to hallucinate? What if our lives were just a computer's dream? The hybrid dance performance AUTONOMOUS AVATAR deals with these questions. Two performers discover their human bodies until they transcend into superhuman forms. The encounter with these new digital deities takes place on the threshold between analog and virtual realities.

Berlin-based artist Tobias Staab has developed the choreography together with the dancers Dasniya Sommer and Corey Scott-Gilbert. Using live motion capture technology, their organic physiognomies are combined with the immaterial bodies of the avatars. The texts were created on the basis of a story by Jorge Luis Borges and in close collaboration with various artificial intelligences. The spoken and sung sounds derive from on a number of voice recordings made with the award winning actress Sandra Hüller. The score was conceived and arranged by composer Beni Brachtel.