Deus::ex::machina – human geography in a virtual world

Darkroom Contemporary’s flagship 2020 project, deus::ex::machina – human geography in a virtual world, returns this December to form part of the curated programme for the 2023 Arts Alive Festival in Johannesburg.

This hybrid work offers live and online interactivity :  audiences located in Cape Town, will experience the work at various public spaces around the City, while viewers in Johannesburg can participate in the interactive online gaming experience hosted by the Bioscope Cinema in Maboneng.

Viewers anywhere else in the world can also participate online. deus::ex::machina was developed during, and in response to, the global lockdown in 2020, and has since continued speaking to the universal themes of connection, control, democracy and the digitisation of the human experience.

deus::ex::machina is a physical expression of human geography, a search for connection within chaos. Part telematic performance, part interactive online experience, deus::ex::machina is live, real time motion controlled by the audience. deus::ex::machina is conceptualised and choreographed by Louise Coetzer, with interactive design by Thingking, and performed by Darkroom Contemporary Dance Theatre.

This multiplayer game invites viewers to meet online or in real life, in a shared experience of simulated connection. The deus::ex::machina virtual experience is driven by you, the viewer, and demonstrates a real time exercise in cause and effect, infinite probability and random points of connection. The viewer controls the dancers via a real time voting process through their devices, ultimately affecting each unique experience of the telematic performance, as it unfolds live and via live stream. 

In this extended reality, we measure the uniqueness of the individual, against the commonality of the human experience. The performance expresses how the movements & trajectories of people moving in public space, unknowingly create a large scale choreography. While we experience global physical isolation, our connections entirely dependent on technology, our realities filtered through algorithms – how close are we to being controlled; or are we the ones in control? 

deus::ex::machina becomes a physical embodiment of man vs machine. No two performances are the same, and each audience experience unique.

The deus::ex::machina experience is designed to mimic an old – school arcade game, and functions as multiplayer game. Over the course of six levels, dancers receive the outcomes of audience inputs via headphones, and each dancers performs their next choreographic phrase as decided by the audience. This codification of human movement, echoes the coded functionality of the work’s interactive telematic elements, speaking to the digitisation of our human experience. 

Every performance results in a unique outcome of the possible phrasing iterations, as voted for, in real time. The work features an ambisonic sound score, with music by Cara Stacey & Object Agency, Lungiswa Plaatjies & Matthijs van Dijk, and Franco Prinsloo. Throughout the performance experience, each user has a choice between hearing one of two different soundtracks, or to continue alternating between the different sound choices throughout.

For its premiere in October 2020, deus::ex::machina formed part of the Pan African Creative Exchange, and Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria. It was then performed as part of Vrystaat Kunstefees Snelstroom, and Fakugesi Festival of African Digital Innovation, and at the National Arts Festival in 2022.

This performance season is presented in partnership with The City of Johannesburg, and supported by the National Arts Council, the Department of Sport, Arts & Culture’s Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme, and the Western Cape Government’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport.

Initial project development was made possible by the National Lotteries Commission. Realised through the Pan African Telematic Art Project (PATAP), an initiative of the Vrystaat Arts Festival Pan African Creative Exchange, supported by the Embassy of the Netherlands & the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and with support from NATi. In partnership with Thingking, Silent Events South Africa & Dance For All SA.

Book here for Cape Town (Live Performance) :  https://qkt.io/CeZKsR 

Saturday 02 December at 11h30 and 13H00 at Side Street Studios, 48 Albert Rd, Woodstock 

Book here for Johannesburg (Interactive Live Stream): https://qkt.io/vtTSa4 

Saturday 02 December at 11h30 and 13h00 at The Bioscope, 44 Stanley Ave, Milpark, Johannesburg

MORE INFO: www.darkroomcontemporary.com 

Audiences not visiting Cape Town or Johannesburg can still participate in the interactive online experience from anywhere in the world, at the following dates and times: 

01 December at 16h30 & 18h00

02 December at 11h30 & 13h00