UNDERBODY

A duet within herself. A construction of five KUKA Robots move an abstract figure which dances with a performer.

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This 15-minute performance is based on the choreographer Gertrud Bodenwieser and serves as the coninutation of last year’s co-operation with Johannes Braumann and the Ars Electronica Futurelab. In Bodenwieser’s piece “Demon Machine” (1923), five dancers transform into one machine, now five machines transform into one dancer. One person used to control a part of the machine then, an industrial Kuka-Robot takes over a body part now. Choreographer and dancer Silke Grabinger enters a dance with this puppet. The technology serves as the male counterpart, the animus, with whom Grabinger is being confronted. Who mirrors whom, who reacts on whom, or who is leading is unclear in this dance. The investigation questions the relevance of Bodenwieser’s assessment which states that machines are occupying a more and more predominant role in our society and humans are not in control.

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