Eingeweide
What does it mean to create an autonomous prostheses, independent from human control? And what happens when organs live outside of a body? Could this help us understand that the power of the human body lies in its ability to be different and to take on unexpected forms and identities?
Eingeweide (2018) is the staging of a ritual of coalescence. Inhabiting a desolated, surreal landscape, two human bodies become violently entangled with an artificially intelligent (AI) prosthesis, out-of-body organs, relics from computer server farms and animal remains.
The prosthesis uses AI algorithms to learn in real time how to move, exist and perform on stage. The organs pulsate, leak and crawl on the floor, bearing traces of the microbial cultures which created them. Sounds from the performers’ muscular activity are amplified and transformed by AI algorithms into a powerful and visceral auditive experience, submerging the spectators.
Eingeweide (2018)
Eingeweide (2018)
Eingeweide (2018)
The performers’ bodies become, thus, one and multiple, at times asserting, at times misplaced. They are the means of a drastic form of bodily experimentation, where alternate identities emerge from the convergence of human, machine and micro-organisms. In such a configuration, each element drastically affect the other. Physicality and psyche are meshed up, shaken and probed.
A far scream from trans-humanist ideals or techno-phobic claims, Eingeweide creates its own vocabulary of symbolic meaning, manifesting the relationship between humans, technology and living-others as a harsh, poetic and humbling form of intimacy.
Reviews
“So beautiful and deeply disturbing, a true manifest for the adventures of creation and a massive stimulation for our curiosity as we should always remember, there are no borders, neither for our body nor for our mind.”
Thomas Venker, Kaput Mag
“Two naked bodies, sound cuffs on the thighs. They are knotted together, is it copulation or a single being? A tentacle grows out, it’s surreal, one’s own senses are meaningless. Fantastic, a spectacle.”
Christian Pichler, Volksblatt
“An all-encompassing enveloping experience, powerful, visceral and therefore, also disquieting.”
Francesca Bernabini, Danzaeefebi
Award
2018, Romaeuropa Festival (IT)
Digital Award (Best performance in category)
Shows
- Kapelica Gallery | European ARTificial Intelligence Lab
Starna Elektrarna, Ljubljana, SL, 2021 - Donaufestival
Triple bill, Krems an der Donau, AT, 2021 - Art + Science Meetings | Beyond Borders
Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdansk, PL, 2019 - Nemo Biennale + HeK Basel
Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris, FR, 2019 - Politik der Algoritmen
Muenchner Kammerspiele, Munich, DE, 2019 - Arte Anarchia
MACRO Asilo, Rome, IT, 2019 - Meta Marathon
NRW-Forum, Düsseldorf, DE, 2019 - Frankenstein Symposium
Natlab, Eindhoven, NL, 2018 - World Premiere, Romaeuropa Festival
Pelanda Theater, Rome, IT, 2018 - Excerpt, Ars Electronica
Postcity, Linz, AT, 2018 - Public preview, CTM Festival “Turmoil”
HAU2, Berlin, DE, 2018
Credits
Donnarumma, Pevere – Artistic direction, performance, staging
Marco Donnarumma – Music, programming, AI robotics
Margherita Pevere – Wearable biofilm, robot skin
Neurorobotics Research Laboratory, Beuth Hochschule – Scientific partner
Ana Rajcevic – Robotics visual design and costume
Christian Schmidts – Robotics 3D modelling and engineering
Andrea Familari – Light design, stage production
Claudia Dorfmueller – Production
Manuel Vason – Photography
De Angelis, Spera, Trimboli – Live photography
Protopixel – Light technology
Commissioned by CTM Festival (DE) and realised in the context of the Graduiertenschule, Berlin University of the Arts.