Onkaos presents a livestream of Act III by artist duo Operator (Ania Catherine and Dejha Ti) at SOLO CSV in Madrid.
Presented at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York as part of artport: A History of Internet Art, Act III is a multimedia performance and the third and final act of Human Unreadable, which began in 2022 by asking how much of a body survives translation into code and its absorption into technological systems. Structured as theater aware of its own construction, the 80-minute performance moves between computational choreography and spoken narrative.
Drawing on histories of experimental choreography and art and technology, from Merce Cunningham and Analivia Cordeiro to E.A.T., Human Unreadable is a three-act structure exploring “the slow recovery of the human.” Operator built a library of dance movements and an algorithmic method for generating choreographic sequences stored on the Ethereum blockchain. In Act I (May 2023), the artists created 400 visual compositions through this generative code and auctioned them as NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens). Act I obfuscated each underlying choreographic sequence within a generative artwork. Act II (November 2023) allowed collectors to uncover the dance sequences behind their Act I artworks in the form of choreographic scores and record them on the blockchain, making them visible to the public.
During the livestream at SOLO CSV, visitors will also be able to see Human Unreadable #290, part of the SOLO Contemporary collection, with its corresponding Act I visual composition and Act II choreographic score on display in the space.
In Act III, the first hundred choreographic scores (#2–101) become the raw material for an evening-length multimedia performance. Dancers embody the choreography, bringing the generative art out of the screen into performers. The initial obfuscation resolves through presence: bodies witnessing bodies in the absence of technological mediation. In Act III, the work becomes an X-ray of the artists’ and audience’s own negotiations between body, ambition, and technology.
Act III will also extend into the exhibition artport: A History of Internet Art through Operator’s Entr’acte, a database artwork newly commissioned for artport and built from the evolving archive of the artists’ process of creating Act III.
About the livestream
The performance on November 21st at 1pm EST will be livestreamed to audiences at Haus der Kunst Munich (Munich), LACMA (Los Angeles), NEWART Centre (Reus), NODE Foundation (Palo Alto), Nxt Museum (Amsterdam), OGR Torino (Torino), Onassis Ready (Athens), Palazzo Diedo Berggruen (Venice), PHI (Montreal) and SOLO Contemporary (Madrid). The performance on November 22nd at 11am EST will be livestreamed to audiences at HEK (Basel), LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura (Lugano), Nxt Museum (Amsterdam), PHI (Montreal), and V&A (London). The livestream is itself a work of broadcast art: a live-mixed transmission, edited in real time across multiple perspectives, unique to each performance.
Credits
Conceived, Written and Directed by Operator
Script: Operator, Paul Bennun
Composer: RYAT
Creative Producer: Alex Darby
Host/Ghost/Guest: Andrew Smith
Dialogue Performers: Aaron Applebey, Julia Campanelli, alyxåndra ciale
Siren/Ospite: Andrea Chiampo Art Conservator: Maddoux LaRocque
Dancers: Kacie Boblitt, Timothy Brausch, Genna Carey, Jenna Davis, Rachel Harris, Shizu Higa, Cleo Craft-Holloway, Annalise Gehling, Vivake Khamsingsavath, Nelson Mejia, Mia Moraru, Lili Tewes, Noah Wang
Scenic Design: Operator, Leticia Leon
Costume Design: Don Aretino
Lighting Design: Seth Bernstein
Screen Content: Operator
Video Content Production: Typical Organization, The Hybrid Studio
Graphic Design: Typical Organization
Video Programmer: Zack Lobel
Lighting Programmer: Kelley Shih Production
Production: The Hybrid Studio
Choreographic Previsualization Tool: Operator, developed by Pariah Interactive
Entr’acte
Created by Operator
Engineering: Isaac Patka
Front End Developer: Mattaniah Aytenfsu
Operator’s Act III was commissioned by the Whitney Museum of American Art.