Colette Sadler: ARK1 (side.kicks 2024)

In the organizer's words:

ARK 1 is a multimedia installation composed and developed by the Scottish artist and choreographer Colette Sadler (Berlin). ARK 1 consists of a live solo performance within a video installation created in collaboration with Mikko Gaestel. ARK 1 explores the precarious future of human culture amidst the life-changing interventions of artificial intelligence and the eco-crisis.

The video creates a science fiction narrative to which a dancer responds: In the future, a fictional biotechnology company called VESSELS INC has created the spaceship "ARK 1" to preserve the distant memory of human life. When Earth's resources ran out and its ecosystems were threatened with extinction, VESSELS INC sent the ARK 1 into space. On board, an algorithm digitally reconstructed dancer Leah Marojevic to preserve the muscle memory of the human experience. Halfway through the film, Marojevic appears live to perform as a humanoid specimen in front of the virtual backdrop of the video installation. The live dimension of the performance removes the temporal distance between our present and the post-catastrophic future of the video; the simulated world emerges and is embodied by the dancer's uncanny movements.

Followed by an artist talk.

CAST
Artistic Direction, Installation, Video, Text and Choreography: Colette Sadler | Video Design and Direction: Mikko Gaestel | 3D Animation and Design: Alexander Pannier | Performance: Leah Marojevic | Sound: Heiko Tubbesing, Mikko Gaestel and Samir Kennedy | Video Voice-Over: Alicia Matthews | Costume Design: Colette Sadler and Theo Clinkard | Management: Catherine Launay