Nothing There is a dance performance utilizing real-time computer technology created in collaboration with The Symptomps dance troupe. The central theme of the performance is the clash between the reality principle and the truth principle. The anxiety generated by this conflict stays with us through our lives, poisoning our days in the guise of reality. It’s as if this paranoia were intended to force us to vest with meaning the random events of an ill-comprehended world and perceive the chaotic reality surrounding us as a subject-centric system that makes sense. However, this desperate attempt to ascribe meaning to the universe distorts our very perception, effectively preventing us from seeing things in the genuine light of their being. This is why the same thing will be seen by one person as something, and something entirely different by another.

The real-time video technology employed by this piece reacts to the position in space of a body in motion, as well as its shape, direction, and dynamics of movement, transforming the gestures of the six dancers into the projection of their anxieties and fantasies, and their web of relations into a mobile abstract painting.

Video

Photos

Credits

Director/Choreographer: Réka Szabó
Dancers: Ákos Dózsa, Rita Góbi, Andrea Nagy, Dániel Szász, Zsófia Tamara Vadas, Imre Vass
Dramaturge: Krisztián Peer
Computer technology: MTA SZTAKI Media Technology Group (Gábor Papp, Anita Sárosi, Viktor Vicsek)
Music: Albert Márkos
Light and Space: Attila Szirtes
Photo: Gábor Dusa
Costume: Fruzsina Nagy
Production Executive: Dóra Paizs

A performance coproduced by The Symptoms, the Trafo KMH, and MTA SZTAKI.

For further information please visit http://thesymptoms.hu/.