A Machine Stops

Dance and light art merge in a huge, disused warehouse at De Blikfabriek. During the shortest days of the year, at sunset, a single performer dances alongside a laser that tracks their every movement.

The performance is inspired by *The Machine Stops*, E.M. Forster’s visionary story from 1909. In it, an all-encompassing system – the Machine – regulates every form of human experience.

It is a solo that feels like a duet. Thanks to motion tracking, the laser follows the dancer’s every movement: the beam scans, cuts or guides. In the performance, we ask ourselves who is watching whom, as in Foucault’s Panopticon.

The warehouse is not merely a set but a co-performer. Industrial spaces are the places where capitalism, production and control have left their mark on the infrastructure. A performance about the Machine in such a building gives Forster’s abstract, dystopian story a tangible form.

The sound cuts through the industrial landscape; the solo is interwoven with ethereal, minimalist flute music by Salvatore Sciarrino and Matteo Cesari. The shrill sounds stand in stark contrast to the fragile, breathing sounds of the dancer and bring the question of humanity into the space.

An exciting evening for anyone who wants to experience what it feels like to be seen and trapped. In an age of surveillance, how can we reclaim our own bodies?

Concept & Dance: Niek Vanoosterweyck
Interactive laser: Cris Mollee
Supported by: Danspunt