Ghosts in the Machine
Ghosts in the Machine is an “expanded cinema” performance constructing a story of human history as told only by the pieces left behind in the world’s largest archive of “human knowledge”.
This is an experience of creation which the audience embodies along with the artist in real-time: delving into the archive like anthropologists sorting through an immense box of found photographs, searching for meaning, making the story as we go along. As we search, strange and eerie sounds accompany us. What emerges is a filmic “symphony”, not of the city, but of the digital wastelands. But what - and whose -story is this?
The “symphony” reveals an imperfect, fragmented and often nonsensical picture, deconstructing the idea of “data” as an objective record and showing how it obscures, hides and presents mythical conceptions of our history and lives.
But as we distract ourselves with a neverending, incomplete search, are we failing to listen? While the film reveals data’s inherent lies, a final revelation uncovers the “truth” heard all along. Is this humanity’s memory, dream or nightmare?
Audience Quotes:
“evocative and atmospheric”
“riveting... surprisingly erotic”
“captivating and unsettling, a hallucinogenic trip through history”
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The film was originally exhibited as a prototype at CPH:DOX 2021 interactive exhibition, as a hybrid film and sound art performance, Anthropocene in C Major, part of the Climate Symphony collaborative works. The accompanying sound work was created and performed by Jamie Perera
Ghosts In the Machine is now in further development to be launched shortly.