$35 - Regular $25 - Music Gallery Members/Students/Arts Workers $30 - Advance On sale at factorytheatre.ca or 416-504-9971
Foxconn Frequency (no.3) – for three visibly Chinese performers is a work of “algorithmic theatre” that incorporates real-time game mechanics, piano pedagogy, 3D-printing, and the poetry of former Foxconn worker Xu Lizhi (许立志).
Three performers work with and against each other as they move through a series of testings and mini-games sourced from piano training. They succeed and fail in realtime, forced to correct their mistakes before they can continue. In each performance, 3D-printers output an object documenting the performer’s competency over time.
There are many reasons for the restriction of “three visibly Chinese performers.” In music composition, instruments are often specified (e.g for solo violin), but almost never the body itself. By making this distinction, it is Hong Kong Exile’s intention to draw focus to the performer’s identity, to engage the eyes as well as the ears, and to bring attention to the “extra-musical,” shifting the mode of audience perception to multiple modalities.
Fully automated and generative, Foxconn Frequency (no.3) is different every performance, ranging from 50 minutes to 80 minutes: an experiment in digital game-mechanics as a way of meaning making in the performing arts.
PERSONNEL:
PROJECT LEAD Remy Siu CREATORS Hong Kong Exile (Natalie Tin Yin Gan, Milton Lim, Remy Siu) with Vicky Chow, Paul Paroczai, and Matt Poon PERFORMERS Natalie Tin Yin Gan, Vicky Chow, Matt Poon TEXT Xu Lizhi (许立志) (1990-2014) SUPPORTED BY Canada Council for the Arts, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity COMMISSIONED BY PuSh International Performing Arts Festival
