CENTAURS is an experimental live performance work consisting of a diptych of two stories—The Magpie and The Merman—that explore the impact of technology on intimacy and interpersonal relationships through a speculative lens. The creative team, comprised of Alan Khoi Nguyen, Daniel Jenatsch, Monica Lim, Michele Lee, Sam Mcgilp and Sean Healy (aka Jean Poole), will undertake a closed-door residency in 4A LAB.

Through development, the creative team have established a strong foundation for novel approaches to presentation, including concepts we are calling “deepfake theatre,” “egocentric live cinema,” and “biometric piano.” These approaches aim to echo and rub up against the themes in the narratives: authenticity, deception, identity, and automation’s interactions with real, physical bodies. CENTAURS is an interdisciplinary, new media work blending live theatre with digital interventions, with actors inferaced with motion capture and biometric data. The performance is further augmented by real-time audio and visual manipulations, allowing audiences to witness the construction of the work as it unfolds, laying bare rapidly evolving technologies that shape contemporary life.