From fake news and the “wild west of the internet” to the threat of AI on the future of jobs, a festival launching this week in Dundee will explore how theatre “colliding with new technologies and interactive installations can respond to an increasingly fragmented world”.
Citizen of Nowhere, said organisers The National Theatre of Scotland, will “provoke theatre-makers, creative technologists, researchers, writers and thinkers to use new technologies to fight back, bridge divides, reach new audiences and tell stories in new ways”.
It includes Thrill Laboratory’s VR Playground, Kaleider’s touring public art piece Pig, a “playful artwork that takes the form of a giant, transparent piggy bank”, and Limina Theatre’s Hope & Change.
William Galinksy, the artist and festival’s co-curator, said: “With new realities like Brexit, Trump, and the resurgence of populism and political strongmen, cultural values like unity, diversity, and empathy are under sustained attack.
“This erosion has gone hand in hand with a disruptive technological revolution which has caused seismic shifts throughout the world, the implications of which we are experiencing in real time today.”
Citizen of Nowhere, part of NEoN (North East of North), is taking place in venues across Dundee, including V&A, The Vision Building, and Dundee Repertory Theatre.
Alongside public performances, the National Theatre of Scotland is hosting a ‘collider’, led by Lizzie Hodgson, of ThinkNation. Ten Scottish theatre-makers will collaborate with technologists to answer the question: ‘Can we influence the direction of this disruption and have a positive impact on our society?’
