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Uncanny Reverie

The project Uncanny Reverie integrates the ensemble with an interactive system, creating a theatrical concert that intertwines Artificial Intelligence with environmental and societal narratives through active audience participation.

An interactive installation based on the concert script is in development. This version will transform the concert experience into a live interactive game exhibition.

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Instrumentation: 

A live, interactive AI generator creates real-time audiovisual projections and scores for each musician, based on audience voting data. An accompanying app enables active participation and voting by the audience, adjusting the performance's narratives with each voting round. Additionally, an AI-generated voice moderates the entire performance. 

In Exclusive Collaboration with Ensemble NAMES (New Art and Music Ensemble Salzburg

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The Story

Uncanny Reverie plunges audiences into a twisted game show set in the lavishly surreal M.A.R.S. Universe. In a dazzling, bling-bling dystopia, contestants face life-or-death questions in a race to "save the world"—or, perhaps, to win a glittering cash prize.

In this high-stakes game, audiences are drawn into a world on the edge, where each question peels back layers of a society unraveling under climate collapse and moral decay. Through darkly satirical challenges, they witness contestants grappling with the choice between saving humanity or indulging their own desires, exposing the strange contradictions at the heart of modern life: a relentless drive for technological “progress” against a backdrop of crumbling values, and a widening gulf between perception and reality.

 

The show invites audiences to reflect on the paradoxes and potential dystopian realities of urban life, as they watch a twisted version of modern existence unfold—where cutting-edge tech meets a deepening decay. It’s a journey into the surreal, pushing us to ask: does progress truly serve humanity, or simply deepen the illusions we live by?

 

Structure & Technology

Audience Participation:
The performance is driven by active audience engagement, where live voting and responses through a custom app shape the storyline in real time. Audience reactions determine the narrative’s direction, triggering new questions and guiding the plot’s progression. Voting results also influence the live music, with each musician's iPad displaying a pre-composed collage score based on audience choices, ensuring a unique narrative and musical experience for each performance.

Live Projections and AI Integration:
Audience choices impact visual elements as well, with live projections adapting to the voting outcomes. An AI-powered visual-audio system generates live audio and visuals that seamlessly blend sound and imagery, creating an engaging, sarcastic, and surreal visual experience. Crafted from real-world news, these visuals transform factual information into darkly humorous commentary on contemporary issues.

 

Theatrical Composition:
The overall composition draws on audience input, an AI generator, themes of societal decay and climate collapse, and the original creativity of the artists. This dynamic interplay results in a truly unique theatrical experience, with every performance unfolding in real time and shaped by the audience’s choices.

Pioneering AI System Design & Prototype

Studio M.A.R.S. is at the forefront of innovation, developing a groundbreaking AI system and live audio-visual generator in collaboration with the Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH). This pioneering system, infused with our signature Authentically Artificial aesthetic, brings to life the vibrant, extravagant world of the M.A.R.S. Universe.

Merging retro-futurism with grotesque beauty, this "bling bling" universe layers glitz and glamour with dark humor and unsettling scenarios, creating a truly unique visual experience that redefines the boundaries of immersive storytelling.

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The performance of Uncanny Reverie is the result of a collaboration between Studio M.A.R.S. and the Ensemble NAMES, and will be integrated into the annual productions of NAMES under the theme 'Points of No Return'. 

December 14, 2024: Premiere at Stadtgalerie Salzburg,Austria

 

2025: More Performance in Vienna, additional performances for S+T+ARTS ReSilence (location to be confirmed)

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