Project Title: To Be a Machine 1.0 

Funding strand: Arts Grant Funding  

Project Description:

To Be a Machine (Version 1.0) is an adaptation of the Wellcome prize-winning book by Mark O’Connell: an exploration of Transhumanism, a movement whose aim is to use technology to fundamentally change the human condition, to improve our bodies and minds to the point where we become something other, and better, than the animals we are.

In the midst of a global pandemic, where our bodies became biohazards, transhumanists offered a way into a disease-free digital age. To Be a Machine (Version 1.0) follows Mark from cryonic storage facilities to basement biohacking labs as he meets the prophets of our techno-future. We use the theatre to hold a wake for the very idea of congregating together in a room, and a meditation on humanity’s attempt to solve the modest problem of death. 

This adaptation is a live-audience-upload-experience: a one-man show for audiences to watch from home - while their faces (pre-recorded) are broadcast into the theatre onto iPads. To Be a Machine (Version 1.0) was presented as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival. It premiered on October 1, 2020, and streamed live from Project Arts Centre in Dublin.

To Be a Machine (Version 1.0) is a Dead Centre co-production with the Dublin Theatre Festival. Developed and supported by Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin as part of the European ARTificial Intelligence Lab project. Co-Funded by Creative Europe. Supported by the Arts Council. 

Aims of the project/work 

Originally, the idea behind To Be a Machine (Version 1.0) was to adapt the book by Mark O’Connell and present a work in progress: it was conceived to be a one-man performance featuring Jack Gleeson, and development of the work started well before the COVID-19 lockdown occurred. However, when COVID-19 hit, Dead Centre decided to progress the work differently and adapt. Whilst they did not have significant experience of digital work before this point, they started to explore ways that streaming technology could bring To Be a Machine (Version 1.0) to an audience in the midst of the pandemic. It seemed to offer interesting creative possibilities, since at the centre of the project were broad questions about transhumanism, bodies and theatre:

"We sort of saw that the issue of COVID casting our bodies as biohazards and the fact that we were not allowed to be near each other, was playing into the hands of transhumanists' ideas of the body as a problem. And something that needs to be transcended and overcome, sublimated or erased [...] so we can enter this new singularity, a digital future. And so it was an opportunity to use that problem, that we have to stream a show, to turn it into a virtue. So it almost becomes like [...] the ideal way to tell a story about transhumanism."

Bush Moukarzel, Dead Centre. 

Development of the work/ project

Arts Grant Funding by the Arts Council allows Dead Centre to deliver and plan projects in a strategic way and it made it possible to pivot work during COVID. The idea of turning To Be a Machine (Version 1.0) into a streaming experience was pushed further to realisation with the help of the Dublin Theatre Festival. Willie White and Steve McManus approached Dead Centre to support the company and turn To Be a Machine (Version 1.0) into a digital show as part of the 2020 edition of the Festival.

Photos: Dead Centre. To Be a Machine (Version 1.0)

Funding was made available to present work digitally during that time and Dead Centre made the decision to ‘translate’ the piece into a streamed show. Video Designer and Filmmaker Jack Phelan was approached to help deliver this creation of a digital work, that can be streamed, and that audiences are invited to engage in actively. Jack worked towards creating a system whereby audience members could be uploading onto individual iPads as a quasi-live audience for each performance. This technical expertise was not available in-house at Dead Centre and the collaboration with Jack Phelan was crucial in delivering the work. 

Learnings 

Budget

The budget needed to deliver digital work is very challenging and without additional funding from other income streams, it makes digital theatre very challenging.

"The money just disappears when you start wanting to code and use 3D graphics, sound and renders. And it is so time consuming and labour intensive." (Bush Moukarzel).

The main focus of Dead Centre is to create innovative theatre. And while the experience in working on To Be a Machine (Version 1.0) was positive, it is unlikely that Dead Centre will become a solely Digital Theatre company and pursue many projects in the digital space.

Digital Theatre

Despite the budget constraints, digital theatre has its place in the art world. It is not inferior to more traditional theatre formats - it's just different as Moukarzel explains:

"I don't feel that digital theatre or streaming is a secondary art form or something. I find it primary and [...] there are different mediums for different messages. So, I feel that there'll be some things which should be streamed or done in a non-traditional theatre way. But it just depends on what they are."

Theatre’s relationship to digital art is not to compete with digital creative businesses despite relying on technology and skills from the commercial creative sector to create work. Moukarzel specifies:

"It seems we're not trying to compete with PlayStation or whatever [...] you are in a way trying to [...] have a take on the digital phenomenon of our lives rather than trying to compete with cutting edge digital businesses."

Impact 

To Be a Machine (Version 1.0) provided Dead Centre with an opportunity to explore digital theatre-making and collaborate with digital makers. With every show, Dead Centre is trying to do something new, something they have not done before, as this pushes the work of the company forward and keeps the work interesting.

Photo:  Dead Centre. To Be a Machine (Version 1.0)

The success of the show was very welcomed but also unexpected and surprising. From the initial idea of presenting a work in progress, the company found themselves creating  a digital premiere as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival, which resonated with the audience very strongly as Moukarzel explains: 

"[...] the audience has an identity because they're in the room together. And when you do a streaming show, the audience feels diluted and they don't have a relationship with each other. Whereas by putting them in the Project Arts Centre, so they could see each other and also by delimiting the number 110 (note: audience number was capped at 110 per performance). [...] everybody was aware of each other."

Following the run at Dublin Theatre Festival, the show was picked up and ‘toured’ to Belgium, Hong Kong and France. 

What’s next?

Following the success of To Be a Machine (Version 1.0) in 2020 and the gradual re-opening of society in Ireland in 2021, Dead Centre made plans to bring an in-person version of the work to audiences, a second “version”. Collaborators discussed where the project could go; what the next stages would be following on from a streamed online version. Combining Virtual Reality with the live theatre experience seemed a natural progression of the work’s aims and concerns. 

Moukarzel details that

"[...] a  VR headset is asking different questions of an audience, of why an audience member is doing it? What kind of mindset they'll be in? So there are different rules and different rules to break as well. So that's why we started thinking of VR going okay, that that'll keep us interested and then [...] ending in a theatrical environment as the sort of epilogue, a way almost coming out of that. The whole experience of going into it this digital journey and then ending up where we started back in the room."

Dead Centre was also able to secure further funding support from the Science Foundation for the next iteration – titled To Be a Machine (Version 2.0). This show premiered as part of Dublin Theatre Festival in 2023.

Further Links:

 https://www.deadcentre.org/tobeamachine