Symbionts (including The Virtual Viola da Gamba, The Gripper and Virtual Obbligato)
This trembling black robot swan which some times moves smoothly and gently, some times in a dramatic and fiery manner to Tchaikovsky’s majestic music is inspired by Edgar Degas’ sculpture The little fourteen year old dancer (1881), and is made from wax, bobbinet and silk ribbon. This birdlike body vibrates with electronic life and has the unattainable dream of dancing as prima ballerina on a grand stage. The music is a re-modelling of Rothbart’s theme from the Swan lake where both the ocean and the orchestra have been caressed and yet at the same time smacked by music technology.
The dance has been created by a handson process where the robot body parts have been manipulated one by one to the music by the choreographer, in four recordings. The body consists of two light metal wings embellished with black feathers, a torso of aluminium, black bobbinet and circuit cards, a vertically adjustable leg, a very flexible neck together with a beak made of eight servo engines. Height 130 cm. Wingspan 160 cm.
PERFORMANCES
Swedish Book Fair 2010
Opera Mecatronica 2010
The Nobel Museum in Stockholm 2011
Kulturtinget in Örebro 2011
VOLT- electronica festival Uppsala Konsert & Kongress 2011
Tällberg Forum June 14th 2012
Deutche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf, 2012
Dance Museum 2015 Link
