Feed

It stresses the visual, audio, olfactory and tactile limits of human perception, telling us a story about the evolution of media and the evolution of our sensory experience of the world

- Francesco D' Orazio, NIM Magazine

Created by the Chicago-based Austrian artist, Kurt Hentschläger, (who, between 1992 and 2003, was one half of the duo, Granular-Synthesis), Feed is an audiovisual performance which pioneers a new form of theatrical language and aesthetic in which the audience is subjected to effects and shifting moods in an artificial environment without the use of live performers.

It begins with suspended 3D figures moving across a giant screen, simultaneously floating and convulsing in a zero-gravity world, their movements generating sounds to create a corresponding drone. Hentschläger's inspiration for these figures for was an online game called Unreal Tournament in which the players use avatars. Here, the figures mingle and multiply before disappearing into darkness.

Then artificial fog pours in, covering everything and everyone in the audience followed by the strobe lighting, inducing a complete loss of spatial orientation without any depth of field. Accompanied by a soundtrack infused with feedback and intense sub-low bass, Feed stresses the limits of perception. According to Hentschläger's website: "What evolves is a pure sensation of light projected directly on to the retinas of the spectators." In a separate interview, he says: "I think that reactions will depend entirely on the predisposition and mental state of each (member of the audience)."

Feed was created for the Biennale de Venezia where it was premiered in September 2005.

*Due to the particular effects used during the event, which include strobe lighting, each member of the audience will be required to read and sign an explanatory note before being allowed to attend the performance.

www.hentschlager.info