Human Interface, Zodiak, Helsinki

In May 2012, Thomas Freundlich will premiere a new dance work at Zodiak Centre for New Dance in Helsinki. Human Interface brings together on stage two dancers and two ABB industrial robots. The evening-length work builds on the groundbreaking Actuator project in which Mr. Freundlich danced with an ABB IRB 1600 robot in 2008.

The movement of the industrial robots is superhumanly precise yet also surprisingly lifelike, as the two machines become full-fledged dance partners with their human colleagues. Human Interface utilizes the latest industrial technology that allows safe interaction between people and industrial robots in operation.

The spacious post-industrial space of the Pannuhalli stage at Helsinki’s cable factory provides the milieu for a meeting between person and machine, as technological and organic movement blend into a seamless evolutionary whole. The visual design of Human Interface is by acclaimed glass artist/designer/sculptor Markku Salo.

Human Interface
dancing machines, intelligent bodies

Choreography and programming: Thomas Freundlich
Dance: Tanja Kuisma, Thomas Freundlich
Stage design: Markku Salo
Lighting design: Mia Kivinen
Music and sound design: Rene Ertomaa
Industrial robots and technical consulting: ABB
Photo collage: Valtteri Raekallio/Peter Forsgård/Thomas Freundlich
Production: Zodiak Center for New Dance, Thomas Freundlich

Tickets 20/12 €
Premiere at Pannuhalli, Cable Factory (Kaapelitehdas), Helsinki May 22nd, 2012 at 7 pm

Performances 22.5.2012 – 31.5.2012:
22.5.2012 19:00 – premiere
25.5.2012 19:00
26.5.2012 19:00
27.5.2012 15:00
29.5.2012 19:00
30.5.2012 19:00 – meeting with the artists after the performance
31.5.2012 19:00

See also information about the production (in Finnish) at Zodiak.