German premiere: Alexander Whitley Dance Company (UK) »Overflow«

Alexander Whitley's new work »Overflow« is a compelling and timely exploration of the human condition in the era of big data, when personal information is used to predict our actions and human behavior has become the most prized raw material of the economy.

For the second time the London dance house Sadler's Wells Theatre commissions Alexander Whitley with a complete work: »Overflow«. The first production »8 Minutes«, in which Alexander Whitley dealt with the influence of technology on contemporary human experience, was already a complete success.

Alexander Whitley laid the groundwork for Overflow in his interactive performance installation »Stranger Stranger«, which was designed for galleries and spaces outside the theater. Overflow explores life in the age of Big Data, and asks how the quest to transform everything into data and information affects human subjectivity. The Internet, originally celebrated as a medium of boundless freedom, has become a mass surveillance project in which the compulsive exchange of experience means voluntary participation in our own exploitation. Behavioral data obtained from human experience is today the most important asset in our communication system. Capturing every »like« to predict our behavior is an effective system for avoiding an open future.

Overflow will be premiered on November 8, 2019 at Dance East in Ipswich, England, before »TANZ Karlsruhe« presents its German premiere at the ZKM Media Theater | Zentrum für Kunst und Medien Karlsruhe.

Duration: ca 60 min

Project Team
Artistic director and choreographer:            Alexander Whitley
Music:                                                          Ryan Lee West (Rival Consoles)
Light Sculpture:                                           Children of the Light
Creative Technology:                                   Luca Biada / Fenyce Workspace
Lighting Design:                                          Guy Hoare
Costume Design:                                         Ana Rajcevic
Dramaturgy:                                                Sasha Milavic Davies