Genesis| About

Idea and Background

Genesis handles the autonomy of oneself and negates it in equal measure by setting the control instances. This creates an ambivalence that on the one hand questions the perception of reality, the creation and organisation of one's own world, as well as the concept of truth.

Controlling another human being opens up questions that circulate around virtuality, computer games, hierarchies, surveillance control and the independence of human beings. In an analogous way, the setting is generating the topics of physical alienation, avatars and virtual reality. In addition to the components of distance and the artificiality of communication, it rises the possibility of emerging empathy, cooperation and loving moments between the visitors and their avatars. Communication can lead from sober instruction to a familiar togetherness, from getting to know someone to an abuse of power. The spectrum of actions can be monoton, exciting, constructive or destructive. Genesis wants to reflect this diversity.

Genesis is an experiment, which takes place over seven days, in which the audience participate, according to their own ideas, in creating an environment, a community, a world. Genesis is a social simulation that unites in itself, ideology and criticism. Thereby virtual communication, the freest possible setting, its social components can transform into one another. The project starts in an empty industrial hall. The empty space can continuously be transformed and cropped with the help of a contingent of material. Through the participants’ selection of material the setting is continuously developed and redesigned over the time of seven days. The audience is invited to create the space according to their own imaginations.

Each participation leaves a trace - the sum of these changes and interactions will make up the entity of the work. The entirety is characterized by the personal experience of the individual as well as by the documentation of the entire process.

Press Material

Images (Download Zip-File, 311 MB)
Project Description - EN (Download PDF, 1,4 MB)
Project Description - DE (Download PDF, 1,4 MB)
Videoclips (Download Zip-File, 100 MB)
Genesis Trailer on YouTube

Press Contact / Tickets

There are reserved tickets for press. Get in contact through press@virtual-genesis.net for a slot. Please be aware that using a ticket means you will have to participate for one hour too. There are no spectator tickets.

Credits

  • Alexander Schubert - Concept, Room, Artistic Head
  • Heinrich Horwitz - Dramaturgy, artistic assistance
  • Carl-John Hoffmann - Video, artistic assistance
  • Performers - Carola Schaal, Yana Eva Thönnes, Max Pross, Fabian Oehl
  • Set Design - Lisa Clemen, Juliette Krauss, Julian Sippel
  • Jacob Sello - Arm Interface
  • Luca Befera - Transcription and ethnographic protocol
  • UI + UX - Christoph Lohse (Büro für Exakte Ästhetik)
  • Webdevelopment - Dominic Osterried
  • Documentation - Gerhard Kühne, Christian Frank, Kai Lietzke, Cedric Johanson

Partners and Collaborations

  • Internationales Musikfest Hamburg 2020
  • Commissioned by Elbphilharmonie Hamburg 2020
  • Decoder Ensemble
  • Kraftwerk Bille
  • Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg
  • A MAZE (Media Partner)

Impressum

  • Alexander Schubert, c/o HfMT Hamburg, Harvestehuder Weg 12, 20148 Hamburg

Datenschutzerklärung

  • The online player agrees to use the microphone which will be transmitted to the game setting and is recorded anonymously for documentation. The email is stored temporarily for sending out the ticket slots. Beyond this no data will be used in different ways or be stored additionally.