REPLIKA 2052 A.D.: everyone has two personas. One private and the other digital. To keep their family together, Oscar and his sister Arianna find themselves in a hybrid reality, half real and half digital.
REPLIKA 2052 A.D. – You shall persist to subsist, even when you no longer subsist. Be primed to encounter your authentic virtual essence.
Arianna, born in 2025, lives in a flat that takes care of her to allow her to increase her work efficiency: her data is constantly monitored and serves as a basis for activity and nutrition proposals. She works as a graphic designer for the metaverse Utòpia. Meetings with her brother Oscar, a musician and computer scientist who visits her daily as an avatar, are vital to her. Until one day, a terrible doubt arises in her mind…
It’s a show that touched me deeply, that scared me. It’s a wake-up call. Let’s become human again and have the courage to show our vulnerabilities and let ourselves be surprised. But never by a diabolical machine invented by us! We deceive ourselves that it is our ally but will soon be our enemy. It will kill us! It’s a show that I would like to watch again and will recommend to my friends. Beatrice L.
We are in 2052., almost thirty years from now. Our imprint on the increasingly present and complex internet has grown exponentially. The details of our “phigital” (physical and digital) life, recorded through digital assistants, computers, phones, watches, smart glasses, and other devices, and reflected in the universe of the network, form our digital shadow, a person. In REPLIKA year 2052, we combine this data scattered on various clouds and computers to allow the recreation of human existence through a three-dimensional avatar composed of our memories recorded in the network of networks.
A visionary show set in the future, discussing the future and the existing technologies. It’s aimed at people of all generations and ages, posing questions on themes always present in human history: life and death.
Lorena
Computers and robots will be able to understand humans and their world, expressions, moods, and inner life and respond to them increasingly intelligently and truthfully. They are transforming from work tools into partners that not only advise humans in fields such as medicine and science, but increasingly enter our intimacy, knowing us better than we can know ourselves.
Today, an enormous amount of our data is stored on the internet: our phones continuously record our location, the faces in the photos we take are analysed and recognized, and digital assistants incessantly listen to our conversations day and night, analyse them, and archive them. Our watches continuously record our most personal data: heart rate, movement, breathing rate, body temperature, and blood oxygen saturation are collected and analysed, indicating our stress level, sleep quality, and menstrual cycle. Our scales send not only our weight to the cloud but also our muscle mass and bone weight.
A touching projection of the future. Exceptional representation, in which one is carried, from beginning to end, in a whirlwind of emotions, which makes one reflect. Realistic set design, plain text, and engaging actors. In addition, the real added value was watching from the stage, which made the emotions more intense, as if I were the protagonist.
Gabriele B.
Through more or less simple algorithms, the systems behind social media can, in a few steps, define our annual income, our political, social, religious, and cultural beliefs, and see not only our gender but also our sexual preferences. Music portals have a clear imprint on our tastes. Online bookshops know with clarity our intellectual and cultural level, and not only that: they also record in real time which book we are reading at the moment and at what speed. Add the details of our online purchases and financial data from banks and insurance companies to this picture, and you will have a precise and deep image of our persona.
This is today. The REPLIKA of each of us is under development.
REPLIKA 2052 A.D.
Third Chapter of the TOTENTANZ Trilogy
ACTORS: Patrizia Barbuiani, Alessandra Francolini, Edoardo Groppler, Luca Massaroli
INTERACTION DESIGNER: Sandro Pianetti
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: Elisabetta Preite
TEXT AND DRAMATURGY: Patrizia Barbuiani
CONCEPT, TEXT AND DIRECTING: Markus Zohner
Markus Zohner Arts Company +41796202362 supernova@zohner.com Instagram: @zohnerarts
PRODUCED BY Associazione artsitica PETRUSKA petruska.ch associazione@petruska.ch
REPLIKA 2052 A.D. is funded by:
World Première: 18 November 2022, Teatro Foce, Lugano, Switzerland | Website | Concept, script and direction by Markus Zohner | Texts and dramaturgy by: Patrizia Barbuiani | Cast: Patrizia Barbuiani, Alessandra Francolini, Luca Massaroli, Edoardo Groppler | Interaction and Lightning designer: Sandro Pianetti | Costumes: Valentina Forbicetti | Makeup: Ian Barbuiani | Production Assistant: Elisabetta Preite | Audiovisual concept: Patrick Botticchio | Sound design, Studio and Equipment: Radio Petruska | Production: Associazione artistica PETRUSKA for Markus Zohner Arts Company | Language: Italian and English
REPLIKA 2052 A.D. (TOTENTANZ III)
With the new show REPLIKA 2052 A.D., the Markus Zohner Arts Company projects its theatrical research into a nearby future. We find ourselves in 2052, thirty years from now. We gather scattered data from various clouds and computers to allow for the recreation of human existence through a three-dimensional avatar, composed of our memories recorded in the network of networks.