MUTEK 2024 | Myriam Bleau & Nien Tzu Weng Explore Transhumanity

How can transhumanism become the future of humankind? Is it possible to reconcile man and machine? Is the post-technological apocalypse at hand? Are we being surpassed by artificial intelligence?

For as long as mankind has existed, humans have constantly sought to develop tools to facilitate their daily tasks, solve their problems, cure their illnesses or increase their comfort. From Leonardo da Vinci’s sketches of flying machines heralding the development of aviation to Badi al-Zaman Abu al-Izz Ismail ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari’s automata, people are constantly imagining new technologies as if they were going to spare them death.

Canada’s Myriam Bleau and Taiwan’s Nien Tzu Weng created a breathtaking performance on Friday, blending a variety of parameters. Originality, extrasensory sensations and questioning were the order of the day for the opening of the A/Visions 1 series presented at Théâtre Maisonneuve.

On stage, a duo of chimeras converse about “estres de raison”. A chaotic, orchestrated debate on the imagination of the mind, our terrors, our monsters, our hopes and the illusion of the real and the abstract. The hybrid characters – human body and digital face – unfolded on stage in correlation with giant LED screens, reflecting powerful, jerky flashes of light.

The musical composition perfectly conveyed the torpor of these fragile yet powerful beings, without neglecting their gradual transformation into fictional entities. This imaginary script was framed by successive blasts of invasive glitch modular sound, penetrating the Théâtre Maisonneuve with a terrifying roar.

The Montrealer is known for her performances of gestural electronic music, audiovisual interfaces, installations and interactive devices that articulate sound, light, movement and symbols.

Her sidekick explores the interaction between movement and multimedia, oscillating between reality and fantasy. Internationally acclaimed, her performances have been presented at the Node Digital Festival, the Biennale Némo and Ars Electronica, among others. Weng is co-founder of the Double Fantasy collective and a participant in Le PARC chez Milieux, supported by the CCOV, and is artist-in-residence at the Topological Media Lab, where she continues her research into presence and interactivity in contemporary interdisciplinary art.

Composer, digital artist and performer Myriam Bleau and multimedia artist Nien-Tzu Weng have achieved a high quality of work with their on-stage device. Combining their respective strengths, their innovative and avant-garde post-theatrical piece more than dazzled the Mutek audience.

Photo credit: Bruno Destombes