Eingeweide
Keywords
tanztheater, body art, sound art, artificial intelligence, bioart
Format
Evening-length piece for two performers, machine and biomaterials
Duration
40 minutes
Media
Artificially intelligent facial prosthesis, adaptive neural networks, biosensors, biomaterials, LED light, computer-processed sound, multi-channel sound diffusion, coarse salt, fake animal skins
World Premiere
4-5 October 2018, Romaeuropa Festival, Rome
What does it mean to create a truly autonomous machine, independent from human control? And what happens when organs live outside of a body? Perhaps the human body’s only real power is to take on ever changing forms and identities.
Eingeweide is the staging of a ritual of coalescence. Inhabiting a desolated, surreal landscape, two human bodies become violently entangled with an artificially intelligent (AI) prosthesis, out-of-body organs, relics from computer server farms and animal remains.
The prosthesis uses AI algorithms to learn in real time how to move, exist and perform on stage. The organs pulsate, leak and crawl on the floor, bearing traces of the microbial cultures which created them. Sounds from the performers’ muscular activity are amplified and transformed by AI algorithms into a powerful and visceral auditive experience, submerging the spectators.
The performers’ bodies become, thus, one and multiple, at times asserting, at times misplaced. They are the means of a drastic form of bodily experimentation, where alternate identities emerge from the convergence of human, machine and micro-organisms. In such a configuration, each element drastically affects the other. Physicality and psyche are meshed up, shaken and probed.
A far cry from trans-humanist ideals or techno-phobic claims, Eingeweide creates its own vocabulary of symbolic meaning, manifesting the relationship between humans, technology and living-others as a harsh, poetic and humbling form of intimacy.
Eingeweide is part of the 7 Configurations cycle (2014-2019), a series on the conflicts surrounding the human body in the era of artificial intelligence (AI).
Reviews
“So beautiful and deeply disturbing, a true manifest for the adventures of creation and a massive stimulation for our curiosity as we should always remember, there are no borders, neither for our body nor for our mind.”
Thomas Venker, Kaput Mag
“Profoundly moving, at the same time unsettling, in any case intense and marrow-shaking.”
Katharina Seidler, Radio FM4, ORF
“Worth seeing because it’s hard to look at.”
Amira Ben Saoud, Der Standard Kultur
“Two naked bodies, sound cuffs on the thighs. They are knotted together, is it copulation or a single being? A tentacle grows out, it’s surreal, one’s own senses are meaningless. Fantastic, a spectacle.”
Christian Pichler, Volksblatt
“An all-encompassing enveloping experience, powerful, visceral and therefore, also disquieting.”
Francesca Bernabini, Danzaeffebi
Credits
Eingeweide – performance
Concept: Marco Donnarumma
Artistic direction: Marco Donnarumma, Margherita Pevere
Dramaturgy, choreography: Marco Donnarumma, Margherita Pevere
Performers: Marco Donnarumma, Margherita Pevere
Music composition, interaction programming: Marco Donnarumma
Stage design: Marco Donnarumma, Margherita Pevere
Light design: Andrea Familari
Performer’s biofilm mask: Margherita Pevere
Physiological computing software and hardware: Marco Donnarumma
Artwork’s description texts: Marco Donnarumma
Photography: Manuel Vason
Live photography: Giovanni De Angelis, Nada Zgank
Video trailer: Marco Donnarumma
Production management: Kotryna Slapsinskaite (2022-2025), Rene Dombrowski (2019-2020), Claudia Dorfmueller (2018-2019)
Eingeweide and Rei are part of the 7 Configurations cycle, ideated and produced by Donnarumma. Eingeweide is co-directed by Donnarumma and Margherita Pevere, and commissioned by CTM Festival (DE). Realised as part of Donnarumma’s Fellowship at the Graduiertenschule, Berlin University of the Arts funded by Einstein Stiftung.
~
Rei – Robot
Created for the performance Eingeweide by Marco Donnarumma and Margherita Pevere
Performance concept, robotic behaviour, engineering, manufacturing, AI programming: Marco Donnarumma
Design, design concept and fabrication of the robotic prosthesis: Ana Rajcevic
Biofilm skin: Margherita Pevere
3D modelling, 3D printing, engineering support: Christian Schmidts
Neurorobotics scientific advice, behavioural design framework: Prof. Manfred Hild
Scientific support: Neurorobotics Research Lab, Beuth Hochschule, Berlin
Mentoring: Alberto de Campo
Realised as part of Donnarumma’s Fellowship at the Graduiertenschule, Berlin University of the Arts funded by Einstein Stiftung.
Awards
2018, Romaeuropa Festival (IT)
Digitalive Award (Best performance in category)
Past Shows
Teatr Witkacy
Zakopane, PL, 2025
Meta.Morf Biennale
K.U.K., Trondheim, NO, 2024
Fronte Vacuo presents: Eingeweide
Acker Stadt Palast, Berlin, DE, 2023
Volkstheater Wien / CIVA Festival
Volkstheater Main Stage, Vienna, AT, 2022
Kapelica Gallery | European ARTificial Intelligence Lab
Starna Elektrarna, Ljubljana, SL, 2021
Donaufestival
Triple bill, Krems an der Donau, AT, 2021
Art + Science Meetings | Beyond Borders
Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdansk, PL, 2019
Nemo Biennale + HeK Basel
Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris, FR, 2019
Politik der Algoritmen
Muenchner Kammerspiele, Munich, DE, 2019
Arte Anarchia
MACRO Asilo, Rome, IT, 2019
Meta Marathon
NRW-Forum, Düsseldorf, DE, 2019
Frankenstein Symposium
Natlab, Eindhoven, NL, 2018
World Premiere, Romaeuropa Festival
Pelanda Theater, Rome, IT, 2018
Excerpt, Ars Electronica
Postcity, Linz, AT, 2018
Public preview, CTM Festival “Turmoil”
HAU2, Berlin, DE, 2018