Shows

Be Arielle F

Subtitle Simon Senn │ Switzerland

Start Date: 07-06-2023 - 21:00
End Date: 07-06-2023 - 08:00Start Date: 08-06-2023 - 21:00
End Date: 08-06-2023 - 08:00

Theatre of the Society for Macedonian Studies
7 June and 8 June, 21:00

Be Arielle F
by Simon Senn
In this digital conference that doubles as a demonstration and confession, Simon Senn, a videographer and visual artist from Geneva, demonstrates how the virtual world and the real world are not always in opposition, revealing the unexpected entanglements between technology, representation, gender, and law. Simon Senn’s experience began when he bought the digital replica of a female body online. He then went in search of the woman whose body he was « virtually » inhabiting. Onstage he conveys this disturbing experience to the audience. After downloading the replica (a detailed and evidently accurate reproduction), he brought it to life with easily purchased sensors and discovered what it felt like to «have » a female body – at least through his 3D glasses. The experience was moving. Who is this woman? Can he do anything he likes with this digital body ? What about the new and enjoyable sensuality this virtual form offers him ? He managed to track down the young woman and begin a discussion with her (one that continues today), where together they investigate this third digital body that exists between them. Arielle is now part of the project and is present in the show. Simon Senn decided to consult a psychologist and explore his feelings of « gender disturbance », which continue to surprise him – does he perhaps suffer from « Snapchat dysmorphia », the clinically accepted psychological illness of those who wish to transform themselves in order to resemble their online image ?
ERIC VAUTRIN THÉÂTRE VIDY-LAUSANNE

Watch the trailer here.

Duration: 60'
Language: French
Surtitles: Greek / English

A discussion with the audience will be held after the first performance (07/06/2023).

Be Arielle F
With Simon Senn Arielle F. and a virtual body
Concept and direction: Simon Senn
Production: Compagnie Simon Senn
Coproduction: Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne Le Grütli, Centre de production et de diffusion des Arts vivants Théâtre du Loup Distribution and touring Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne
With the support of: Fondation suisse pour la culture Pro Helvetia Fondation Ernst Göhner Pour-cent culturel Migros Porosus Loterie Romande

A working version of the performance Be Arielle F came second at the PREMIO awards for encouraging performing arts, which was held on Saturday 18 May 2019 at the Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne
Creation January 2020

What can this body do? I bought a digital replica of a female body on the website www.3dscanstore. com for $12. The file contained a static, photorealistic representation in three dimensions of the naked body of a young woman. I used a free online tool to give her digital bones; this enabled me to get her moving. With the help of several Internet users around the world that I met online, I developed an immersive motion capture system. I bought a set of virtual reality equipment, including sensors, designed for playing video games. I positioned the sensors on my body, put on the virtual reality headset, and ‘became’ this young woman. I raise my hands, I look at them, and they’re her hands. I look downwards and my mind is fooled into thinking that I have the body of a woman. All the details of this body and skin are visible. I even catch myself thinking that it suits me. After this disturbing experience, I looked up the woman on social media by using the hashtag #3dscanstore. I discovered a selfie she had posted at the time the scan was done. I contacted her and suggested we meet. She accepted. I went to her home in England and filmed our meeting. We decided to call her Arielle. This encounter unsettled me, so I visited a psychologist and asked about the identity is[1]sues related to the perceptions of one’s own body. « Snapchat dysmorphia », the desire to surgically transform oneself to resemble filtered selfies, is today recognised as a clinical condition. I also queried a lawyer about the legal issues related to the use of this digital body. The discussion with Arielle continued. We talked about what her body could do. She got me doing things I would never have done without this new body-image, which in a way became mine. Alone onstage with this commonplace virtual reality technology and the tools that I bought throughout the project – and with Arielle joining in on Facetime and the third presence of her body that I move around – I’m here to explain the story.
SIMON SENN MAY 2019

Simon Senn
At first sight, Simon Senn’s work sometimes gives the impression that he is a socially engaged artist speaking out against a certain type of injustice. However, his work reveals a more ambiguous approach. Even though to a certain extent it is primarily based on reality, there is always a layer of fiction that is interposed. Simon Senn (born in 1986) lives in Geneva. He has completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the HEAD in Geneva (Haute école d’art et de design) and a Masters at Goldsmiths College in London. Simon Senn’s visual art is represented by Galerie Nicola Von Senger in Zurich, and his work L’hôtel des sapins is part of the Kunsthaus Zürich collection. He has exhibited at the Liverpool Biennial, the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, and the Kunstmuseum Bern, and has won several prizes including the Swiss Performance Art Award, Swiss Art Award, and the Kiefer Hablitzel Award