TANDEM: Antigone, 2024
Performance｜Moving Image｜Manifesto｜AI and Interactive Art
As a groundbreaking theatrical experiment, TANDEM is an adaptation of the ancient Greek classic Antigone. Its name, derived from the concept of collaboration or synchronization between two entities and New Materialism, symbolizes the co-creation between technology and human experience. Guided by Anchoring Theory, the production leverages the randomness of audience visual focus to disrupt traditional narrative power structures. By integrating eye-tracking devices with AI-driven real-time text generation, it allows audiences to intervene in live performances, breaking conventional performer-audience dynamics and creating an open, ever-changing symbiotic narrative space.
TANDEM: Antigone (theater performance), Bianli Ming Space, Nanjing, China, October 9, 2024
TANDEM: Antigone (theater performance), Bianli Ming Space, Nanjing, China, October 9, 2024
Drawing inspiration from the participatory nature of Augusto Boal’s Forum Theatre, TANDEM attempts to set up audience interventions as subtle, internalised interactions rather than explicit actions through eye-tracking devices and artificial intelligence technology, before translating such unconscious micro-decisions into macro-level narrative impact. This integration of technology is not merely a mechanistic application of tools but a redefinition of the relationship between humans and technology. Within a fluid and multi-layered performance ecology, technology acts as a dynamic co-creator of the narrative, working symbiotically with humans.
I aim to explore the diverse application of the ‘anchoring effect’ in theater through TANDEM. The choice of the ancient Greek classic Antigone as the basis for this adaptation stems from its intense dramatic conflict and multidimensional cognitive biases. In TANDEM, the audience’s visual focus is tracked in real time through eye-tracking devices, serving as dynamic anchors for the narrative. Each random gaze point may trigger changes in the generated text, recontextualizing dialogue and performance. This randomness disrupts the traditional authority structure and linear narrative rules of theater, creating endless possibilities.
Different branches generated by chatgpt’s api after anchoring (randomised experiment)
01: MANIFESTO
Script stays true to the Greek original Antigone but condenses plots into three acts. It focuses on the core conflict between Antigone, Creon, and Haemon. Direct confrontations drive emotional and ideological tension, making it easier for ChatGPT to identify anchors.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rz9GKu4Yp1-G4gFNfSw6hWxf2JyzdhVqt7vlcNM67gk/edit?usp=sharing
02: INTERACTION DESIGN
AI-Enhanced Visual System (using YOLO, GPT API, MediaPipe, and Eye-Tracking), 2024
03: MOVING IMAGE
TANDEM: Antigone, 02min45sec, HD 1920×1080, 2024
TANDEM: Antigone (theater performance), Bianli Ming Space, Nanjing, China, October 9, 2024