chasing waterfalls is an opera project by phase7 performing.arts with the Semperoper Dresden and the New Vision Performing Arts Festival in Hong Kong as co-producers.

Together with composer and conductor Angus Lee (Hong Kong), the studio for sonic experiences kling klang klong (DEU) and T-Systems MMS (DEU), the artist collective embarks on a music-theatrical journey about the impact that AI and social media have on our lives. In the process of developing the work, in the composition and also during the performances, an AI is involved as a co-creating element in a so-called deep learning process and therefore becomes a co-author, co-composer and co-performer.

In addition to the AI as a co-creating "object", six singers and nine instrumentalists will interact musically and scenically with each other and explore the questions of what self-determination can look like in the digital age, what digital influences and changes the individual is exposed to, what proportion of our "conscious" decisions is actually the result of autonomous action, whether AI is capable of creativity and empathy, and to what extent our identity, perceived as unchanging, is not instead a fluid, multifaceted amorphous one. chasing waterfalls attempts to answer these questions through the portrayal of a woman confronted with her "digital twins", the personifications of her virtual alter egos, who make her not only recognise but also question herself.

The 90-minute opera will feature a fluid stage set that uses technology tools to visually represent the digital world. In combination with the adaptive processes of the AI system, a flowing scenography is created. The AI learns in each performance, reacts, designs and places itself on the same creative level as humans. The stage design reflects the concept of "Ego fluens". Real and digital waterfalls create the flowing space in which the audience and the performers face each other. Another central point of the opera is audience participation. For this, the audience can have their faces scanned in 3D before a performance. The image data is then used to generate a projection on stage that makes the AI visually visible and through which everyone in the audience can discover a part of themselves in the performance.

The premiere of chasing waterfalls will take place on 03 September 2022 at the Semperoper Dresden, the Asian premiere on 05 November 2022 at the HKNVAF.

Direction and staging: Sven Sören Beyer
Idea and concept: Sven Sören Beyer, Johann Casimir Eule, Christiane Neudecker
Composition: Angus Lee and kling klang klong
Development of the AI voice: kling klang klong with technical support from T-Systems MMS
Libretto: Christiane Neudecker

Dramaturgy: Johann Casimir Eule
Stage and costume design: Pedro Richter
Light design: Henning Schletter
Visuals: Frieder Weiss, Studio Eigengrau and ployz
Production management: Natascha Wesiak and Miriam Schmitt

Press enquiries to: press@phase7.de

Further enquiries about the project to: info@phase7.de