New dance work by SAL explores the uneasy fusion of flesh and metal in the age of artificial empathy
As artificial intelligence grows more fluent in empathy -- fielding questions at 3 a.m., dispensing comfort on demand -- some artists are beginning to wonder whether humans, by contrast, are becoming mechanical.
That unease animates “X,” the latest work by SAL (Subverted Anatomical Landscape), the boundary-pushing contemporary dance company led by artistic director and choreographer Bae Jin-ho.
Premiering March 19-22, as part of this year’s ARKO Selection, the piece explores a world in which metal and flesh fuse into an inseparable hybrid, and where the emotional circuitry of humans and machines begins to blur.
“I consider myself someone full of love,” Bae said at a press conference on Tuesday. “But at some point, as I went about my daily life, I found myself tucking that love deep inside and becoming more defensive toward others. I began to ask why.”
His answer, at least in part, lies in the increasingly intimate presence of AI in our lives.
“We’re living in a time when AI forms very close relationships with humans,” he said. “Watching people become more mechanical while machines try to comfort us left me confused, and I wanted to explore this situation in dance.”
Bae described the piece as an exploration of “the provocative and unfamiliar situations that arise when those borders collapse.” The choreographer does not offer tidy answers. Instead, he stages transformation itself as unsettling, intimate and at times disquietingly seductive.
Now in its sixth year, SAL has built a reputation for audacious works that probe sexuality and the body, earning the troupe an adults-only label in Korea’s dance scene. This production is recommended for audiences aged 13 and above.
The company has also drawn attention after dancer Choi Ho-jong, winner of “Stage Fighter” and a former principal dancer with the National Dance Company of Korea, joined SAL after leaving the state-run troupe.
“X” is among six works selected this year by ARKO Selection, a flagship Arts Council Korea program that supports new productions across theater, musicals, dance, music, opera and traditional arts. From January through March, the Arts Council introduced 34 selected works.
The final and fifth batch of the lineup, running in March, includes “The Child Who Came with Spring,” a traditional arts piece that blends talchum mask dance with a coming-of-age journey across four seasons; “Deciding Set,” a play centered on a girls’ high school volleyball team; “Haenyeo Yeonsim,” which traces the life of a Jeju woman diver who relocated to Osaka, Japan, in the wake of the April 3 Jeju uprising; “Adult Film,” a dance work capturing subtle emotional tremors in ordinary adults; and “Four Pieces for Orchestra,” a new composition by composer Choi Jin-seok structured in four movements -- waves, darkness, light and wind.
hwangdh@heraldcorp.com
