Shadows of Tomorrow

Shadows of Tomorrow is a reworking of Ingri Fiksdal’s production BAND from 2012. With Shadows of Tomorrow Fiksdal wants to create the immersive experience of a psychedelic concert, but only through moving bodies and light. There is no music to be heard. The work investigates the potential for kinesthetic transference between performers and audience, and the latent contamination in mass-movement. The performance lends its title from a track on the Madvillain album Madvillainy by Madlib and MF Doom, who are key figures within the genre of psychedelic hip-hop. Psychedelic hip-hop is characterized by complex sample-based beats, often obscure material, and abstract lyrics filled with unconventional references. Shadows of Tomorrow is originally a Sun Ra poem, and the Madvillain track also samples the cosmic head-trip of a Sun Ra movie Space is the Place from 1974. The performance Shadows of Tomorrow draws from psychedelic hip-hop in its choreographic material and composition. Multiple beats move through and between the bodies in space to create numerous rhythmical layers. The light design acts as an intensifier of the experience and creates additional movement and rhythm through the play with multi-colored shadows on all four walls of the performance space. Whilst BAND was created for four performers in a black box space with a seated audience and a 50-minute duration, Shadows of Tomorrow is a durational performance designed for a white cube space and will feature 20 performers. All four walls of the space will be lit and serve as a shadow-backdrop to the ongoing choreography. The audience can come and go as they please, and sit or stand anywhere in the space. They can also move between or pass by the group of performers, and in this sense take part in the creation of the shadow play. This video is an extract of the material, which will be used and structured differently in different settings