Festival DanseRom presents
Deus ex Machina
by Butoh Encounters
Saturday 21 March at 13:00
Cornerteateret, Bergen
Deus ex Machina is a family performance inspired by the absurd and surreal universe of NRK’s cult TV series “Pompel and Pilt” (1969). The performance takes children and adults into a scenic world shaped by abstract humour, playful logic, and an aesthetic drawn from VR and gaming culture combined with retro black-and-white scenography. Through the use of exoskeletons and laser effects, a universe is created that challenges the audience through the absurd and the intangible – an experience that stimulates the imagination of younger audiences while evoking nostalgic associations for adults.
Butoh Encounters is an Oslo-based platform led by choreographer Karolina Bieszczad-Stie, who holds a PhD in performing arts from Brunel University, London. The platform was established in 2017 and develops performative collaborative projects at the intersection of dance, science and new technology. Through experimental projects such as Microchoreography (in collaboration with the Centre for Cancer Cell Reprogramming at the University of Oslo), Limit(less) (a human–robot duet developed with KUKA Robotics and SINTEF), and The Woman Who Married a Shrimp (combined with blockchain technology), Butoh Encounters explores the body as biological, non-biological, hybrid and temporary.