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In an age where so many things are becoming digital, one finds oneself faced with the unsettling realization of the algorithms’ seeming omniscience. Can we imagine a world without anything digital anymore? We spend more time facing the digital than the human, and with the infinite flood of information generated by algorithms, we lose many things without realizing that we have lost them. Our free will, conscious, our very thought. The greater issue is that we do not realize what is being taken away from us.

What unfolds in front of our eyes when we access digital devices? Digital devices were not a part of human life until quite recently. We were in nature before then.

Perhaps it is time to step away from the digital world and face the real world. Even further, perhaps it is time to imagine oneself being away from the digital world and being left alone in nature. Perhaps it is time to face the true self in solitude.

<Fantastic Theater> The Gobi: A new way to face the nature

2024’s <Fantastic Theater> presents an opportunity for the participants to step away from the flood of information in the digital world and experience the dignity of nature, the solitude of human nature, and face the true self. 

In the director’s notes, Director Shin Hyun-pil of this year’s <Fantastic Theater> described the intent behind the production as “awakening our senses of sight and hearing from the flood of information made biased by the digital society and the algorithms and listening to ourselves.” The theme of “Gobi” is inspired by his trip to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.

Then, let’s step into the <Fantastic Theater>.

Just as deserts block all outside information, the audience steps into the black box theater, which isolates them from their daily lives. There, they join the journey to find the true “me.” When one enters the black box theater, one finds that the floor is covered in white salt, reminiscent of the sands of the Gobi Desert. The performance begins with dancers on that field of salt.

As one follows the narrative in five parts, “Preset,” “The Sea of Algorithms,” “Vibration and Quicksand,” “Pilgrimage into the Starlit Desert,” and “The Sun Awakens,” one comes to experience the flow of human civilization, from its beginning to rapid technological advancements and the digital world, overlapping and collapsing into one. The entire space within the visual field of audience members is filled with media art, laser, lighting, and sounds, stimulating the senses and creating a spectacular experience.

Then, everything disappears and darkness comes. Sounds erupt out from the darkness. We then meet the stars trailing under the starlit sky. This is the time for us to explore our true selves, away from grand systems and algorithms. This is the time for us to log into the true world and listen to our hearts. This is the time we truly need for us right now.

New potentials and reinterpretations of the black box theater space

This year is the second year of the program <Fantastic Theater>, programmed by the ACC and first put on stage in 2023. This year’s itineration of <Fantastic Theater> is directed by Shin Hyun-pil, who created a convergent performance themed after the Gobi Desert in Mongolia and is created with ACC’s direct input. The ACC Stage Technology team in particular was responsible for realizing this performance’s vision using the physical space and resources in the ACC.

The ACC Theater 1 is the largest black box theater in Korea (and one of the largest in Asia as of March 14, 2024, according to a press release). Black box theaters allow the theater space to be transformed according to the needs of the space. Stage Technology Supervisor Lim Jong-min explains that this performance utilizes the elements of black box theaters to the fullest, such as lowering the stage to create a salt desert or elevating the stage to create hills or screens.

Most theater performances involve audience members watching the performance from a fixed position and perspective, but this performance allowed the audience members to sit or stand wherever they wanted, creating different perspectives for different audience members to experience the performance. Projection, laser pointing, lighting, and other techniques helped to expand the stage to the entire interior space so that the boundaries between the stage and the audience were blurred as well. This allows the audience members to go beyond merely watching the performance to experiencing the performance inside it.

This performance also utilized immersive sounds, which helped to expand its spatiality. About 60 speakers, hidden to the right- and left-hand sides of the stage, create a soundscape in all directions. This fills the space with the sounds, maximizing the audience members’ sense of space and immersion. Immersive sounds are part of an organic system connecting music, media art, lighting, laser, stage technology, and other stage elements.

Can we truly be separated from the digital?

Meanwhile, the fact that digital technology allows the audience members to take a step away from the digital world and face nature is quite ironic. An unsettling feeling emerges, saying that this is perhaps what is “natural” for us now.

As the director said, <Fantastic Theater> presents us with many questions as an attempt to explore the different ways in which one can meet nature in this flood of algorithms. What are the things that are truly being taken away from us?

After closing in March, additional performances of <Fantastic Theater> will be staged on August 2 and 3, so those who have missed the performance in March can return to Theater 1 in August.