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Open the curtains to the first SF performances put onstage by ACC.

In this summer of record-breaking heat, one could escape to the mountains, the sea, or cool valleys, but one could also seek out the ACC as a cool and comfortable destination. And just in time for the vacation period, the ACC has a special theater experience waiting for you. The ACC’s first SF Performance series, “Dignity Delegated” and “Near Human,” will be staged at the ACC Theater in July and August. How does the science fiction genre unfold on the theater stage, and how will it be different from its usual form in the movies and novels? This summer, ACC invites you to experience the world of science fiction theater like never before.

It’s the age of artificial intelligence (AI), and ChatGPT, which can have natural conversations with humans, answer questions, write novels and poems, and even do simple programming, is encroaching deeper and deeper into the realm thought to be exclusive to humans. As we look at AI evolving faster than we can imagine, we often ask ourselves this question: Will AI ever replace humans? Are there areas of human existence that can never be replaced by AI? Can human dignity be preserved in the age of AI? ACC’s first two SF performances, “Dignity Delegated” and “Near Human,” are based on these questions. They are created as artistic imaginations of humans living in the age of AI and contain philosophical reflections and questions about the nature of humanity. Both works were created and staged through the ACC Performance Residency program and will be presented at the ACC Theater for the first time this year.

“Dignity Delegated”: Can human dignity be protected in the age of AI?

“Dignity Delegated,” which premiered on July 12 and 13, is a story about artificial wombs and surrogacy in the future. In the not-too-distant future, it has become commonplace to have children through artificial wombs, and the wealthy and the privileged prefer surrogacy to artificial wombs. Alice, a young girl, enters the Royal Surrogacy Center to help her family and becomes a surrogate mother for a wealthy professional couple. The upper-class couple, who want to have a child through a surrogate mother, strive to find a better surrogate mother even when they realize that Alice is pregnant. This play shows the reality of capitalist logic and inequality of this era persisting into the age where AI rules everything through an experimental narrative. Through the life of Alice, a girl from the lowest class, audience members will explore the answers to questions such as “Is a version of human dignity that cannot be delegated to anyone else possible?” and “Are there things that money cannot buy or sell?”

“Dignity Delegated” began as a recital performance last year after being chosen for the National Asian Culture Center’s Performance Residency program before it was put onstage as a part of the ACC repertoire. It was written by Moon Jungyoun, a playwright who has created numerous works over her 20-year career, and her touch is evident in the concise, fast plot, abundant theatrical elements, and strong dramatic structure. Another appeal of this performance is the celebration of the art of acting put together by seven actors playing nearly 40 roles altogether. Director Choi Yeorim of “Dignity Delegated” says that she sought to bring the unique strength of stage plays, the interaction with audience members, to the fore without being too tied up in the confines of science fiction. Let’s hear more from Director Choi about the performance.

Q&A with Director Choi Yeorim of “Dignity Delegated”

• “Artificial womb” is such an interesting concept. What was the intent behind the concept?

  In “Dignity Delegated,” artificial wombs are a common method of childbirth that is taken for granted by the general public. Meanwhile, childbirth by surrogacy is an exclusive domain of the rich and the upper class. The future we captured in “Dignity Delegated” continues the global division of demand and supply based on economic power, the very same system that we find ourselves in today. Another continuity is the degree to which we accept and justify our desire to enrich our children through inheritance. What we wanted to examine through this work was the question, “Are these two things self-evident as we take them to be?”

• Was there any difficulty in directing science fiction as a genre on a stage, given the spatial and time limitations?

  In fact, I came to the idea that theater is perhaps the genre that has no bounds. Theater is, by its nature, based on interaction with the audience. Our starting point was to take an approach that reminded the audience members of the materials they were already familiar with so that we could create a stage that was completed by the audience members’ imagination. In theater, actors can portray anything human and nonhuman–young and old, animals and objects. They can also portray the ocean, the universe, the inside of someone’s head, or anywhere else. The beauty of theater is found in how you can bring the audience into that naturally.

• What reflections do you want to share with “Dignity Delegated”?

  I think of science fiction as a laboratory that allows you to maximize some specific aspect of reality. In our time, we often feel that the world is huge and the individual is small and powerless. I wanted to ask if we could be more dignified in a more advanced future than we are now, and what does it mean to be more advanced. In particular, when I think about the changes in the past and present, I think that if you look at women’s lives in general, there are both great changes and leaps and bounds side-by-side with stagnation and powerlessness. I also wanted to experiment with how this trend of change will change in the future, and I think that the futuristic act here is creating a universal human story centered on the narrative of a specific woman named Alice.

ACC SF Performance Series, the second story: “Near Human”

The second work in the ACC SF Performance Series is “Near Human,” a performance put onstage in conjunction with Jeongdong Theater. The script was developed through the 2022 ACC Performance Residency with the theme, “Post-COVID, Posthuman,” and it made its premiere in the Jeongdong Theater’s Cecil CREATing project this year. “Near Human” explores the idea of “AI novelist” and “artificial womb” in the posthuman age, and the director and the playwright behind the performance, Kim Su-hee, won the 2024 Baeksang Play Award in the Baeksang Arts Awards with her work “To My Son.”

As the title suggests, “Near Human” asks questions about how far artificial intelligence, which has reached the level of “near human,” will take over the realm of humanity and how humans will relate to nonhumans in that era. It also asks the question of whether one loses any aspect of humanity when one uses technology or whether those in such a state can be still called human. The stage is set in 2033, 10 years from now, and the main characters are Su-hyeon, a novelist who designs the AI novelist “Jia” and edits Jia’s works, and Jae-yeong, a ballerina who is persuaded by her husband to allow their child to be delivered through an artificial womb. As Jae-yeong prepares for the review of her possible admission into the Holder of Intangible Cultural Heritage program and as Su-hyeon prepares for her new work with an AI, they find themselves at a crossroads. Through the perspectives of the two female protagonists in the future, the audience is invited to consider the inevitable question of artists in this era: “How do I survive as an artist in the age of artificial intelligence?” Director Kim Su-hee says that as she worked on the performance, she lost her fear of losing her position as an artist because of the advent of technology and ended up gaining confidence.

Q&A with Director & Playwright Kim Su-hee of “Near Human”

• Do you think that AI can replace human artists?

  No. I applied for a residency at the National Asian Cultural Center in 2022, and for more than four months, I did a lot of experiments that spoke to the idea of an “AI artist.” I created a character with generative AI programs, experimented with various online sources, and controlled them remotely from different locations. I also took a writing class with the GPT-2 model. As I worked, I found that I had lost my fear of being replaced as an artist because of the advent of technology. I saw how AI-generated results and limitations according to inputs from Big Data and the designer, and I rediscovered the value of art through that.

• Did you have any special considerations as you prepared to direct an SF performance on the theater stage?

  I found the idea to be daunting, so I played it safe and set the work in the near future, only 10 years away from the present day. But that decision wasn’t entirely because of anxiety because I also hoped that audience members would find it more immersive and believable if we could present a vision of the near future that could come true, something that is predictable but goes beyond that with care. I wanted to express the social climate where human artists representing different art genres are selected as the “Holder of Intangible Cultural Heritage” program to protect them and where hysterectomy is taken for granted thanks to the development of artificial wombs.

• This work is based on futuristic imagination. What messages did you hope to deliver to the audience members of today?

  Su-hyeon, the novelist in “Near Human,” loses her position to an AI writer. Jae-yeong the ballerina works hard to become a protected artist, but the review is conducted by AI. The story of this work is the struggle of the two artists to survive in the changed landscape of art. That is not a concern limited to artists, you know. I’m sure that “Near Human” can bring the audience members to reflect on the nature of humanity from their positionality and context.

• Are there any points that you would like the audience members to keep in mind as they attend the performance?

  Well, I want to say: “Near Human” is super fun, so come and enjoy it with us! Let’s enjoy the performance, and let’s share a conversation. There’s a lot of conversations to be had in the performance. Under the grand theme of human chaos created by technological advancement, you find stories of love and envy, desire and frustration, giving up and not giving up. These are all stories of people living their lives. Come and join us in August. There’s no need to worry!

The first work in the ACC SF Performance Series, “Dignity Delegated”, was successfully staged on July 12 and 13. The second work, “Near Human,” will be staged on August 23 and 24. For more details about the performance, head to the ACC website (www.acc.go.kr). Through these performances, you will be able to enjoy both the thrill of ACC’s first foray into the genre of SF theater and an opportunity to reflect on what makes us human.