a performance by Magda Szpecht and NIVVA
Studies have shown that if the Internet were a country, it would be the seventh largest polluter in the world. Data storage infrastructure produces more than 2.1 million tons of carbon dioxide every day from burning fossil fuels. Conversations with the Open AI chatbot in January 2023 alone consumed enough electricity to run a city of 175,000 people. In the United States alone, data centers are cooled by 1.7 billion liters of water every day, 57 percent of which is a drinkable resource. Sending one email is emitting 5-6 grams of CO2 into the atmosphere. 10 GPT chat queries are equivalent to wasting half a liter of water. Every like and search term needs a technology that generates a carbon footprint the same size as the entire airline industry. According to scientists, this amount will double by 2025.
“Bliss” is a show in which analog theatre coexists with the world of 3D animation to explore the topic of digital ecology – the science of the relationships occurring at the intersection of virtual reality, the environment and society.
“Bliss” takes us near Silicon Valley, to a green hilltop in the Napa Valley of California. The landscape, known as the default wallpaper for WindowsXP, is here both the backdrop of events and a full-fledged protagonist of the story, which begins in the time of prehistoric megafauna, long before the appearance of man. Time, however, is a relative concept – in the next installment, reality much more closely resembles that of today, while the finale provides a glimpse into the distant future. Perhaps in hundreds of thousands of years the well-being of all life forms will be something as ordinary as breathing? Perhaps the boundaries between humans and other creatures, between the artificial and the natural, between the digital and the material worlds will be blurred?
Concept/directed by: Magda Szpecht
3D work, concept collaboration, video: NIVVA
Music: NIVVA
Dramaturgy: Olga Drygas
Dramaturgy consultations: Jan Horak
Assistant director/PL production: Michał Rogulski ÆFEKT
Produced by: Madla Horakova Zelenkova
Production of Studio Hrdinu x Festival Norma, ÆFEKT Productions and Pawilon Poznań.
Premiere @Norma Festival in Prague (Studio Hrdinu): 17.11.2024