Pondering a future of machine self-awareness, as it reflects on humanity.

If machines could talk, what might they say of humans – their makers? Genevieve Chua’s new work Wilful Machine imagines and brings that to life, using a combination of architecture, multimedia and dance, as it premiered at the Singapore International Festival of Arts 2024.

Situated at Artspace @ Helutrans at Tanjong Pagar Distripark, audiences are greeted by a massive architectural structure – held up by metal scaffolding, it seems to form a labyrinth of red gauze, with the audience needing to navigating their way around and into its centre to witness the performance, essentially traveling to the heart of this machine. Audiences are seated in a single row on either side of the long side of the rectangular performance space, located between two pillars.

As the performance begins, three dancers emerge from the wings, entirely clothed in red. One begins to think of how the red might symbolise blood, echoing the red of the structure, imagining that the ‘wilful machine’ itself we’re inside has gained sentience and life. Focused on ideas of shape, contact, and form, screens behind the audience display various looping animations by Genevieve, presenting different representations of machinery and what might make them tick.

On each of the pillars, we see a rotating column, similar to a thickened strand of DNA, representing a visual manifestation of the machine’s consciousness. The two are in conversation, speaking and pondering over what humans are like, their voices disembodied, reflective, perhaps having gone so far beyond what we’ve ever imagined that humans have become a mere speck in their ‘minds’, a form of entertainment or curiosity. Yet even as superior life forms, they seem to want to understand humans, attempting to conceptualise them and perhaps even reach out.

All the while, the dancers are performing, often synced up with each other as they move in tandem with the animations – how different are we from machines really, with the way we’re biologically programmes, and how much can machines ‘feel’ compared to us? The dancers never display any emotion, merely performing as they have choreographed, perhaps also representing the machines’ own meandering thoughts, as they struggle to establish themselves as distinctly human, separate from the machine.

Occupying a space between performance and installation, Wilful Machine at times feels less purposeful than incidental, a work that aims to contemplate and mull rather than break new ground. Often, the words spoken are fast-paced, fleeting and momentary, and it can be difficult to absorb all these stream-of-conscious ideas that flow throughout the show, and one eventually chooses to simply go along with the general abstract atmosphere, rather than necessarily drawing a specific message it might be trying to achieve.

To that end, Wilful Machine then is lacking in direction, more concerned with capturing a specific idea that isn’t given too much wriggle room to explore, and ends up a curious, wandering chain of thoughts. As a visual artist, Wilful Machine stretches Genevieve Chua’s practice and gives her an opportunity to explore new fields and mediums, going from illustration to entire architectural structures, writing, music and multimedia. We end without any particularly poignant new thoughts by the end of it, but are at least appreciative of the aesthetics and overall future-looking main ideas it encapsulates, and are left wondering what indeed lies at the heart of our AI future, assuming it even has one.

Wilful Machine played from 23rd to 25th May 2024 at Artspace @ Helutrans as part of Singapore International Festival of Arts 2024. More information available here

SIFA 2024: They Declare ran from 17th May to 2nd June 2024 across various venues. Full programme available here

Production Credits:

Writer & Director Genevieve Chua Spatial Design Studio Wills + Architects Lighting Design Andy Lim Lighting Associate Ian Tan Multimedia Genevieve Chua Video Edit Natalie Soh Movement Devised and Performed by Joan Dwiartanto, Sudhee Liao, Phiz Nasrudin, Leo Yee Technical Installation ARTFACTORY AV Technicians Heider Hasbi Producer Alexandre Thio Stage Manager Marilyn Ang Assistant Stage Manager Vivi Agustina Rehearsal Stage Managers Deena Shaqinah, Beverly Liang Crew Ali Bin Mazrin, Elias Oh