Pickup … Pornhub

A Physical Theatre Piece about Pornography and the Algorithm.

The realisation of this piece stands out through an expressive physical narration and immersive visual and auditive impressions. The personification of the Algorithm is playing a central part in that. The Algorithm will be shown in a virtual way, as an emotionless system, which is neither good, nor bad. The actors move through scenes, which discuss the effects of the Algorithm. E.g. particular gender-roles but also personal situations are representing the direct effect of Pornhub. Moving from one scenario to the next, they switch faces and roles, which leads to various and absurd moments. The goal here is to shed light on the interdependency between virtuality and reality. A specific element could be e.g. the visualization of clicks, views and traffic in connection with what happens on stage. Through the changeability of the characters on stage it is possible to play around with e.g. instilled gender-roles and their reversal.

What happens when the Algorithm’s influence is getting control over our behaviour? Are we just performing fuck-machines after all? What does it take to get people to critically question their porn-consumption? All of a sudden the Algorithm has an error – a hiccup, caused by an error in its code – and we suddenly see how human the makers of the Algorithm are. The course of events would be disturbed. Suddenly e.g. Daisyflowers appear on the screens of billions of people. Daisies entangled with each other, daisies rocking back and forth in the wind… and what if after a short period of irritation, the people start to dig it. People start masturbating to it. What does it take to critically question everything, when something as absurd as this, is not causing to free oneself from a remotely controlled sexual immaturity.

And what would it take for a programmer to care what he is programming? We want to question the moral integrity of a person who is denying having moral responsibility, because they are just doing statistics. It is all about to confront – and to ask the question what it takes in the end to question the power of the Algorithm and liberate one from it.