-
On January 12, 2003, a 21-year-old male in Phoenix, Arizona (known online as "ripper") died of an overdose of prescription drugs while in an online chatroom. Over the course of more than an hour, numerous chatroom participants watched ripper's actions via webcam and chat - and did nothing to intervene.
[the art of deleting] is a theatrical adaptation of this young man's final hours. Scored for three singers and electronics by Dennis DeSantis, with a text adapted by Lydia Steier from the original chatlogs, the work explores how notions of social responsibility become distorted by the anonymity of the web.
[the art of deleting] will premiere at Stuttgart's AER Club, using the potentials of artificiality and obfuscation in a nightclub to parallel that of the internet. Far from being a dry cautionary tale, the performance, directed by Steier, features opulent costumes, go-go girls, video effects, bizarre figures and surreal scenic situations.
[the art of deleting] was commissioned in 2010 by the Staatsoper Stuttgart.
-
Author Archives: lydiasteier
Premiere day
It’s here. Tonight, [ a. o. D. ] will perform for the first time in front of a paying audience. I’ve been swinging between elation and blind panic since waking up in a pool of my own nervous sweat far … Continue reading
HPK/HPE down…
…now T minus four days until the premiere of [ the art of deleting ]. The HPK went relatively well, considering… I hadn’t fully realized what a TOTAL costume marathon this show is. Some thirty costumes packed into one hour, … Continue reading
For one Vuvuzela-free day…
[ a. o. D. ] opens in six days. Stuttgart is SWELTERING hot. When I first arrived in town to begin working on this project, I went grocery shopping with the full intention of beginning my life of Macrobiotic balance … Continue reading
Last run-through before the HPK…(HPE?)
Today’s run-through went quite well…we finally had more than two people to rub together in the audience, which was kind of fun. Makes me both really excited and sort of queasy about the idea of hundreds of people packed into … Continue reading