The Builders Association, dbox: Super Vision


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    Super Vision

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    “That’s not politics–it’s poetry. And it’s the quintessence of Super Vision, a work of theatrical alchemy in which ideas are turned into art by making them more beautiful.” _The Wall Street Journal, Terry Teachout, December 10, 2005

    “All three [stories] are beautifully acted by a superb live cast of six; and they carry overwhelming weight, in a civilization that’s shifting inexorably from the surface of Mother Earth into a digital universe we have barely begun to map.” _The Scotsman, May 27, 2006

    Super Vision explores the changing nature of our relationship to living in a post-private society where personal electronic information is constantly collected and distributed. Super Vision is collaboration between the New York-based performance and media ensemble The Builders Association, a company that exploits the  richness of contemporary technologies to extend the boundaries of theater, and dbox, a multidisciplinary studio whose work explores the intersection of visual arts and architecture through 3D digital media.

    Super Vision illustrates a multi-faceted, multi-layered narrative using the language and technologies of surveillance itself. The data in which every character is immersed both surrounds the story and serves as a “trail” through it. Even before we are born, our personal electronic data begins to accumulate and to circulate. From our first sonogram, to birth certificates, academic records, dental records, credit card purchases, passports, and emails – as we grow, our “data body” grows with us, and becomes an integral part of our identity. In the age of information, we have come to accept, allow, and depend upon this new identity. How do we relate to the growing cloud of data that surrounds us and others?

    In Super Vision, three stories collide on the edge of the datasphere. A solitary traveler is forced to reveal all of his personal information, until his identity becomes transparent, with no part of his life left outside the bounds of dataveillance. A young woman, addicted to the white noise of constant connection, maintains a long-distance relationship with her Grandmother. As she makes efforts to digitally archive her Grandmother’s past, the grandmother slips into senility. The young woman is left to discover what remains of her Grandmother’s life – and her own – outside the realm of data. A father covertly exploits his young son’s personal data to meet the demands of the family’s lifestyle. This ploy escalates beyond the father’s control, until he is compelled to disappear. His wife and son are left with a starkly diminished data portrait. thebuildersassociation.org/prod_supervision_info.html

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