Strange Stranger

Strange Stranger is a performance and interactive public installation that investigates the idea of presence and the right to be forgotten in the digital age.

Alexander Whitley has received significant attention for his past works that have investigated the impact of technology, such as artificial intelligence, on contemporary human experience and his groundbreaking use of interactive technology to redefine the parameters of choreography.

For this new work commissioned by Sadler’s Wells Theatre and York Mediale, Alexander collaborated with Dutch light installation artists Children of the Light (renowned for their stunning lighting designs and scenography for Nicolas Jaar), British composer Beatrice Dillon and Italian creative technologists, Luca Biada and Michele Panegrossi of FENYCE Workspace.

Drawing upon the notion of a 'data shadow’, the digital profile formed from the traces of information we unintentionally leave behind through our routine interaction with technology, Strange Stranger explores the paradox of how, the more information we have access to, the stranger and more incomprehensible the world seems. It questions the idea of presence in the information age, considering the growing divide between the spaces in which our bodies are situated and the places in which we are active, asking: How can you be present but not here? How can you be here but not present?

Age suitability: 5 years + (ages 11 and under with adult supervision only)