The Woman Who Married a Shrimp
The project has its own website where you can buy tickets & NFTs, and get more information.
(... coming soon...)
Premiere: 15th March 2024 at Grusomhetens Teater in Oslo & worldwide online
The project confronts the permanent and immutable nature of blockchain technology with the ephemeral nature of a dance performance rooted in the unique physical connection between a dancer and the audience. We experiment with inverting the principles of these realms by encoding a temporary and transformative movement into a series of non-fungible tokens (NFT), and creating a choreography driven by the idea of collecting.
The dance performance unfolds simultaneously in real life (IRL) on a theatre stage and online via livestream. Both audiences are gathered for the modern-day "wisdom exchange" that used to happen around a campfire and now takes place between physical and digital dimensions. Inspired by the Inuit myth with the same name, in which magical and human realms intertwine, the performance creates a channel of communication between viewers in the theatre and online, allowing them to explore together the various tensions, negotiations and risks of bridging the physical and digital spaces. Both audiences are invited to participate - on their own premises - in a collaborative ritual of gathering a myth.
The balance between the ephemeral experience and a collectible gesture provides the context for exploring the cultural significance of the Inuit myth in today's world. The concepts of blockchain technology and dance choreography hold up a mirror to both audiences: What will you see when these two worlds collide and intersect?
The Inuit myth:
The myth tells the story of a beautiful woman who had no desire to marry. But one day her parents made a startling discovery: she had indeed married... a shrimp... The shrimp remained invisible to everyone except the woman, and the only sign of its presence was the strange laughter behind the curtain where the woman and the shrimp slept.
To the woman's parents, the shrimp seemed like a useless husband who could not support his family. However, when the village went through hard times, the shrimp, which took human form, showed remarkable fishing skills and provided for the whole household.
The woman, the shrimp and their two children lived happily, but the mother's curiosity about the invisible son-in-law remained unsatisfied. One night, the old woman secretly peeked through a hole in the curtain that separated the bedrooms of the two generations, to see the shrimp. The shrimp turned out to be so ugly that the mother-in-law died on the spot.
NFTs & IRL:
The NFT transactions can directly affect the stage performance. The moment an online audience member purchases an NFT, Azumaru will act out the choreography associated with that specific NFT. This action mirrors the "act of looking through the hole" from the Inuit myth, which allows us to cross a threshold and gain insight into a hidden world.
The performance may last between 45 and 60 minutes, depending on how many NFT transactions are made during the show. You do not need to have an understanding of NFTs or be an active user of blockchain to fully enjoy the stage performance. As an audience member in the theatre, you are not allowed to make NFT transactions during the live show. However, you may purchase the NFTs as a collectible before or after the show, or you can be an online participant on another day that the show runs.
Concept and choreography: Karolina Bieszczad-Stie
Dancer: Azumaru
Full-stack tech engineer: Eric Bieszczad-Stie
Music composer: Simen Korsmo-Robertsen
Digital artist: Damien Serban
Costume and stage designer: Zofia Jakubiec
Lighting designer and cinematographer: Stein Stie
Dramaturgical adviser: Thomas Schaupp
Web-content editor and production assistant: Aleksandra Piotrowska
Consultants: Jan Christensen, Yassiek Stochastic
Supported by: Kulturdirektoratet, Fond for lyd og bilde, Oslo Kommune, FFUK, NOTAM