Performance, Technology, Translation

April 16, 2015

The Barnard Center for Translation Studies
and the Department of Theatre, Stages of Inquiry present

An event exploring the theoretical and practical intersections between
contemporary technologies of translation and performance

Panel

Rita Raley, Professor of English, University of California, Santa Barbara
“Algorithmic Translations”

W. B. Worthen, Professor of Theatre, Barnard College, Columbia University
“Theatre Technicity”

Sulzberger Parlor, Barnard Hall, 2 PM, followed by discussion and reception

Performance
love.abz, conceived and directed by Otso Huopaniemi

The Glicker-Milstein Theatre, Diana Center, 6 PM,
followed by conversation with speakers, director, and performers at 7 PM

In 2010, Finnish playwright and performance artist Otso Huopaniemi ran his play, An ABZ of Love, through Google Translate, machine translating the play from Finnish to English; then he ran the play back, and repeated this recursive procedure over and over again. What began as an experiment in machine translation has evolved into a performance work, using live acting and live machine translation to explore the fragility of language, of understanding, of our ongoing relationship with machines, and questioning the notion of authorship as well. love.abz has been performed in New York, Berlin, Cardiff, Karlsruhe, and Helsinki, with four different casts and using a variety of languages. The Barnard performance, directed by Huopaniemi and performed by Catherine Copplestone, Emily Gleeson, Federico Rodriguez, and Eeva Semerdjiev, will form the latest link in the chain of human and machine translations.

Conference panel is free and open to the public
No reservations required

Performance of love.abz is free and open to the public
 

Co-sponsored by
Kone Foundation
Consulate General of Finland