LONDON.- One of the most prolific and important artists working today, the internationally celebrated choreographer and director Wayne McGregor curates a major new series at the
Roundhouse. The work, +/- Human will run for 3 weeks from 10 to 28 August, and has been specially commissioned for Bloomberg Summer at the Roundhouse, an annual series dedicated to introducing new audiences to innovative culture.
The series is presented in two parts. During the day, audiences can engage with the latest installation by the artist collective Random International, acclaimed for the globally successful Rain Room. Visitors will be surrounded by a mysterious flock of flying spheres in a hypnotic experience created in response to the Roundhouses unique architecture. The spheres are programmed using complex algorithms and motion sensors to react intelligently to their surroundings and to bodies in their environment, exploring the relationship between mechanical autonomy and human beings. Warp Records Mark Pritchard has created new music to accompany the installation. On Wednesday evenings and Friday afternoons, pop up performances by Roundhouse Resident Artists from the Music and Spoken Word programmes will take place.
On Friday and Saturday evenings, the installation hosts an immersive new dance work created by Wayne McGregor and featuring Company Wayne McGregor performing with dancers from The Royal Ballet, the first time the companies have performed together since 2001. The promenade piece will respond to Random Internationals work and to music specially composed by Warp artists Clark, Gaika, Mark Pritchard and Lorenzo Senni, exploring the relationship between human bodies and technological entities.
On 13 August an In Conversation event will take place within the installation with Wayne McGregor and Random International's founders, Florian Ortkrass and Hannes Koch, hosted by international broadcaster, author and academic Aleks Krotoski.
Roundhouse and Studio Wayne McGregor have also run a 2-week intensive course for 25 young people from Queens Crescent Community Association and the Roundhouse Street Circus Collective. For the culmination of the project, the group will perform within the installation as part of the 7pm performance on 12 August and with Company Wayne McGregor dancers at Queens Crescent Estate.
Roundhouse is renowned for its presentation of exceptional performance related installations in the summer season. Previous projects have included David Byrnes Playing the Building (2009), Ron Arads Curtain Call (2011 and 2016) and Conrad Shawcrosss Timepiece (2013) and Penny Woolcocks Utopia (2015).