The Hairs
of your Head
are Numbered

"Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
 Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."

 Luke 12:7

The human body is increasingly encountered as a data body. Movements, emotions and states are measured, quantified and transformed into data. At the same time this data is the mirror in which the body is reflected and is also its point of orientation. While a growing number of people enjoy using ‘life tracking’ to monitor and track their bodies and share on social media, companies offer online analyses of emotional states for therapy and advertising purposes. If until recently the human being was the analogue gap in the digital world, this gap is being rapidly closed with our enthusiastic help. In their new performance the media arts team turns the body into a numeric spectacle. The new needs and the possibilities of manipulating the body become perceptible in the digital enhancement.

What does it mean to be a data body?

"This is you. This is what makes you you. In this data you will find yourself. This is how you can get in touch with yourself. This is data you can feel."

"The year is 1614. Santorio Santorio, the most famous Doctor in Europe, has just published his monumental work DE STATICA MEDICINA. Santorio was a self-tracker and inventor of counting machines. He invented the first Thermometer, He invented the first pulse measuring machine. Great inventions. But he's famous for tracking something else. For 15 years he tracked his weight. And he tracked how much food he ate, and how much he pissed and shitted out. He found For every 8 pounds of food he ate, he only pissed and shitted out 3. What happened to the other 5 pounds. Santorio's answer was: sweat. For every 8 pounds we eat. We sweat out 5. This new thought set the medical world on fire. For two centuries doctors only talked about sweat.
Now, Santorio's theory was completely wrong. But that's not important. What's important is the method. He's the start of the quantified self movement. The first person to turn his own body into a mathematics problem."

"Wir wollen nicht nur sein. Wir wollen gut sein. Und besser werden. Auf allen Ebenen.
Deshalb sind doch auch Sie heute Abend hier: Weil das Theater der Gesellschaft einen Spiegel vorhält und verspricht, uns im kathartischen Moment der Erkenntnis dem Wahren, Schönen, Guten näherzubringen. Bessere Menschen aus uns zu machen. Die Welt zu verbessern. Da sind sich das Theater und Silicon Valley ja ganz nahe: Make this world a better place."

"You know when a company like Netflix makes a film they measure the body responses of test audiences. Because every heartbeat is a potential window to what you're thinking, feeling, and they can fine tune the film so your body reacts correctly. And why shouldn't they do that. We want them to make the best films that touch us on a biological level. It's seems like a contradiction, but data collection makes the entertainment products we watch more human."

"Mein Körper ist das Display meiner Arbeit an mir selbst. Meines Willens, meiner Disziplin. Ich werde einen progressiven Körper haben, keine reaktionären. Jeder, der auch nur halbwegs beieinander ist, wird sich upgraden. Wenn er es sich finanziell erlauben kann. Alle werden das nicht können. Aber doch einige hier am Technologiestandort Deutschland. Wenn Sie noch nicht darüber nachgedacht haben, sollten Sie es tun. Einfache Körper werden nicht mehr gebraucht werden. Nicht für die Arbeit, nicht fürs Militär, bald auch nicht mehr fürs Kinderkriegen. Da kann man sich ja ausrechnen, was übrig bleibt.
Ich werde nicht zurückbleiben. Natürlich upgrade ich mich, wenn ich die Gelegenheit dazu habe. Ich nehme Aspirin, ich nehme Ritalin, und genauso lasse ich mir einen RFID-Chip in den Finger pflanzen, wenn es mein Leben leichter macht. Warum sollte ich mich mit einem Drittweltkörper zufrieden geben, wenn ich Erste Welt sein kann?"

A project by doublelucky productions



Concept, text and direction 

Chris Kondek, Christiane Kühl


Set and Costume Design 

Doris Dziersk


Composition and music 

Hannes Strobl


Video 

Phillip Hohenwarter, Ruth Stofer


Interaction Design 

Anna O.


Electronics Engineering 

Grzegorz Zając


Data Visualization 

Kim Albrecht


Research and dramaturg assistance 

Maria Rößler


Light, technical director 

Marc Zeuske


Production- management 

Katja Kettner


Assistance to the director 

Clara Romstedt


Assistance set and costume 

Sarai Feuerherdt


Performance 

Joséphine Evrard, Chris Kondek, Christiane Kühl, Anna O.


Thanks to 

Maximilian Gotzler/Flowgrade, Prof. Dr. Steffen Mau, Stephan Tuchscherer a.k.a. Graf Natural



Website 

Kim Albrecht