BODY DOUBLE

Theatre with Young Adults (2015)

“Aus Indien kommt der Theatermacher und Internetkenner Amitesh Grover” - Herbstcamp International

What exactly is being contested and broadcast as identities in the digital space today? Our ‘digital reputation’ is being traded as ‘data' for profit, even as we stage our lives in the theatre of the internet authoring, uploading, circulating, and abandoning the digital footprints of our dark, secret lives. The self in this ‘new digital order’ is an anxious one. How can we understand this territory of ‘digital performance’ in which we find ourselves today? BODY DOUBLE proposes a social hack - The project casts 11 digital profiles (displayed on Facebook) with consent of their ‘authors’ and make them each available to an actor. This actors study these profiles, borrow, copy, steal the digital content, meet in a chat-room, request an online interview, and use everything they can to build YOU for stage. The actor perform the YOU who is available online for everybody’s consumption - tagged photos, blog posts and social networking interactions.

Body Double guarantees identity theft, and investigates the myths, tricks, possibilities and futures of our digital identities as they manifest in a wide variety of forms today. The only condition is that the actor must share their birthdate with the real person being they study online.