Performance: Feminist Futures – IBM1401 – A User’s Manual (in memoriam)

IBM 1401 – A User´s Manual (in memoriam) is a meditation on the complex relationship between man and the machines he creates. It is based around the story of the first computer to come to Iceland, in 1964. IBM 1401 was not designed to play music, yet by placing a radio receiver close to it and by programming its memory in a certain way, simple melodies could be produced. IBM1401 was taught  to “sing”, and its operators gave it  a very human ability that it wasn´t “supposed” to have. Then, when a new model arrived that made it redundant, it wasn´t simply thrown away, but was given a little funeral ceremony where its operators expressed their gratitude and their sorrow. This was documented on tape with recordings of the sound of the machine in operation and also of music played by the computer. The music in the piece is based on these recordings. The piece seeks to explore the above themes using this simple fairy-tale like story as a frame. It blends dance movements with a set-design and music that reflects themes of techno-nostalgia/discarded technology, nurture (programming computers/raising children), body/machine, human and artificial intelligence, machines and sexuality, technological progress/human evolution. The choreography uses elements of the body as machine and dance as a mysterious, uncanny and intangible energy, much like electricity. The choreography explores both mechanical movements and organic movements and juxtaposes the two, seeking to find the link between them.

Erna Ómarsdóttir‘s choreographic and performative work includes IBM 1401, We are all Marlene Dietrich for, Transaquania, Black Marrow, Shrine, Dies Irae (video), Union of the North (film), Best Of Darkness and Romeo&Juliet Erna has worked together with Valdimar Jóhannsson, as Shalala and the pair also form a theatrical band called LAZYBLOOD. Erna Ómarsdóttir has in the past worked closely with visual artist Gabríela Friðriksdóttir and musicians Björk, Sigur Rós, Ólöf Arnalds, Jóhann Jóhannsson and Ben Frost. She is currently artistic director of the Iceland Dance Company.