STUMPS is a hybrid performance mixing robotic and lyrical arts. It investigates the theme of deformity and monstrosity in an era where the boundary is more and more blurred between what is considered a “natural” body and what is not. This blurring stems from social momentum as much as from technological advances, with the latter ranging from embedded biomedical devices to plastic surgery to protheses of all kinds.
As such STUMPS diffusely questions the materialisation of our ancestors in our own body and how we would secretly wish to escape it. That is, how our family tree “lives” inside us, a family tree that is – for all of us – nearly four billion years old and carries with it its myriad of monsters, family neuroses and somatizations.
The installation is based on an electro-pneumatic device that can change the shape of the hosting body in real time through the voice of the singer. The world premiere took place last week at Teatro del Suono / Soglie 2022 event in Italy.
