Artwork

My Data and Me: Una Storia d'Amore is a tragic opera that explores the re-positioning of humans in relation to new conceptions of data. The escalating scale of data means that the humanity must reposition itself – not as an agent for information, but as companion to it. Part of the project is the design and building of a “robot opera singer”, Hans, to play alongside a soprano, Juissy. The future: Juissy and Hans live alone underground, in a former nuclear bunker under the present JRC site in Ispra. In order to prevent her going insane, they re-enact her fantasies in the form of an opera – complete with star-crossed lovers, a ballroom scene, and a duel. But when Juissy wakes up to reality, she becomes unsure of Hans' real intentions – or indeed, of who she is. This Gesamtkunstwerk comically explores new engagements between human and non-human, enabled by the new frontiers of Big Data – including sex, art, identity and health.

Additional details

A collaboration between Richard Pettifer, Tomasz Prasqual (composer), Vasiliki Charisi, Marius Miron, Songul Tolan, Emilia Gomez, Nicole Dewandre, and Nikolaos Stilianakis.

Richard Pettifer website.

Tomasz Prasqual website.

More about the work on the artist’s website.