A BRIEF Q&A ON AI AND MERE MORTALS

Exploring parallels between Pandora’s curiosity and contemporary society

Mere Mortals explores the parallels between the millennia-old story of Pandora’s fated curiosity and contemporary society, including the consequences and ethical dilemmas of rapid technological advancement, specifically AI, and how humanity has both brought these new capabilities upon itself and now must chart a way forward.

HOW IS AI USED IN THE CREATION OF MERE MORTALS?

Mere Mortals is a reimagination of the Pandora and Prometheus myths inspired by the ethically complicated discovery and proliferation of artificial intelligence. While AI is used as a thematic prompt and a tool with which to explore the visual environment of the piece, the creative team abstained from integrating AI technology into the choreography, music composition, and dramaturgy of the piece – which are 100% human-developed.

HOW IS AI TECHNOLOGY BEING DEPLOYED?

We commissioned Barcelona-based creative studio Hamill Industries, who specialize in creating performance environments that mix emerging and traditional techniques, to develop two different elements in support of Mere Mortals: a visual environment for the production on stage, as well as supplementary imagery to be used in advertising materials.

The projected imagery and video on stage predominantly uses practical, real-life effects. Some imagery has been generated with the help of AI – sourced from highly curated image datasets – specifically during the moment when Pandora is created, but the rest is created by Hamill with analog in-camera visual effects.

Mere Mortals returns to the stage April 18–24.

BUY TICKETS