Robin Meier Wiratunga and Stephen Thompson 2022; Curated by Laurence Wagner
Neuroscientist: Emma Ducos, Pigeon keeper: Marius Stritt, Composition: Robin Meier Wiratunga, Choreography: Stephen Thompson, String Trio: Anouck Genthon, Anna-Kaisa Meklin, Brice Catherin
Produced by Belluard Bollwerk Festival

A neuroscientist, a dancer, a pigeon fancier and a string trio connect neuronal patterns in the brain with patterns in bird flocks, dance, music and language : “neuromancer meets ornithomancer”.

For the last decade or so, artist and composer Robin Meier Wiratunga has been working with different animal intelligences and presences, choreographing and orchestrating ravens, fireflies, insects and musicians in his unexpected and inspiring sound work.

A project by Trajal Harrell led to an encounter with artist and performer Stephen Thompson. Apophenia – Meaningful Connections between Unrelated Things is born of this friendship. It is a locus for generating new constellations of sound and movement and a means of experimenting with our understanding of the world through the prism of neuroscience and bird flight.

Could their patterns of flight be the neuronal pathways of the thinking universe? Apophenia is a performance for a scientist, a dancer, musicians and carrier pigeons.

Laurence Wagner, Director Belluard Bollwerk Festival: https://belluard.ch/en/shows/apophenia-meaningful-connections-between-unrelated-things