Get ready, theatre lovers! 'Focus: Posthuman. Performative Approaches' is officially starting!

This September, Reactor is talking about the future!

Get ready, theater lovers! Between September 17 and 30, Reactor is hosting Focus: Posthuman. Performative Approaches. This exciting series of events is designed to showcase, through diverse perspectives and playful methods, how the posthumanist movement is beautifully shaping the performing arts—while opening up a wonderful dialogue with you, our audience, about its impact and reception!

These events are presented as part of the "Posthuman. Performative Approaches" program, funded by the National Cultural Fund Administration. The program does not necessarily represent the position of the National Cultural Fund Administration. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the program or how the results of the program may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the funding beneficiary.

Focus: Posthuman. Performative Approaches is co-funded by the Cluj-Napoca City Council and Local Council through the project "Reactor 2021. Projections about the Future".

LINE-UP:

September 16-30 – Framework: Posthuman

critical thinking workshop

Mediator: Raul Coldea

Let's explore together! We will watch the events in the program and meet up to chat about them alongside members of the artistic teams and the Reactor board. This workshop is warmly open to the Reactor audience, students, and performing arts professionals. Meetings will take place at Reactor from September 16 to 30.

Spots for the workshop are limited. Priority will be given to those enthusiastic participants who can attend as many viewings and meetings as possible.

Registrations are open until September 14, by filling out the following form: https://forms.gle/RgHvkh7bU3gRUghH9

September 17, 8:00 PM – Posthumanism and Performing Arts – a dash of dread, a spark of hope

online debate

Moderator: Ioana Hogman

Guests: Alexandru Berceanu, Rodica Mocanu, Mihai Păcurar, Ștefan Pârlog, Cristina Rusiecki, and Doru Taloș.

Last season, we playfully speculated on the future from an uncertain present through the lens of posthumanism. We hosted workshops, performances, and installations that mediated this intriguing encounter and immersed us in exciting spaces where theater becomes more than just theater—it's a beautiful meeting point between sciences and other arts! 

Although we feel we are just at the beginning of this wonderful journey, we are marking this milestone with a dialogue that explores the dynamics of this encounter while taking the pulse of the present moment, always with a curious eye on "where to next?"

September 18, 7:00 PM – HIDDEN PERSPECTIVES

Augmented reality tour

Created by Alexa Băcanu, Andrei Boar, Andreea Mircea, Alexandru Nagy

Performers: Oana Mardare, Andreea Mircea, Alexandru Nagy, Anna Zhu, Lucian Teodor Rus

In a distant future, the human race has evolved in two opposite directions: part of the population decided to minimize their footprint on the planet by literally shrinking, while a select few continued to augment themselves to become bigger, stronger, and more beautiful. Come search for them around the Reactor space and they will gladly share their fascinating stories!

We warmly encourage you to bring and use your own headphones. The installation will remain in the Reactor space until the end of September for you to enjoy!

September 18, 8:00 PM – EXEUNT

Special screening of the performance, followed by a cozy chat with the artists

An online performance collectively conceived and created in April-May 2020

Director: Bobi Pricop

Text: Lavinia Braniște

With: Bianco Erdei, Cătălin Filip, Oana Hodade, Lucia Mărneanu, Lucian Teodor Rus, Adonis Tanța

Video: Dan Basu

Music: Eduard Gabia

Programming and technical support: Mizdan

Six people have been waiting for a long time in their homes for a future where they can finally meet and be together. As solitude deepens, it brings out nostalgia, anxieties, and fears. But isolation also inspires them to discover delightful new ways of expressing themselves, which they will later have to let go of.

Exeunt (from Latin, meaning "they leave" – a classic stage direction for a group of actors exiting the stage) will be their step out of intimacy. The path toward a shared future is a beautiful rediscovery of the world, a journey from a mind collapsed in on itself to a vibrant collective mind. At the end of this path, in a shared space, the components of the same organism will joyfully connect, one by one.

September 19 and 25, 8:00 PM – INTERIOR-LUMINĂ (INTERIOR-LIGHT)

Performance

Concept and direction: Mihai Păcurar

Dramatury: Ioana Hogman

Texts by: Oana Hodade, Ioana Hogman, Oana Mardare, Mihai Păcurar, Doru Taloș, Adonis Tanța

Sound: Oana Hodade

With: Oana Hodade, Oana Mardare, Doru Taloș, Adonis Tanța

How many times have you wallowed for days in your own emotional mud because it just felt more honest than trying to fix things? How many times have those attempts felt like they were pulling you down, regardless of your optimistic outlook and self-saving intentions? How many times has it felt like everyone else is magically better adapted to life on Earth than you are?

Four brilliant performers have been commissioned by a director to create a show on identity crises and the melancholy that follows, but it's deliciously unclear just how far they should go. They might mess up, or they might never fully recover! But there are so many wonderful ways to cope: mindfulness sessions, bittersweet trips down memory lane, surrender, and more.

September 28, 7:00 PM – 2001: A Space Odyssey

Film screening at CINEMA ARTA

Directed by: Stanley Kubrick

When a mysterious black monolith is discovered beneath the Moon's surface, it becomes thrillingly clear that it was buried intentionally by an alien intelligence. Soon, scientists pinpoint its origin planet, Jupiter, and a brave team of researchers is sent on an epic voyage of discovery. Scientist David Bowman soon finds quirks in the ship's communication system, leading him to uncover secrets far beyond his imagination!

September 30, 7:00 PM – ROBOLOVE

Film screening at CINEMA ARTA

Directed by: Maria Arlamovsky

ROBOLOVE is a fascinating look into the minds of the brilliant women and men dedicated to creating humanoid robots—androids that might one day delightfully expand the human body and life. This documentary beautifully pieces together the immense complexity of the subject from multiple points of view. Among the wonderful guests are robotics guru Hiroshi Ishiguro, transhumanist expert Natasha Vita More, and many others. As the line between humans and androids gently blurs, the tension between technology and social responsibility grows alongside bright, utopian visions. This mosaic offers an inspiring look at the technologies of tomorrow, made with a lot of love for those who dare to create these new machines that seek to mirror our humanity.