Western Front is pleased to present a performance by Nina Davies in the form of an open rehearsal by the fictional Image Syncers. The performance extends Davies’ exhibition, which centres on a new video narrated through an episode of a invented podcast What’s Sizzlin’. In the episode, investigative journalist Teagan Carroll recounts her first encounter with an Image Syncer community at the Trio Comms Hall; a moment the live performance restages.

Upon arrival, guests are invited to explore the gallery, watch the video, and familiarize themselves with the Image Syncers and the world they inhabit. Upstairs, a Twitch-style livestream plays at the entrance to the Grand Luxe Hall, featuring a workplace vlogger from Wifi Vision—a company selling movement-data packages for humanoid devices—who hosts a wager on whether a customer is “a bot or not.” The customer has called to report a glitch in their movement-data bundle, and when asked whether the training data is sourced from the real world, the streamer discovers that it is—and that the movements captured belong to the Image Syncers, a group who mimic AI-generated gestures from synthetic videos. As the video unfolds, the streamer realizes that the customer is, in fact, a fully autonomous bot. Since the ultimate aim of Image Syncers is to connect with AI worlds, the streamer—an Image Syncer themself—recognizes this moment as a long-awaited point of contact and invites the bot, Loren, to join an Image Synching séance.

At this point, the rehearsal begins. To enter the room, guests will be asked to camouflage themselves within the synthetic worlds the performers attempt to reach; ceremonial garments will be provided. For those who prefer not to enter the space, viewing from adjacent rooms will also be available. Ring lights equipped with phones will be positioned both inside and outside the performance area, enabling the audience to witness the rehearsal through the same networked outputs the dancers use to communicate with the AI systems they hope to encounter.

Time:

6:00 & 8:00 p.m. (Jan 16 & 23) 1:00, 3:00 & 5:00 p.m. (Jan 17 & 24)