Resurrect In Peace (R.I.P.)
“Resurrect In Peace (R.I.P.)” is a phygital funeral for a bird. More than one hundred years ago the passenger pigeon was driven to extinction. Now it is given a farewell. In the midst of the sixth mass extinction “R.I.P.” acknowledges the mortality of all existence and questions the political potential of a possible resurrection. The performance is inspired by the work of scientists who are currently trying to de-extinct the passenger pigeon by means of genetic engineering. At HAU2 three performers become the masters of ceremony for this tech intensive ritual. Vive trackers register their movements and serve as ceremonial objects which communicate with a digital ecosystem. The bodies of the performers connect the physical and the virtual, the absent and the present. “R.I.P.” is a space for interspecies grief, a ceremonial admission of guilt, a lament in computer graphics.