Alexa, Turn on the Lights
Part TED talk, part couples therapy, ‘Alexa, Turn on the Lights’ is a begrudging duet between performer Jacob Watton, and an Amazon Alexa smart home device. ‘Alexa, Turn on the Lights’ uses bespoke artificial intelligence programming to make a truly interactive performance. Critics call it “bite-sized, intimate theatre at it's best!" Stage Whispers, 2021.
Technology is the way we connect. How can we have 5000 Facebook friends, and still have no one to talk to?
Heartfelt, funny, and joyful. 'Alexa, Turn on the Lights' is a performance for audiences who moan about the printer in their life that they have never liked. The constant of Siri piping in to any and all conversations; unannounced, uninvited. It's a show for technophobes in a deeply technological world.
Presented by: Jacob Watton & Cluster Arts
Jacob Watton is a Queensland-based choreographer and performer working in Meanjin, Brisbane. In 2017 Jacob graduated with first-class honours from a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) from QUT. Jacob works broadly across the performing arts as a performer and collaborator in making dance and theatre, a teaching artist, facilitator, and a creator. Jacob’s choreographic work has toured internationally presenting at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria and at the Busan International Dance Festival in South Korea. Most recently Jacob is presenting his solo technology performance, ‘Alexa, Turn on the Lights’. Jacob often collaborates with Queensland based art makers: RAVA Productions, Prying Eye Productions, Phluxus2 Dance Collective, Angela Chaplin, and Claire Marshall among others.