In collaboration with composer Edmund Campion
Danced by Kristina Isabelle
And Choreographed by Claudia Hart and Kristina Isabelle
Technical Producer, Stephane Dalbera;Â Costumes by Marco Magnus
Claudia Hartâs Alice world reinterprets the Lewis Carroll paradigm as a labyrinth, here envisioned as the an Interweb papered with flashing emoji icons for power, money, addiction and control. Â The Internet as commercial highway, here the virtual world, exists paradoxically, also as a metaphor for a model of the mind and a site of transformation.Â
In this, the third and final act of Hartâs Alice trilogy, we witness Alice personifying an allegory that is both political and psychological: the transformation of base drives through the process of sublimation into a more humane, insightful cultural consciousness. The dramaturgy of the performance moves from violence and brutality towards Aliceâs âunchainingâ - Â her liberation and enlightenment.
Alice is danced and co-choreographed by Kristina Isabelle in a set consisting of projections extracted from the Flower Matrix, a fantastical mixed-reality Alice-in-Wonderland world created as an interactive environment for both Oculus Rift and Vive platforms. Projections of the Flower Matrix are mapped onto a special costume designed by Marco Magnus as well as onto the walls of the Alice Unchained set. Choreography for Alice Unchained was first created for a digital avatar based on the body of Kristina Isabelle created by Isiah Den Beste.
The unique choreography for Alice Unchained mixes together two motion-captured performances. The first is a language based on the stylized movements used by professional wrestlers, here captured at Atopos, Paris, France, from a live performance by the actor, stuntman and professional wrestler Vincent. The second capture took place at the Game On studios in Montreal, Quebec, from an original dance choreographed and performed by Kristina Isabelle. Â Â
The Flower Matrix itself is conceived after the ancient Roman mythological labyrinth of the Minotaur, an endless maze from which there is no escape. Hartâs game world is then covered with pulsing graphical patterns made from emoji, symbolic computer language and public signage icons, conjoined in animated patterns that throb and pulse hypnotically. Also inside the Flower Matrix are five original species of fantastical flowers designed by Hart and covered with the same pulsing patterns, randomly growing and decaying. This environment portrays an  esthetic of fakeness where technology has replaced nature, that is both sugary sweet and chemically toxic in equal measures.
The audio track is by Edmund Campion, composer and director of CNMAT, the Center for New Music And Audio Technology at University of California, Berkeley. Creative Unity programming is by Yan Zhou. The audio track remixes an original composition created by Edmund Campion for The Alices Walking, 2014, an opera/fashion show created during Hartâs honorary fellowship in 2014 at  the Eyebeam Center for Art + Technology in its original Chelsea quarters. Â
The audio for Alice Unchained  includes vocals by Claudia Hart and Mikey McParlane created for The Alices, another performance by Claudia Hart, that premiered at The Arts Club of Chicago in 2013, with music by Edmund Campion and a libretto that evolved from Lewis Carroll's original Alice in Wonderland by using the Spinabook software designed by Alon Zouartez.Â
Alice Unchained was inspired by the professional wrestler Isaias Velazquez, who trained Claudia Hart from 2015 to 2016. He developed a unique routine, March 2017, captured at Game On, and used as the basis of this work.
Dedicated to a beloved mother, Shirley Hart 1926-2016.
Motion Capture Studio : Game On, Montreal
Motion Capture Studio : Atopos, Paris
Post processing : Hetic Paris and CompiĂšgne University of Technology