One / Zero

Choreographer Benjamin Vandewalle and visual artist Erki De Vries once again team up for One / Zero. After Birdwatching, an installation performance that challenged our perception of space, their latest creation focuses on the way we experience time and movement... Inspired by findings in neuropsychology and physics and insights from Zen meditation and philosophy, One / Zero plays on the foundations of our perception. The result is a remarkable and innovative choreography that inevitably involves the audience’s experience in the performance.

Just like a moving picture, One / Zero basically consists of still images. The dancers change position only during the brief dark moment between two light flashes. Still, at the same time, the performance reveals an unexpected dynamism. After all, the succession of stills automatically creates a sense of movement and narrative simply as a result of the way our brain assimilates them. Vandewalle and De Vries use this process, known from stop-motion animation, to disrupt familiar logic and connections. What remains is a highly particular montage of bodies and space that provokes an entirely new perception of time.