Roman & ELIZA - Ulrike Quade Company

Theater en toneel

What remains of a person after death? And what happens when technology emerges to fill the void left behind? In Roman & ELIZA Ulrike Quade Company investigates how artificial intelligence responds to our deep-seated desire for human connection.

The performance is inspired by the world's first chatbot ELIZA, and by the true story of Roman Mazuurko. After Roman's death, his partner Charly uploads messages and photos to ELIZA, using AI to create an avatar of Roman and seem to reconnect. What follows is a charged interplay between the grieving loved one and Roman's shadow trapped in a data center, floating between being and non-being. Together they reconstruct memories, looking for what continues to haunt them both.

Deep dive into the interaction between humans and chatbots.
At a time when digital platforms are making new forms of synthetic intimacy possible, Roman & ELIZA asks urgent questions about the future of our data. Man longs to be seen and understood, even when that understanding is only an illusion. The way in which this desire takes shape in the interaction between humans and chatbot is made visible in Roman & ELIZA by descending into the make-believe world of digitally manipulated data. This journey through fragmented dimensions is told from the perspective of the mind, the lover and the machine.