BLACK BOOK
Performance with AI control
By Reinhold Bidner, Tobias Hammerle, Georg Hobmeier, Sophia Reiterer, Sonja Prlić and Karl Zechenter.
They stand on dark street corners and watch the comings and goings, hurrying after passers-by who quickly turn out to be following the wrong trail. And it's always raining. It's been like this for weeks: The group of detectives has been given a seemingly insignificant surveillance assignment, something that can be completed in two or three days.
But the case grows until it increasingly occupies all of the detective agency's employees and at the same time cannot be dealt with. There is nothing left to do but hand the case back, but that proves impossible. And by then, the detectives have long since become deeply entangled in the case themselves.
In this performance, the observations and suspicions of the group of players take center stage, creating their own detective story. Black Book is an experimental theater piece that further develops our aesthetic work with the Border Grid live escape room. It is a theater piece that we play ourselves with our fears and suspicions. Franz Kafka, Frank Miller, Boris Vian and Paul Auster meet in our dark backyard and shoot a film noir.
The play is being co-produced by ARGEkultur Salzburg and will premiere there in November 2025. The play will be prepared in public play sessions. The first took place in November 2023, followed by two more in 2024. In the play sessions, we will explore the new format with the audience, especially the interplay of AI, procedurally generated content and audience participation.
Debut Performances:
ARGEkultur, 22.-27.11.2025
Open performance sessions in November 2023, May and December 2024
