Alpha Go_Lee: Theory of Sacrifice
Open Research Day
Information
Times: 1pm – 4pm
Tickets: FREE – booking required
This event takes place in person in our Council Chamber
Theatre director Natalia Korczakowska (STUDIO theatergallery, Warsaw) invites you to participate in the first stages of reconstructing a momentous GO match as a brand-new theatre piece.
In 2016, millions of people across the globe witnessed the historic defeat of former ‘Go’ world champion Lee Sedol (9 Dan Rank) from South Korea, by AI powered computer programme AlphaGo from Google DeepMind, London. The win signified a major shift in the sophistication of Artificial Intelligence, raising questions around humanity’s ability to retain dominance over the rapid evolution of technology.
In collaboration with a creative team of artists and specialists across the fields of Science, Tech and AI, this Open Research Day will reimagine this showdown of Human vs. Machine as a theatrical ritual, interrogating the relationship between AI, society and art.
Open Research is a strand of support for artists to explore projects creatively with a public audience as part of their making process.
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Alongside New York based multimedia artist Marc Da Costa, Natalia will present the basis of rehearsal looking at how to integrate digital tools into the making process for the production. Presenting this to the audience, the pair will explore the potential of collaborating theatre with digital technology working across various forms including insight from interactive animation designer Marcin ‘Kitty’ Kossakowski on building and testing the components of digital set design.
Against this backdrop, Natalia will then invite collaborator and choreographer Sung Im Her to present work-in-progress scenes of the production with a group of dancers alongside live readings from the playscript.
The Open Research Day will include filmed testimonials from a number of experts across the fields of AI, Go, and Tech, including insight from those actually present at the live match in 2016.
Speakers
Professor Chihyung Nam, Department of Baduk (GO) Studies, Myongji University, Korea, Go Expert
Professor Chihyung Jeon, KAIST, Seoul, Match Expert
Piotr Mirowski, Google DeepMind, Tech Expert
Creatives
Choreographer: Sung Im Her
Digital Artist: Marc Da Costa
Performer: Priscilla Lee
Dancers: Cynthia Cin Yee Cheung, Sugyeong Won, Jiwon Oh
PRE EVENT INFORMATION
This event takes place in person in our Council Chamber. This space is on the first floor, with step-free access via a lift.
If you have booked a ticket you will receive an email from us before your performance detailing important information about your visit.
PERSONAL ASSISTANT/COMPANION TICKETS
If you require the assistance of a friend or helper to attend, we can make a free ticket available for your companion. You can book access companion tickets online or contact the Box Office to book by emailing access@bac.org.uk.
To book a free access companion online:
- log in to your account here
- go to ‘Other preferences’ and tick ‘I require a personal assistant/companion’.
- Choose the performance, date and seats you would like and if you add at least 2 tickets to your basket, then one of these will automatically become free.
PERFORMANCE INFORMATION
This performance will be Relaxed. We invite you to make yourself comfortable and move around if you need to and if you need to leave the performance at any point you will be allowed to return to the space when you feel ready.
Production Credits
Produced by STUDIO theatergallery, Warsaw. Supported by Battersea Arts Centre, Polish Institute in London, Adam Mickiewicz Institute and Google DeepMind.
Text and Direction: Natalia Korczakowska
Digital Art and Animations: Marc De Costa, Marcin Kitty Kossakowski
Choreography: Sung Im Her
Composer: Marcin Lenarczyk
Costumes and Screen Installations: Marek Adamski
Lighting and Live Video: Robert Mleczko
Producer: Monika Balińska
International Development: Anna Lewanowicz
Biographies
STUDIO theatergallery, Warsaw
STUDIO theatergallery promotes free artistic expression, encouraging dialogue between disciplines and creative communities. Its permanent ensemble operates through creative partnerships, allowing invited artists to experiment and redefine contemporary theatre. It remains a bold, socially engaged institution, fostering critical thinking and dialogue.
Natalia Korczakowska
Natalia Korczakowska’s theatre work explores how individuals lose their sense of reality and how an act of playing can offer the necessary distance to counteract this process. She views theatre as a social playground for disarming manipulative narratives and technological tools used to sustain illusions of control. Her notable productions include Solaris.Report (TR Warsaw, 2009), Berlin Alexanderplatz (STUDIO theatergallery, 2016), WITKACY/Two-headed Calf (RedCat, Los Angeles, 2019), Demons VR and Wasp Hunting (STUDIO theatergallery, 2023). Since 2016, she has been the artistic director of STUDIO theatregallery, one of Poland’s leading experimental theatre space.
Sung Im Her
As a choreographer, Sung Im has been selected for development programmes Testbeds Catalyst, Aerowaves 21, Choreodrome at The Place. She has been commissioned by Seoul Performing Arts Festival, Counterpoint Arts and Korean Arts Council, and supported by Arts Council England, Seoul Foundation of Arts and Culture, Horizon Showcase and more.
As a performer she has worked in with companies in Korea and Belgium including, Ji-Gu Dance Theatre, Les ballets C de la B, Needcompany, Abattoir Fermé, Opéra de Lille and more.
Piotr Mirowski
Piotr Mirowski is a Senior Staff Research Scientist working at Google DeepMind. His extensive work in human-centred AI has been covered in publications such as The Guardian, BBC and the Financial Times. As a Visiting Researcher and Knowledge Exchange Scholar at Goldsmiths, University of London, and regularly gives lectures on the intersection of AI and human creativity. During his theatre and improv performances (with and without robots on the stage), he investigates the use of AI for artistic human and machine-based co-creation.
Marc Da Costa
Marc Da Costa is a multimedia artist and anthropologist whose work explores the interplay between archives, technology, and lived experience. His practice examines how technical infrastructures shape our attention and sense of the world.
His work has been exhibited internationally at venues including the Venice International Film Festival, Centre Phi Montreal, Lincoln Center, the Onassis Foundation, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He has received the Lumen Prize, SXSW Jury Prize, and Columbia University’s Digital Storytelling Award (all 2024) with his work has been covered in The New York Times and The Financial Times.
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