“Brave New Body” is the result of an unexpected collaboration between two eccentric artists: composer Arturas Bumšteinas and artist Žygimantas Kudirka.
Combining social criticism, science fiction, and absurd genre, this corporate dystopia for voices addresses the ever-problematic relation of a human being towards his / her body. Illusions rendered by diverse industries form unfounded expectations as to how we should look, while our presence on social networks results in an endless comparison of our own body against numerous other bodies. Paradoxically, we often strive to be similar to non-existent, digitally altered body images.
Do not worry. Corporate dystopia will reveal a new technology allowing to transfer oneself into another body or the body of another. Hypnotic polyphonic sutartinės will serve as a kind of anaesthetic while lying under the “beauty knife”, submerging into a dream invoked by deep sedation. You will see perhaps a vision, prophetic perhaps, where the humanity of the future finally finds a way to get rid of the ever unsatisfactory biological bodies and acquire “brave new” ones.
It seems to be the promised land where the souls soar free, acquiring any desired form. You have become a racing motorcycle and feel way sportier? You have turned into an air humidifier, and your inner self is full of harmonious tranquillity? Having transformed into most unexpected things and gadgets, the souls celebrate their liberation from the old body, singing sutartinės about their new being. At first glance, it is a never-ending feast celebrating brave new bodies. And yet, what was it that encouraged people to get rid of that unique, nearly miraculous biological body capable of curing its wounds and growing broken bones together?
