Seventy uninterrupted minutes of aural and visual fascination, Deepstaria ought to be on a loop in Tate Modern. Or on a tape for insomniacs so they can drift like the jellyfish that gives this piece its name. The music is both a club and a chill room vibe.
The concept is the void and mortality via the deepstaria jellyfish… the enquiring mind of Sir Wayne McGregor knows no bounds. He talks of “cutting edge technology”—Vantablack Vision and the digital audio engine Bronze AI—but what does the audience see? What if they haven’t bought a programme, in which McGregor articulates his vision?
It’s a large canvas but an austere palette. I see Malevich’s Black Square, Constructivism and Suprematism, American Abstract Expressionism, in particular Franz Kline and Mark Rothko, in Theresa Baumgartner's breathtakingly beautiful geometric lighting designs.
Her Blakean light streaming from the heavens, drenching the reflective black floor, shifting colours, reaching into the auditorium walls and ceiling, is a work of art.
Light catches, conceals and pockmarks the company’s nine dancers, all contributors to the choreographic flow. Solo, in pairs and other variable alignments, they seem to be doing their own thing, shape-shifting like amoebas in McGregor's signature style.
From black pants and bikinis, they progress to diaphanous white—is this Dante’s journey, or that of the jellyfish into the oceanic abyss? Or outer space black holes? I think Solaris: is McGregor still channelling his Dante Project?
McGregor said somewhere that he is more of a curator than a choreographer, and I think he is right. He brings together highly talented creatives. Nicholas Becker and LEXX’s soundscape powered by Bronze speaks of chasms and space, outer space.
Portentous, pulsating, electronic sonic booms and sound signals trigger the random dance moves. Are they AI? Cogs in a machine? Heartbeat, heavy breathing and ethereal planetary mood shifts. Captivating.
The mirror-black floor inverting the dancers into an underworld, the sudden blackouts, lights changing from white to red to the palest of blues, surprise and stimulate as dancers flit and flicker. Mesmerising. It could go on and on.
Apparently, Deepstaria is to be part of a diptych: “On the Earth (a choreographic installation) will première in 2025 in Jeffrey Shaw’s nVis, the world’s first 360 LED interactive post-cinematic screen…”.