Heliopolis builds a fictitious urban utopia within a Performance-Installation. A light sculpture hovers over Heliopolis like an obelisk, a relic from thousands of years of urban city cultures lighting the temples of consumption. It’s citizens are continuously scanned as transparent actors leaving a trail of their presence as they interact with the city and its sounds. A reflection on humanity in the context of global metropoles of today and tomorrow such as Shanghai, or Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis" or Los Angeles in 2019 (as depicted by Ridley Scott’s film "Blade Runner").

On stage a video screen presents the chronological journey of a person throughout a day in the city of Shanghai, whilst five dancers re-enact a parallel plot interpreting the “Replicants” of the film "Blade Runner". As in the film, their movement patterns increasingly breaking down as they struggle for an extension of their existences.
An interplay between a complex choreography and a dynamic audiovisual escenography is presented simultaneously, polyphon and even dissonant for the audience to find a poli-logical order of the audiovisual impressions presented.

The soundtrack of Heliopolis was created through the combined use of camera motion tracking and gesture recognition software. Four “Hot Spots” and sensors continuously tracked dancers movements to generate layer upon layer of city sounds in combination with Blade Runner’s film soundtrack, and the electronic music composition for Heliopolis. (Software: Chris Ziegler / Music: Electroscape). Videos recorded in Shanghai were at times distorted through the use of software and are projected back unto the stage (Software: Daniel Bisig). The dance sequences were generated through the aid of a custom made software for movement generation and interpreted by the dancers, providing credibility to the android characters of the film that the dancers portray.

One is pleasingly absorbed by the excellent dancers, the atmospheric music of Electroscape and the videos of Pablo Ventura and in end effect, of the dismal vision of solitude and the cities of tomorrow.
Nina Scheu/Tages Anzeiger.

In the park Tai Chi exercises, slowly, leisurely with quiet precision, fascinating. In front  (of the sreen) the Ventura Dance Company dancers, also slowly, precise with offloading movements on the floor…Film and dance, city and space quietness and precision here and there ... in a park in Shanghai as in “Selnau” (theater). Lilo Weber / NZZ.