AMDUAT

AMDUAT. AN OXYGEN MACHINE

AMDUAT. An oxygen machine examines our relationship with death and its rituals by putting ancient stories into a contemporary perspective. The word Amduat means “what is in the underworld” and represents the ancient Egyptian understanding of the land of the dead.

The performance fusions vividly auditive, visual, and performative elements, and is created for long black box spaces. On the wide stage, one performer, six dancers, a boy, and a DJ mix the settings of a Egyptian burial chamber and a Danish hospital. Interacting with sculptural elements and objects, video, light, laser and soundscapes, two worlds and time periods meet in one tale of death and grief.

The text origins from Amduat. An oxygen machine, in which contemporary Danish writer Harald Voetmann merges the ancient Egyptian story of the sun god’s journey to the underworld with the contemporary experience of loss when the author’s father died of pneumonia in a Danish hospital.

Music and sound design is created by DJ Hari Shankar Kishore (DJ Hvad) and sound designer Marie Højlund. Video design by Magnus Pind Bjerre who was part of Hotel Pro Forma’s artistic teams ofNeoArctic and Rachmaninov Troika. Sculptures and objects by visual artist Astrid Myntekær.