Andy Barrt
Embodied Dialogues
15.10.2026, 19:30 Special Events Auditorium Duration: 30 choreographer: Rima Pipoyan performers: Natella Baghramyan, Greta Alaverdyan, Davit Grigoryan composer: Alexander Dobrinskiy pianists: Alexander Dobrinskiy, Eduard Arevshatyan engineers: Grigor Shirinyan, Andranik Meliksetyan Supported by CYLAND MediaArtLab in collaboration with the Physical AI, Robotics and Smart Manufacturing Laboratory at Engineering City Premiering at CYFEST at the Cafesjian Center for the Arts, Embodied Dialogues is a new collaborative performance built around movement as a continuous process of transformation. Following the gestures and choreography of a Unitree G1 EDU humanoid robot, the dancers do not simply reproduce a predetermined sequence of movements—they extend, reinterpret, and transform it, turning algorithm into living action. The robot is neither opposed to the human nor an imitation of it; instead, it becomes an equal participant in a shared choreographic process. As in many of Andy Barrt's works, the performance is not driven by narrative but by the transformation of form: costume reshapes the body, movement reshapes space, and live music becomes another element within this spatial composition.
Alexandra Dementieva
Field Attunement
15.10.2026, 21:00 Special Events Auditorium Duration: 15 Engineers: Andranik Meliksetyan, Grigor Shirinyan Supported by CYLAND MediaArtLab in collaboration with the Physical AI, Robotics and Smart Manufacturing Laboratory at Engineering City Field Attunement is a performance about an environment that begins to act. At its center is the theremin, an instrument whose sound emerges within an invisible electromagnetic field and shifts with every movement of the body. As a non-human agent enters this field, the performer is no longer the sole source of action. Sound emerges through the interplay of bodies, algorithms, electromagnetic forces, space, and time. What begins as an attempt to regain control gradually gives way to observation, listening, and mutual attunement. The performance explores how different forms of agency can coexist within a shared environment without hierarchy, and how action can emerge from their interaction. Here, authorship is no longer individual but distributed across the system. Field Attunement unfolds as an emergent event—one that cannot be fully planned, predicted, or controlled.
Jaanika Peerna
Warm Offering of Cold
15.10.2026, 19:00 Location: Sasuntsi Davit Gallery Duration: 20 sound: John Grzinich costume: Tuuliki Peil For the performance, Jaanika Peerna uses a sculpted piece of ice as the central element of the choreography. Channeling a deeply felt engagement with the climate crisis, particularly the loss of glaciers, Peerna employs ice as a totemic representation of strength, beauty, and environmental fragility in her performances, as well as a medium of erasure, flow, and transformation. The participatory performance is held in dialogue of her installation Cold Love Yerevan. Jaanika Peerna is an Estonian-born artist based in New York and Lisbon. Her work encompasses drawing, installation, and performance, often dealing with transitions in light, air, water, and other natural phenomena. In her performances, she often involves the audience in participatory reflection on the current climate crisis. Her art practice stems from the corporeal experience of our existence and reaches toward an enhanced awareness of the fragility, interconnectedness, and wonder of all life.
Anna Frants
The Fish has the Last Word
17.10.2026, 17:00 Escalator Gallery While the machines engage in a dialogue of their own, two performers observe the robots Anatoly and Miro and the fish in an aquarium between them. They write down their observations, erase what they have written, and begin again. The performance unfolds across three levels of observation: the machines observe and interact with one another; the performers observe the robots and the fish; and the audience observes the performers, the machines, and the process of observation itself. Unlike the dialogue between the machines, the human statements disappear, making way for new ones. The performance becomes another episode of Obsessive Observation, in which the observer becomes the object of observation.
Robert Schwarz
25.10.2026, 20:00 Stridulations / Tymbals (4-channel audio, 2026) Location: Special Events Auditorium In his latest work, Schwarz continues his exploration of acoustic communication in insects, focusing on the bioacoustic characteristics and the spatio-temporal organisation of cicada sound production. He presents a speculative resynthesis of insect calls, in simultaneity with ethological field recordings of real-world insect life. Constantly shifting the boundary between the natural and the synthetic, the piece follows a proprietary internal logic, informed by intraspecies acoustic communication. Listeners are guided through richly textured abstract sound entities that invite deep and dislocated states of listening. Synthetic field recordings, sonic fictions, sound worlds teeming with life: Vienna-based composer, artist, sound researcher, and architect Robert Schwarz brings together influences from computer music, sound studies, and architecture to unsettle our senses while evoking vivid images. For more than twenty years, Schwarz has investigated acoustic phenomena, directing his attention towards the hidden and uncovering details that usually escape our perception. From the interplay of field recordings and sound synthesis, he creates abstract sonic structures that open up profound, dislocated listening experiences while critically questioning established habits of hearing.
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