Game of Life is a two part exhibit/performance based on the personal story of bluemouth inc. artist Lucy Simic. Shortly before the pandemic she was diagnosed with brain cancer and the piece explores what it’s like to live with cancer against a backdrop of Lucy’s artistic life and relationships in Canada, and more recently, Brooklyn.

The first component of the piece is an installation; Lucy AI.  This consists of an interactive AI model into which aspects of Lucy’s personal history, beliefs and values have been fed (I understand an 800 question questionnaire was involved).  The piece loops for about 90 minutes alternating opportunities for audience members to interrogate the model with video clips, with voiceover, about Lucy’s life and journey.  I spent the suggested 90 minutes with the installation but I could probably have done pretty much as well with 20-30 for reasons that will become apparent later.

The videos are mildly interesting.  The real point is the AI model.  The trouble is it’s a typical AI model.  Ask it a question and it will give you an answer, but there’s a strong tendency to take a “that’s very interesting, there are two sides to every question, what do you think?” generic response.  That gets pretty tedious pretty quickly.  The phrase “the bland leading the bland” came to mind rather a lot.  Also the voice overs get repeated in part 2 so there’s very little additional information to be gained by spending serious time with the installation.  The box office had suggested that capacity limitations might make access to the installation difficult for latecomers but most of the time I was there (immediately before the performance of Elephant) there were only four actual audience members.

I guess the point is to get us to think about what role AI may play in the arts and the creative process.  It does appear to assume that AI has a role.  I’m not sure.  I can see it being used to create “entertainment”; in fact a learning system would appear ideal for producing variations on a well established core product.  But art?  Does “art” not require a deeper insight into the human soul than a “learning machine” is capable of?  I’m not sure.  Humans have been creating art for maybe 150,000 years and for all but the last 5-10 they managed just fine without AI and I fancy they can continue to do so.

And so to part 2; the “play” Elephant (as in “the elephant in the room”).  People familiar with bluemouth’s work (not me!) appeared to know what to expect.  It’s a curious mash up of experimental theatre techniques.  It’s (loosely) structured around the progressions of a dinner party with each element described as a “course”.  There are interactive games (some of which seem to be “genuine” and others “fixed” to provide a transition point).  There are the readings that we also got with Lucy AI.  There are not especially interesting pop songs and improvised dance; both with an element of audience participation.  Parts of the action are videoed and projected onto giant screens.  It feels fairly spontaneous but muddled and lacking any clarity of purpose or direction.

It’s also set up in a way I found unsatisfying.  There’s a cluster of audience members and performers in one corner of the space.  There’s a long refectory style table down the middle with audience members sitting either side.  A lot happens on the table.  Then there’s a line of chairs along the wall opposite the group in the corner.  It creates a very strong sense of the audience being split into “participants” and “observers”.  That may be fair enough  if that’s made clear before people seat themselves so that they can make a choice but as it was it felt discriminatory.

All in all, I wasn’t moved or challenged or amused or any of the other things I hope for at the theatre.  Maybe my personal experience of brain cancer warped my perception.  I’ve had three former rugby team-mates die of brain cancer (the oldest was 61 when he died) and periods of my professional life have also been tied up with cancer diagnosis and treatment including end of life care.  Or maybe, as a colleague remarked afterwards (joking I hope!) I’m just a “cold hearted bastard”.  In any event, Game of Life didn’t work for me.

There are three more performances at the Theatre Centre; one tonight and two tomorrow.  If you do go I strongly suggest exploring Lucy AI but not spending too much time on it.

Photo credits: Tony Chong (Lucy AI), Francesca Chudnoff (Elephant)