Alan - Mensch Maschine

In the organizer's words:

Great Britain 1942: Mathematician Alan Turing, cryptanalyst Joan Clarke and the team at Bletchley Park are working on deciphering the Nazi cipher machine "Enigma", whose code changes every 24 hours. A puzzle that cannot be solved by human power, only a machine can beat a machine. Experience important moments in the eventful life of AI visionary Alan Turing and his race against time.

Through his efforts, the British logician made a significant contribution to the end of the Second World War. Nevertheless, his achievements continued to be kept under lock and key after the end of the war. In 1952, Turing was brought to trial for his homosexuality, which was still a criminal offense throughout Europe at the time. In the meantime, not only was the most important award in computer science named after him, but he also received an official apology posthumously on behalf of the British government. Turing's visions of artificial intelligence and his specially developed "Turing Test" are more relevant today than ever.

The Portmanteau Duo created a music machine for "Alan - Mench Machine", which simultaneously forms the soundtrack, dialog partner and stage set for Turing's life.

The "fabulous theatrical marvel" (SZ) is an intergenerational theatrical spectacle, recommended for ages 12 and up.

Audience discussion and machine inspection after each performance.
Venue: halle50 of the DomagkAteliers

With Thorsten Krohn, Lucca Züchner and the portmanteau duo Christian Heiß and Greulix Schrank
Director, text Christian Heiß, Thorsten Krohn
Stage, lighting, music, technology Portmanteau Duo
Costume Cornelia Petz
Make-up Kiki Plötz
Artistic collaboration Lucca Züchner
Choreographic advice Sophie Charlotte Becker
Outer Eye Dagmar Schmidt
Production management Stephanie Tschunko
Assistant director Romy Reichenspurner
Production assistance Lilly Helmel
Software development Dr. Leonhard Scheck

The machine
The installation consists of 20 identical Schäfer sorting boxes from the 1970s, into which 5 sound and 3 light actuators have been installed, which are controlled via midi signals. The sound installation collectively symbolizes the Turing machine. The machine can reproduce a variety of sound worlds, from grinding noises and tones to complex rhythmic sequences: Clappers banging on wood, plastic crates sliding over saw blades, bells ringing, chains scraping, everything rattles and dengels in time to the music. Each of the 20 boxes is framed by 182 RGB LED lights, which can be brought to life in different forms using software specially written by Dr. Leonhard Scheck. With a total of 3,000 watts of light output using the pixel mapping process, a wide variety of lighting worlds can be created. The combination of music, sound and light installation creates a powerful effective space in front of which the life of Alan Turing is told. https://portmanteau.net/

We would like to point out that a strobe effect is used in this production.

A Spagat production, supported by the Cultural Department of the City of Munich.

Price information:

22€ standard rate; 16€ reduced rate I; 14€ reduced rate II; 55€ SPECIAL PACKAGE: 2 adults, 2 children under 16 years; 6€ SPECIAL PACKAGE: each additional child under 16 years