GORGON marks Marianna Simnett’s debut opera, showcased by the LAS Art Foundation as part of Berlin Art Week. The flute opera tells the story of the goddess Athena, whose image has been rethought as a neoliberal girlboss and reinterpreted through the eco-lens of cyberfeminism.
The opera’s story focuses on Greta, a girl who works at a railway station doughnut stand, and Gorgon, a shape-shifting entity with a powerful voice. Greta sees herself as a corporate queen and tries to harness Gorgon’s scream. They meet when Greta mimics his scream, but her tools are ineffective, leading her to relinquish control. Greta and Gorgon gradually become aware of each other’s vulnerability, transforming their bodies and minds.
The music is a combination of synthetic and acoustic sounds with live music, a chorus of flutists transforming their song with AI. The costumes and masks of the choir reflect the function of technology as a distorting mirror of our modern reality. GORGON is a contemporary fairy tale that explores themes of love, power and empathy in the age of AI technology.
