Annie Dorsen: Yesterday Tomorrow

“Haunting and strangely beautiful … as simple in its emotional appeal as it is complex in its conception and execution.” —New York Times

Algorithmic-theater inventor and MacArthur “Genius” Award–winner Annie Dorsen presents a remarkable performance that celebrates the potential transcendence of living in the moment in our environmentally and politically anxious times. Beginning with the Beatles’ “Yesterday” and ending with the song “Tomorrow” from the musical Annie, Dorsen’s algorithms create new scores in real time each night for three vocalists, deconstructing and reassembling these beloved pop songs. Yesterday Tomorrow offers a meditation on the relationships between humanity, computers, and creativity, with a Zen-like embrace of the present at its core. The work’s use of chance and artificial intelligence “unexpectedly creates a funny, joyous, and twisting journey … surprisingly, for such an intellectual exercise, human pleasure is the overwhelming result” (Exeunt).

Copresented by The Great Northern and Walker Art Center.