Slow-motion shadow in colour © Olafur Eliasson, via

In a space designed by Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson at the 2015 Manchester International Festival (MIF), a cadre of dancers choreographed by Wayne McGregor will perform a contemporary ballet scored by DJ, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Jamie xx. A work already two years in the making, Manchester Opera House will host the piece, which was inspired by author Jonathan Safran Foer’s, Tree of Codes, an experimental cut-up story “carved from the text of Bruno Schulz’ Street of Crocodiles,” according to the MIF. 

Explains British choreographer (and creator of this biometric data based ballet), Wayne McGregor, whose Random Dance Company will be performing alongside dancers from the Paris Opera Ballet, “[Tree of Codes‘s] blurred and disorientating worlds provide a powerful point of departure for our collaboration on stage—where constellations of light, shadows, bodies, objects and sound dance at the edges of darkness.” 

Olafur Eliasson, whose past works include Moon graffiti, pocket-sized suns, and glacier art, was idiosyncratic in his comments on the Tree of Codes ballet, stating, “‘Clearly Jamie’s music can’t live without movement and space. Clearly Wayne’s choreography can’t live without sound and space. Clearly my art can’t live without sound and movement. Clearly creativity can change the world.” Needless to say, we’re looking forward to it. 

Check out our documentary on Jamie xx below: 

Click here for tickets, which go on sale tomorrow. 

h/t Pitchfork

Related:

Jamie xx | The Creators Project

Olafur Eliasson Sculpture At Frieze London Imitates A School Of Fish

Icelanders Played A Massive Game Of PONG On An Olafur Eliasson Building

Make Your Mark On The Moon With Olafur Eliasson and Ai Weiwei

Unlikely Algorithms: Choreographer Wayne McGregor Combines Biometric Data, 80’s Sci-Fi, And Computerized Dance Moves