Part 1 of the choreographic prediction NearFar EMPIRES
A production by Emanuele Soavi incompany, co-produced by Depot Köln
Premiere: January 23, 2027 in Depot Köln
Insights into the creative process of ‘365 Skies Above Me’
13.12.2026 open rehearsal / Depot Köln
17.12.2026 Soavis LIVING ROOM / Halle Alte Feuerwache Köln
18.12.2026 open studio / Halle Alte Feuerwache Köln
19.12.2026 open studio / Halle Alte Feuerwache Köln
“Perhaps there is a whole world of mythology within our bodies,
a reflection of the great and the small,
in which everything is connected to everything else.”
(Flight, Olga Tokarczuk)
What if human bodies were subject to the same invisible forces that move the planets? What if the universe is trying to tell us what comes next? In his new dance performance 365 Skies Above Me Emanuele Soavi, together with sound artist Johannes Malfatti, actress Kate Strong, five dancers and four cellists, paints a picture of the body as a microcosm, permeated by the same dynamics that also govern the macrocosm: A ‘planetarium’ in which dance, text, live music and digital codes merge to explore possibilities for coexistence between the unpredictability of human expression and algorithmic precision.
An installation comprising taut strings amplified by contact microphones evokes the human nervous system, data streams, and the connection between humankind and the cosmos. Serving as both stage and instrument, it becomes a playground for the dance, which at times is precise and virtuosic, at others highly individual and unexpected, creating a continuous crescendo through repetition and shared movement patterns. Bodies, sounds and technical devices merge to form a sensory machine, unfolding a contemporary ritual that straddles prophecy, surveillance, energy and trance.
At the heart of this collective game sits a single, solitary individual who, like every human being, strives to foresee what is to come. He is in constant dialog with a voice. Is it the sky? An artificial intelligence? An unknown system? Or perhaps the spectre of a memory still running through his mind – where knowledge and emotion become the principles of survival. But who, exactly, is speaking to whom? And what happens when the voice we seek to understand begins to understand us?
Building on a research project funded by the Kunststiftung NRW, which Soavi carried out in Paris, London and Berlin in 2025 with an interdisciplinary team, the NearFar EMPIRES series combines research, technology and the arts to form an open system of aesthetic exploration into who we are and how we wish to live with new technological possibilities in the future. It examines the long history of techniques predicting the future – from ancient practices to modern systems of artificial intelligence – a history of humanity’s quest for power that shapes behaviour, shapes collective imaginations, and conquers the future.
Choreography: Emanuele Soavi with the dancers Federico Casadei, Taeyeon Kim, Lisa Kirsch, Marta Maestrelli, Patrick Wiel I Text, Performance: Emanuele Soavi, Kate Strong I Music, Live-Sound: Johannes Malfatti I Cellists: Joseph Defant, Alice Dixon, Majella Münz, Anja Schröder I Costumes: Chiara Venturini I Sound, technical direction: Roman Sroka I Project management, mediation: Miriam Leysner I PR: Anne-Kathrin Reif I Production, stage management: Achim Conrad
‚365 Skies Above Me‘ is funded by Kulturamt der Stadt Köln, Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, Kunststiftung NRW and supported by Goethe-Institut (Paris), La Ménagerie de Verre (Paris) as part of the StudioLab program, Cie La Baraka / La Chapelle – Abou Lagraa & Nawal Aït Benalla (Annonay) creative residence, ehrenfeldstudios
The research was funded by Kunststiftung NRW and supported by Warburg Institute (London), ETIS – CYU Cergy Paris University, Goethe Institut (Paris)
Foto Joris Jan Bos