A collaborative project between Innsbruck International and VORBRENNER.
“Redneck to Cyborg: a shared transformation. 2.0” is the new and updated version of a lecture performance first conceived in 2009 for the Tanzquartier Wien. In this work, Vienna-based Canadian performer and artist Stephanie Cumming humorously reflects on her life story within the context of societal changes and events. From her upbringing in oil-rich northern Alberta, Canada—an area geographically and culturally isolated by vast forests—to her collaboration with Austrian choreographer Chris Haring, with whom she co-founded the acclaimed dance ensemble Liquid Loft in 2003, Cumming explores her own transformation within this relationship as muse and creative partner. How do the lines of authorship blur in their collaborative work so that inspiring and being inspired become interchangeable? And how has this, in turn, led Cumming down different creative and personal paths, including but not limited to working in film and, more recently, becoming a mother? “Redneck to Cyborg: a shared transformation. 2.0” offers a rare and intimate glimpse into Stephanie Cumming’s journey, spanning nearly two decades of her career.