Who stands behind the collective Flip the Coin? Can you introduce yourself?
Lea: Ferdinand and I stand behind the collective Flip the Coin; we’ve been developing multimedia performances since 2021. In our body of work, we have a strong focus on human-machine interaction, merging the disciplines of media art, choreography, and music into high-energy stage pieces, which we have already had the pleasure of showing across Europe. I am a contemporary dancer, choreographer, and dance researcher. In my recent physical as well as theoretical work, I focus on the functionality of machine learning algorithms, classifying the human body and its movements. This just brought Ferdinand and me to Chemnitz, the European Capital of Culture 2025, for a residency, some performances, and the development of a new piece.
Ferdi: I am a media artist and musician, and my current interests also lie in the field of machine learning. I have now spent several years on the utilization and adaptation of commonly used pattern recognition algorithms, trying to find specific use cases for installations and performances, and to extract meaning from their interpretations. My music takes great influence from early 2000s sub-heavy bass music with cross-references to current experimental electronic music. At Sonic Territories in October, Lea and I will show warp-speed minnesang, which presents a hypothetical scenario where the physical shells of network infrastructure are set in motion and thus influence our communication.
How do your individual artistic practices—Lea’s choreography and dance practice next to Ferdinand’s media art and music-based practice—intersect in this piece?
Ferdinand: In our projects, we work together from beginning to end. All the decisions are made together on a very small scale. This ensures the interweaving of our practices and makes the individual processes inseparable. We start with a setting that involves a simple interaction with a machine, adding our expertise to it. For warp-speed minnesang, we started experimenting with motion tracking on our phones, which grew into small video works, which grew again into the stage piece. We set the ultimate goal to make everything move to the sound of the danced minnesong. This resulted in a setting with three motorized screens, mounted on stands and a server rack, which all move in sync according to Lea’s movements. Adding to that, the screens show virtualized representations of network infrastructure, also mirroring Lea’s choreography through bending their architectural shapes.
How did the theme of digital infrastructure in motion come up for you?
Lea: When standing in front of a data center, we realized nothing but an overbearing silence, although an excessive amount of communication was happening just beside us. We started taking short videos in the surroundings of the network infrastructure, trying to come as close as possible to these objects. With short choreographic scores, hidden communication processes were imagined and visualized. Soon after visiting different kinds of objects like data centers, TV/radio towers, and ground stations, we felt the need to develop the collected material into a full piece.
Lea, how did you choreograph movement in response to inanimate objects representing infrastructure?
Lea: This performance presents a specific way of looking at digital communication systems and their technical appearances by highlighting solely their movements. Instead of focusing only on their technical aspects, we want to give space to their emotional value, lying within their shapes and locked securely behind (fire) walls. Looking at this from the dancer’s point of view, it is very intriguing to extract and distinguish movement from seemingly inanimate objects. The performance consists of three scenes, each dealing with a different representative of the network infrastructure, each telling their own tale. Every setting was inspired by a distinct internet phenomenon. The site-specific research, in combination with our imagined storylines, provided more than enough material to explore physically.
And Ferdinand, from another side, how are game engines, motion tracking, and kinetic installations integrated into the choreography?
Ferdinand: When visiting on-site, we took heaps of photos and videos as well as 3D scans of the buildings. To move a building digitally by live motion tracking, it needs a bone-like structure, a so-called „rig.“ Combining the scans with the rig, the virtual representations can follow the tracked movements of Lea’s body. The virtual environment allows them to bend their normally very rigid bodies and creates this hypothetical distortion of communication. In the performance, everything should follow the danced minnesong, so we decided to move the installed screens—also seen as part of the infrastructure—by motorizing them. Altogether, this resulted in a kind of mixed reality setting, where the installed screens extend the space to create a new room, where every communication happens.
Can you elaborate on the title „warp-speed minnesang“?
Lea: The title reflects the human-machine relationship that is created during the performance. The dancing can be interpreted as a nowadays minnesong that captivates the objects of the network infrastructure and makes them dance intoxicated with love. Imagination is fundamental to the thought experiment in the performance, as well as to the desire expressed in the traditional minnesong. In those, this imagination is primarily a means of getting close to the beloved lady, even though there is a physical separation. In this way, the song can lead to an imaginary place, behind closed windows and beyond battlements. Following a similar principle, warp-speed minnesang also uses imagination to make the physically inaccessible spaces and bodies of the network infrastructure accessible.
What does the rehearsal for the piece look like?
Ferdinand: Lea and I always rehearse together, at every stage of the process. We have a lot of influence on each other’s elements, which is necessary to make the performance as homogeneous as possible. It’s not just a matter of discussing all the decisions; we also try to slip into the other person’s role again and again so that we can gather experience from all perspectives.
How does it feel to „dance with a machine“?
Lea: People tend to see machines as those emotionless technical tools, but in fact, they are vessels for a lot of our daily human interactions and therefore can temporarily house some of our most intimate thoughts, conversations, and desires. Though this lens dancing with a machine to me feels just the same as talking to my friends. In warp-speed minnesang, the machines give me real-time feedback on my movements, trying to mirror the choreography by warping their own appearance. This provides new visual input for me and reasons to respond, leading to a lively discussion—sometimes more calm, sometimes rather enraged.
What are the decisions made regarding the costume and the position of the stage for the performance at SONIC TERRITORIES?
Lea: Since this is a very high-energy performance, the most important thing for me about the costume is that it feels good to move in it. In terms of style, the costume draws inspiration from medieval times—with elements reminiscent of chain mail and knight armor, reimagined for the tech bros of today. At Sonic Territories, the stage is transformed into a mixed reality environment, designed to provide the audience with an immersive experience. A distinctive cosmos is created through the combination of dance, 3D animation, live motion tracking, simple robotics, and music, where physical constraints dissolve and dreamlike visions become reality.
What do you hope audiences at the SONIC TERRITORIES Festival will take away from the performance?
Ferdi: Through this performance, we aim to prompt the audience to contemplate their relationship with network infrastructure and consider the digital pathways they themselves traverse to access these objects. The performance creates an imaginary space for the audience—a parallel reality in which the relationship between humans and machines enables different forms of interaction and communication. This opens up an infinite number of possible scenarios that can be interpreted as both utopian and dystopian.
SONIC TERRITORIES Festival 2025
Lea Karnutsch & Ferdinand Doblhammer „warpspeed minnesang“ (Sound Performance)
Date: October 18th, 2025 from 7:30 PM
Venue: VHS Kulturgarage, 1220 Vienna
Flip the Coin – www.fliptheco.in
Flip the Coin is a collective for the promotion of multidisciplinary performances in dance and media art, founded by Lea Karnutsch and Ferdinand Doblhammer.
