His Majesty the King and Her Majesty Queen Máxima will attend the opening performance of the 78th edition of the Holland Festival on Wednesday evening 11 June in Amsterdam. At the Muziekgebouw, the festival will open with the European premiere of Cyber Subin in which Thai choreographer Pichet Klunchun revives the ancient, graceful mask dance Kohn through the lens of artificial intelligence. AI analyses and deconstructs the movements and generates new, unexpected poses.
Thai classical dance - reinterpreted
The movements of both humans and avatars in Cyber Subin are based on "Mae Bot Yai" (59 poses from a traditional Thai masked dance, Khon), but are reinterpreted through digital processes. The dancers are challenged to react, resist or dance along with the avatars.
For more than two decades, Klunchun has been studying the movements of Khon dance and looking for ways to reinterpret them. Cyber Subin was developed by him in four phases: capturing movements, codifying according to six principles, developing an interface to interact with avatars, and experimenting with dancers and AI.
UNESCO heritage
Khon, which has been performed since the 14th century, was added to UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2018. As such, the performance is not only about the interaction between man and machine, but also offers a new approach to cultural preservation. Cyber (derived from cybernetics) Subin ('dream' in Thai) shows how tradition does not have to be static, but rather alive and evolving.
The Holland Festival is the largest international performing arts festival in the Netherlands and one of the oldest festivals in Europe. Founded in 1947, Holland Festival will celebrate its 78th anniversary in 2025. Seventeen venues will host 143 performances, including 14 world premieres. This year's festival will take place from 11 June to 29 June in Amsterdam and The Hague.
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