Performance

Dan Mussett — THE DATING PROJECT - First Date

A performative first date in STUKcafé

➤ STUKcafé
➤ Ongoing (19:00-23:00). Register in STUKcafé
➤ Duration: 30 - 45’
➤ Available in English and Dutch
➤ Interactive (2 people). As a participant you will physically move.
➤ Smartphones are provided for the performance. For this you will need to temporarily hand over your own phone or ID-card as a deposit. If possible, please also bring your own headphones or wired earphones.

First Date is a performative roleplaying game in which two people re-enact a first date by following a series of instructions on a smartphone. In doing so, they begin to perform an

uncanny mimicry of a modern day conversation in which smartphones are always hyper-present. Blurring the line between fiction and reality, and questioning the difference between when we are performing and when we are simply being ourselves, First Date prompts participants to play with how they present themselves to another person in this climate. Are concepts like 'intimacy' and 'authenticity' even possible anymore in our screen-oriented culture? Or can technology offer us ways of forming closer connections with each other?

First Date is a concept that falls under the ongoing THE DATING PROJECT. The central aim of the project is to question the role that technology (can) play(s) in social interactions and everyday life. It was initiated by performer and choreographer Dan Mussett (UK/BE) in 2019, as a way to cope with his frustration with dating apps.