Related project: The recycled robot
Unique family music performance with international ambitions to premiere in the Concertgebouw (2025)
The robot from the flea market is a short story written by bestselling author Tonke Dragt (known for De Zevensprong and Letter for the King, recently released on Netflix). Robot artist Bram Ellens has acquired the international theater rights and will stage a unique project together with the Concertgebouw and an impressive list of other partners.
The story (from 1971) takes place in the future. Every child is dependent on their own robot. Learning is a thing of the past, after all, that's what your robot does. But then one day the robot of the main character Edu breaks down. The only solution is an old-fashioned robot from the flea market offered by a somewhat eccentric figure. There's just one problem; Edu still has to teach the robot everything (except reciting poems because that is the only thing this robot can do). Because of this situation, Edu learns to appreciate 'learning' again and, against his better judgement, he starts to build a bond with the robot. Until one day the robot breaks down and Edu receives some wise lessons from the man at the flea market, and he realizes that he has learned to stand on his own two feet and is capable of more than he ever dreamed.
Initiator and producer Bram Ellens is an aspiring artist after an international career in technology and co-founder of the European Lab for Robotics in Art and Theater. His latest series of installations are robots (robot arms, drones, etc.) programmed to make the visitor feel an emotional bond with this technology against their better judgment. His robot work has already been on display in the Lakenhal Museum (nominated for the Falling Walls Science Breakthrough 2023), Soestdijk Palace, Lowlands, HEM, NXT and Kunsthal Aalborg and is included in the NEMO collection.
Now his years of experience and network in bringing robots to life as art installations will be taken to the next level: an evening-long performance with a robot arm in the leading role.
Bram Ellens, together with the Concertgebouw, has assembled an impressive team to realize this project.
The robot will be programmed over the next 18 months by Creative Robotics, with whom Bram Ellens has been working for years. The underlying research for this is done in the Robot Lab in collaboration with the Ulrike Quade Company, TU Delft and University of Utrecht. The music will be composed, arranged and performed by Bart Hengeveld and Thierry Castel (Jazz on Recipe, Wouter Hamel). The decor will be a projection drawn by Wouter Tulp (Disney, Pixar) with animations provided in a unique collaboration by students from the HKU. Finally, sonologist and beatmaster Harmen Sipkema (rap formation Kernhoofd) will give a voice to the robot.
Finally, the Concertgebouw is the beginning and not the end station for this project. The ambition is to take the performance after the Concertgebouw to New York and/or London, where it belongs perfectly given the beautiful timeless (and today oh so relevant) story and the unique design language.
See also:
Mini-documentary about Bram Ellens and his robots: https://vimeo.com/690420081
Mother and Child - robots in the Lakenhal Museum Leiden: https://vimeo.com/809802326
Robots in Captivity - a kennel full of robots: https://www.robotsincaptivity.com
Mini documentary about the Robotics Lab:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vc9PLE83Pe6so4NTEPacmOhWOdekVzP9/view?invite=CPLiqssE&ts=64b0492a