Rimini Protokoll - Stefan Kaegi

We mostly think of robots as work machines that execute tasks precisely and efficiently. In the German industry, they barely look like people, to avoid emotional implications. While in Asia, humanoid robots have already been developed for some time, as care-workers or as sex partners for example. The resemblance with human beings makes it easier to accept them. However, if the machine looks too much like a human, we begin to doubt: what is human, what is machine? In Japan, robotics researchers call this troubling similarity the “uncanny valley”.

For his new play, Stefan Kaegi works for the first time with a writer: Thomas Melle, who allowed to make an animatronic double of himself. This humanoid takes the author’s place and throws questions: what about the original when the copy takes over? Does the original get to know himself better through his double? Do the copy and his original compete or can they complete each other?