After a failed marriage to Amazon’s smart-home device Alexa, Watton packs his bags for Perth with a cathartic new show, Alexa, Turn on the Lights.

The Brisbane-based choreographer and dancer describes his show as one part TED talk, one part couples therapy – a begrudging duet designed to change the way audiences form relationships with technology.

A truly interactive experience, Alexa, Turn on the Lights, presented in collaboration with Cluster Arts, has been praised by critics at Toowoomba’s Curious Arts Festival as “bite-sized, intimate theatre at its best”.

Greg McFerran chatted to Watton over the inter-waves to find out more.

Greg McFerran: For Seesaw Mag readers who don’t know you, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your work? 

Jacob Watton: I am a Meanjin (Brisbane) based artist and creator. I work as a performer and maker primarily in dance and theatre. I studied a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) at Queensland University of Technology. As part of my research, I made a duet with a robotic camera that explores identity, surveillance and being seen. From this, my work exploded out to thinking about technology (something I am not a huge fan of) and connection (something I am a big fan of) and the ways that I can present these themes that speaks to the tension that exists between humanity and our technologically dependent lives. I live in a batch pad and love a ginger beer.

GM: Tell us about Alexa, Turn on the Lights.

JW: Alexa, Turn on the Lights is a performance work which I made in collaboration with the expertise and vision of my tech-developer brother, Ben Watton. It is another tech/human duet but this time between myself and an Amazon Alexa. This work explores — in a hopefully funny and charming way — the manner through which technology lives in our houses, as well as the roles it might play in our lives moving forward. I have attempted to juxtapose the authentic and sometimes autobiographical nature of my performance with the detached and inhuman nature of technology.

Part TED Talk, part couples therapy, Alexa, Turn on the Lights is a performance for audiences who moan about the printer in their lives that has let them down in pivotal moments, or the constant that is Siri piping up uninvited, into any and all conversations. It’s a show for technophobes in a technologically dependent world.

GM: What is the story behind the work?

JW: When living together, my brother and I adopted Alexa into every room of our house for a short time. The TV, the fan, doorbell and every light bulb all became Alexa integrated. I was encouraged to ask Alexa to turn the lights on and off, but nine out of 10 times Alexa would not do what I wanted her to. This forced and failing immersion in far-from-infallible tech is what the show was born from.

GM: Take us behind the scenes of your show – what happens during the rehearsal/creative process?

JW: As a contemporary dancer, I’m used to long sweaty days in the studio working physically to create a show. And yet, Alexa, Turn on the Lights was made upon my couch in the comfort of my home. It was a luxury to be able to sit down next to my brother and collaboratively construct it from the ground up. Our method of collaboration is like playing volleyball, just pushing the work from one brain to the other.

The lovely thing about technology is that it is ever-evolving. There are things the show can do now that were not possible two years ago.

GM: What do you hope audiences will take away from your show?

JW: I hope that audiences will feel a sense of joyful connection. A big part of the show is welcoming people into a shared space where we can laugh, think and feel connected. This is something that I think people are really lacking right now.

Each night, the show is different because the people attending are different and so this sort of laughing, thinking and feeling is different too, which is brilliant.

GM: What is your favourite part of the playground?

JW: I have always loved a swing. Seesaws have this beautiful mutuality and support about them: each person responsible for the other’s fun. Swings do that, too, but in a true act of sharing. Pushing someone else with the trust that they will push you when it’s your turn.

Alexa, Turn on the Lights is at WA Museum Boola Bardip, 2-12 February 2023

Pictured top: Jacob Watton has a love-hate relationship with technology. Photo: Matt Martin

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