| The last human is the chosen one, a survivor, a refugee, the last specimen of his kind, the representative of humanity, the person responsible for the legacy, a living being among all other living beings, machines and non-human entities on earth. Similar to the main character of The Wall by Marlen Haushofer, the last human realizes that they, she, he is left alone. The last human has no time to be afraid but must completely reinvent himself in order to survive. The Last Human is location-specific interactive theater. As you travel the route with your phone (or tablet) in parks, gardens or natural areas, you gradually discover that you are the last human being on earth. The audiovisual narrative fuses with the reality of the green location and takes you as the audience, also protagonist, on a journey to a time when current manners, power structures, obligations and expectations no longer matter.
How does a complete time-out feel? What do you do with that freedom? What changes in your relationship with your environment, other life forms and yourself? Are you still human when there are no other people? What makes you a human being? |
Humans are storytelling machines 24/7. Our thoughts and emotions take shape in stories, in a complex web of interconnected narratives based on our upbringing, education and memories. We are full of assumptions, prejudices, traumas and dreams. The narratives of our ancestors and the conditioning we carry within us continually influence our perception of the world and how we interact with others and our environment. We are mostly unaware of this. A common future story in which humans live in harmony with all other life on this planet seems further away than ever. Our society’s narrative is faltering and shooting in all directions. Fear, distrust and powerlessness get in the way of shared visions, dreams and cooperation.
The Last Human is a radical what-if scenario that would like to make audiences aware of the narrative structures by which we interpret the world and let them experience that we can nevertheless change the stories, assumptions and seemingly solid and ingrained notions if we dare. In a society that is regularly negatively affected by disruptive narratives, The Last Human aims to highlight the transformative power of the imagination. The Last Human is a pilgrimage for humanity.
The walk will take approx 45 minutes. The project will kick off in 2025/26 on 4 locations in the Netherlands and later abroad.
Applying the concept of labs, an international multidisciplinary team of artists, designers and scenario writers, with expertise in the field of theater, immersive collaborative storytelling, sound design, performativity in the public space, spoken word and poetry, serious gaming, augmented reality, ai and other technical and visual possibilities, will co-create.
The Last Human is the artistic elaboration, deepening and presentation of a storytelling methodology that is currently being developed with support from Creative Europe by SPACE in collaboration with partners in Hungary, France, Slovakia and the Netherlands.
For The Last Human, SPACE will work with existing partners such as Plurality University Network (U+) and their network of foresight collaborators and sci-fi writers but is also actively looking for other locations, a possible co-producer and partners who are interested to collaborate on content or exchange experiences.
“It is if you first become a part of nature. You suppress your presence as a human being, stay very still, and convince yourself that you are a tree or grass or a flower. It takes time, but once the butterfly lets its guard down, you can become friends quite naturally.” Murakami:1Q84