What does it mean to perform with technology today?
Artists from the 3 Evenings programme reflect on the legacy of landmark series 9 Evenings and grapple with the ways technology is entangled in their work in 2026.
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For the last decade, Somerset House Studios has been home to work which has explored and challenged the boundaries of emerging technology. As it approaches its tenth anniversary, director Marie McPartlin revisits a landmark collaboration from 1966 and explores how it resonates today.
‘9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering ‘brought leading artists together with engineers from Bell Labs for a series of performances in New York in 1966, pioneering new ways of working with technology and inspiring the formation of Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.).
60 years later, Somerset House Studios reimagined the format with ‘3 Evenings’, a series of performances at Wapping Power Station, inviting artists to experiment with evolving technologies. In this episode of The Process, Marie McPartlin discusses the spirit behind 9 Evenings with E.A.T director Julie Martin and asks artists from this year’s programme what it means to perform with technology today. Together they consider whether true experimentation requires some failure and whether allowing machines to break onstage can be an act of subversion.
Featuring Gazelle Twin, Lawrence Lek, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Team Rolfes, & Julie Martin.