Politics of the Grid
a new work by
Jessica Rajko
“A fascinating irony... that my errors might make me seem almost human.”
Politics of the Grid
a groundbreaking new evening-length dance-theatre work by Jessica Rajko. This immersive production fuses dance, devised theatre, and digital sound/touch technologies to portray a surrealist depiction of life in an AI-mediated world.
A recipient of the 2023 Knight New Work Detroit grant, Rajko draws on her expertise at the intersection of dance and computing to create an experience that is both visceral and thought-provoking. Audiences are invited into a contained world where five individuals grapple with isolation, algorithmic control, and the illusion of communication—represented by a single red phone linked to a useless automated help line.
As the story unfolds, the performers uncover the mysterious force known only as The Grid, a chilling metaphor for the invisible systems of surveillance and control in our tech-saturated reality. The piece reflects on AI as the unseen interlocutor in human relationships, highlighting the gaps—both digital and emotional—that shape our sense of connection and disconnection.
Research
Inspiration
During the 2016 presidential campaign, nostalgia was used as a weapon by Trump and his conservative, alt-right affiliates to rally supporters. As Trump transitioned from candidate to president, I felt compelled to research how paleoconservative nostalgia influences the tech industry. My research thus far has focused on technology created by private, conservative companies such as Palantir and Anduril that claim to "serve America" by aiding in the surveillance of vulnerable communities (particularly at the US/Mexico border) and helping further militarize our law enforcement.
Look for the people to understand the tech: Popular consumer and surveillance technologies are often understood as objects in-and-of themselves, rather than objects made by people with unique beliefs, ideologies, identities and political affiliations. Furthermore, rhetoric used to market both liberal and conservative technologies tends to look and sound the same, often confusing people into assuming all tech is liberally-minded. In this project, I peek behind technology to explore who is making the technologies that affect our environment and how they are shaping our world.
Relevant Article: "Inside Palmer Luckey's Bid to Build a Border Wall," Wired Magazine
Related Work: "Me, My Quantified Self, and I" and "Border Quants"
Questioning
Aesthetics
This research arose from a yearning to situate my own critical and creative research within my home region of the American Southwest and to engage in a creative process that does not exclusively focus on White, Euro-American concert dance aesthetics. The American Southwest has and continues to be a testing ground for new experimental technologies, yet little dance/tech work has been created to explore the impacts of technology design within the American Southwest. Most experimental dance/technology work coming from US institutions reflects US coastal urban city aesthetics at the very least, but more often Western European concert dance aesthetics. This observation is not intended to oversimplify the complex reasons why dance/technology research tends to reflect such aesthetics, but to point to a chasm between the geographic location in which my research takes place and the dominant aesthetics of the dance/technology community. As an artist who’s lived and made my work in the metro Phoenix area for over 12 years, the strong division between American Southwestern culture and dance/technology aesthetics is palpable. This division inspired me to develop a work that directly addresses the American Southwest as an active playground for technology design inspired by neoconservative politics and challenge common aesthetics used to make dance/tech artwork.
We do this through the use of: satirical humor, contemporary jazz dance, burlesque dance, Las Vegas entertainment aesthetics, haptic technologies, feathers, glitter, and feminist critique
Creative Inspirations: Grisha Coleman's (echo::system) and arts collective Radio Healer.
Process
Performances and events
Premiere
May 30 and 31 at 7:30 PM at the Hilberry Gateway
Detroit, MI
2026
60 minutes, no intermission
ARTIST TALK about ART-MAKING IN & WITH AI:
Saturday Night, immediately following the live-streamed performance of POLITICS OF THE GRID, was a conversation facilitated by Marc Arthur with guests Richard Newman and Liza Bielby of The Hinterlands and Christopher Knowlton.
This event fostered a thought provoking discussion about creative process, ethics, and the complexities of engaging with AI while making critical art.
Cast, Crew, and Connections
Jessica Rajko
IS A TRANSDISCIPLINARY ARTIST, RESEARCHER, AND SCHOLAR WORKING AT THE INTERSECTION OF DANCE AND TECHNOLOGY. HER WORK INVESTIGATES HOW COMPLEX DIGITAL SYSTEMS SHAPE—AND ARE SHAPED BY—DANCE AND CHOREOGRAPHIC PRACTICE.
JESSICA’S ARTISTIC PRACTICE EXPLORES HOW PEOPLE RELATE TO, THROUGH, AND WITHIN TECHNOLOGY IN EVERYDAY LIFE. SHE DESIGNS HAPTIC/SONIC MEDIA SYSTEMS THAT EXPAND THE SENSORY DIMENSIONS OF PERFORMANCE, ENABLING AUDIENCES TO EXPERIENCE MOVEMENT, DATA, AND PHYSICAL PRESENCE IN VISCERAL WAYS. HER MOST RECENT WORK, POLITICS OF THE GRID, WAS FUNDED BY THE KNIGHT FOUNDATION AND INTEGRATES HER DANCE-THEATRE PRACTICE WITH HER CUSTOM HAPTIC/SONIC MEDIA SYSTEM. SHE HAS CREATED MEDIA FOR ARTISTS INCLUDING BROTHER(HOOD) DANCE!, BAIRA MVMNT PHLOSPHY, AND DIRTY GLOVE BVCK, WITH PRESENTATIONS AT VENUES SUCH AS THE WEXNER CENTER FOR THE ARTS, CENTER FOR PERFORMANCE RESEARCH, OT301 (AMSTERDAM), CURRENTS NEW MEDIA FESTIVAL, SCOTIABANK NUIT BLANCHE, DETROIT MUSIC HALL, PHOENIX ART MUSEUM, AND MESA ARTS CENTER.
HER COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH EXAMINES THE ENTANGLEMENTS OF ARTISTIC LABOR IN COMPUTING AND ENGINEERING RESEARCH. SHE IS CO-LEAD OF DECODING DIGITAL BODIES, A PROJECT THAT INTERROGATES HOW DANCE SHAPES THE CODE, METADATA, AND DIGITAL ARCHIVES OF BOSTON DYNAMIC’S SPOT ROBOTS AND CHOREOGRAPHY SDK. THIS WORK IS CO-LED WITH VARSHA IYENGAR AND CURRENTLY IN COLLABORATION WITH ROBOTICISTS IN BROWN UNIVERSITY’S HUMANS TO ROBOTS LABORATORY.
JESSICA HAS PRESENTED HER WORK AT THE CONFERENCE FOR RESEARCH ON CHOREOGRAPHIC INTERFACES, HARVARD’S DIGITAL FUTURES CONSORTIUM, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO’S BMO LAB, UPENN’S PRICE LAB FOR DIGITAL HUMANITIES, AND MORE. HER SCHOLARSHIP APPEARS IN THE JOURNAL OF THEATRE, DANCE AND PERFORMANCE TRAINING, DANCE RESEARCH JOURNAL, POLITICS OF THE MACHINE, AND ACM’S INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MOVEMENT AND COMPUTING (MOCO), WHERE SHE ALSO SERVED AS 2022 PAPER CHAIR. SHE IS CURRENTLY ASSOCIATE CHAIR OF THE MAGGIE ALLESEE DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE AND DANCE AT WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY.
Photo by Stormy Davis
Cast
NOOR KAFFARANI
EMILY LAIRD
ELIJAH LENNINGTON
MARY RENKO
COCO VAUGHN
Photo by Stormy Davis
Crew
Artistic Director & Sound/Haptic Design: Jessica Rajko
Scenic Design: Seth Bowen
Lighting Design: Orion Latherow
Stage Manager: Tempest Thomas and John Pierre
Assistant Stage Manager: Sofia Bailey
Set Production: Jeff Jantz
Sound Engineering: Brian Cole
Haptics Technician: John Pierre
Board Operator: Graysen Rutherford
Marketing Director: Stormy Davis
Marketing: Aria Brown
Connections
PHOTO BY ©William Frederking
PHOTO BY Justine Tobiasz
Christopher Knowlton
Christopher took still images of the dancers to demonstrate the capabilities of AI and movement in the world of Politics of the Grid and shared insight during the Artist Talk following the premiere.
Christopher Knowlton, Ph.D., is a queer transdisciplinary movement artist and research scientist who uses emerging technologies to create augmented performance work. Based in Chicago, he has created many solo and collaborative dance works that have been featured locally and internationally, spanning dance, film, new media, puppetry, installation and storytelling. Chris was a Chicago Dancemakers Forum 2020 Lab Artist, a 2022 Ragdale in Schools Fellow, a 2023 Chicago Cultural Center Dance Studio Resident Artist, a Winter 2023 Banff Centre Dance Artist in Residence, 2024 Supported Residency at WOWArtSci in Taos, NM, a 2024 Artist in Residence and currently a 2025 Fellow Artist in Residence at High Concept Labs in Chicago. Chris is also a biomechanical research scientist and manages the Motion Analysis Laboratory at Rush University Medical Center.
The Hinterlands
Liza Bielby and Richard Newman have worked as THE HINTERLANDS since 2009, engaging a pool of collaborators to create playful and surreal theatrical performances and public events seen at the Shanghai Biennale, the Kohler Arts Center, Flynn Center, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, the Berlinale, and more. The foundation of their work is a rigorous, daily physical and vocal training practice that seeks to merge investigation of the self with inquiry into their lineages and passions, from laboratory theatre to electronic music production and beyond. Their research-driven multidisciplinary pieces blur reality and fiction, using humor; repetition; layering of historical reenactment and cultural references; and impeccable timing to create a performance language unique to each piece that lures audiences into unexpected moments and unknown “hinterlands.”
Media Design
Politics of the Grid expands upon prior work to develop LOAM by integrating the system with QLab 5 and Dante. The project uses both standard subwoofers and Buttkicker LFE’s to augment audience’s haptic experience of the music, sound design, and dancer movement. The sound design and engineering for Politics of the Grid was created and directed by Jessica Rajko.
