Drinking Brecht: An Automated Laboratory Performance

The title of this interactive installation of course refers to the famous Marxist playwright, whose dream was to create a “scientific” theater that would demonstrate for his audience the evils of capitalism, and incite them to revolution.

In Drinking Brecht: an automated laboratory performance, Sister Sylvester explores the politics and potential of this scientific theater in relation to contemporary microbiology, through a hat stolen from the costume collection of Brecht’s Berliner Ensemble. Sylvester traces the possible wearers of the hat using forensic and archival methods, and the audience learns about the first-ever biohacker experiment, creating a documentary in a drink.