Disconnected

“From the beginning, my nature drew me outside the system. Finally it beat me: come to terms with it. This is you.”

They’re disconnected. From “normal society”, from necessary failure in the everyday struggle with “the world out there”. Withdrawn into themselves, (in)voluntarily imprisoned in their apartments and rooms, which they don’t leave for months, years, sometimes even entire decades. There are hundreds of thousands of them. In Japan, Brazil, Scandinavia, in the Czech Republic, and in other parts of the world. A generation in crisis? An disease of contemporary society? Hikikomori.

Disconnected, a new stage composition by the international theatre troupe Farm in the Cave, grew out of an investigation of the hikikomori phenomenon (a Japanese term for extreme social isolation), and combines movement, video, text, an art installation, and live music into a unique visual experience. The multimedia performance is based on the art installation of the same name that was part of the Brave New World at the DOX Centre. The piece was co produced by Farm in the Cave, the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, and European Capital of Culture Pilsen 2015. The work of the internationally acclaimed Farm in a Cave troupe under the leadership of director and choreographer Viliam Dočolomanský has long been based on exploring contemporary topics, and is among the best in its field in Europe.