This thrilling sci-fi journey connects the past, present, and future.

• PAST: Within a vast 5,000-square-meter factory, stripped of its industrial history, lies a hidden dragon that once ignited the flames of reform.

• PRESENT: A group of real residents living in the Shekou area eagerly awaiting your rescue on the space ark.

• FUTURE: In a world where artificial intelligence and robots control every human, can we still break free?

Performance documentary highlights

This "3.0 version" of the project 「Space Ark 2020」transforms the majestic Machinery Hall of the Shenzhen Shekou Value Factory into a spaceship. Some of the inhabitants, robots, and virtual humans boarded the spaceship, becoming perhaps the last people to leave Earth. Some local residents, along with robots and virtual humans, board the spaceship, becoming perhaps the last people to leave Earth. However, each of them is trapped in a separate space cabin, and is subject to the invisible power of artificial intelligence. No one knows when the spaceship will launch or be destroyed. Their fate is determined by every audience member. The participating viewers need to unravel the mystery of the spaceship's power hidden in the remains of the former Guangdong Float Glass Factory.  In 1987, the first flame of the furnace here was once ignited by a fire-breathing dragon during the opening ceremony...

Guangdong Float Glass Factory was one of the most advanced float glass factories in China in the late 1980s and 1990s. It was built in 1985 with a joint investment of 100 million US dollars from China, the United States, and Thailand. In 2009, it ceased production after experiencing the global financial crisis. Since the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Architecture in 2013, the glass factory has been transformed into the renowned creative park "Value Factory," representing an important landmark in the history of Shenzhen's reform and opening-up. It embodies the industrial memory of Shekou and the pioneering spirit of "dare to be the first." The "Machinery Hall" used for the performance has an area of over 5,000 square meters, with 88 majestic melting furnace columns resembling the formation of Terracotta Warriors. The entire hall is metaphorically transformed into a spacecraft in the show.

This is a participatory, immersive site-specific theater that, through games and adventures, sparks a connection between the past and present, prompting reflections and memories. It utilizes the power of new technology like AI and robotics to present fantasies and raise thought-provoking questions. The creative team for this new project includes experimental musician Dickson Dee, Future Art curator Zhang Haitao, founder of the Computer Art Department of Beijing University/ AI artist, Gao Feng, senior stage designer Jia Si, transboundary producer/Community Activist Qu Hong, etc. It forms a collaborative matrix that transcends mediums and disciplines.

Most performers of the show were non-professionals recruited from Shenzhen, especially the Shekou district. They present their real identities, stories, and emotions. This crew includes an "original master" of the factory where the play is staged — a worker from the Float Glass Factory, a retired librarian from the Shekou Library, a small business owner in international logistics, two elementary students from international schools, an elder who was a farmer in a rural place, and international inhabitants from Ukraine and Sri Lanka... Each one of them represents us.

On the day of this performance, the spaceship has been floating in space for 1381 days.

Now, the Space Ark is about to launch.

Are you coming along?