Elsbeth wrote the study “Am I my data?” (2022) during her pre-master’s programme at Utrecht University, building on the themes of her bachelor’s thesis. In this research, Elsbeth analysed the performance #2 BIAS (2021) by the theatre collective playField. Central to her study was the way algorithms, due to the subjective nature of data, can produce perceptual bias in their predictions, thereby causing exclusion based on prejudice. The focus of this research was on how the audience is addressed. To analyse these modes of address, she employed the concepts of theatricality and absorption, as well as the terms discernable and integrated relationships, derived from game theory. Using these concepts, she examined the idea of response-ability within the performance. By employing the mechanism of an algorithm as dramaturgy, the performance reveals how an algorithm functions and conveys the potential consequences of algorithms experientially.
Photos performance #2 BIAS
