HAMLETMACHINE
© Ruby Wang
© Ruby Wang
© Ruby Wang
© Rachel Siyu Chen
Performance
Running time: approximately 50 minutes.
Content Advisory: loud sound, flashing imagery, strobe lighting, nudity.
HAMLETMACHINE is a solo research-performance by ZIWEI 子维 inspired by Heiner Müller's 1977 play Die Hamletmaschine, moving through choreography, projection, sound, generative text, and live performance. Moving between dance, experimental theatre, and digital media, the work stages a body caught inside historical ruins and contemporary machines: scrolling feeds, ghostly archives, failed revolutions, inherited scripts, and unstable identities. Rather than faithfully staging Müller's text, HAMLETMACHINE approaches it as an apparatus—a machine of fragments, quotations, ghosts, and unfinished political desires—staging non-linear time through glitches, repetitions, bodily exhaustion, and digital overflow.
© ZIWEI 子维
Concept, Choreography, Performance, Projection: ZIWEI 子维
AI & Technical Development: danzhe chen
Sound: Cece Zhang
Dramaturgy: Jane Su, Ruby Wang
Stage Manager: Minara Ling
Lighting Design: Cassie
Projection Design: Jane Su
Special Thanks: Jiaxin Hu, Kami Liu, Kathryn Posin, Jieru Wang, Bryan Zeng
Presented as part of ChuanFest 2026 by in-version ensemble
Presentations
ChuanFest, New York, USA
(upcoming)
(upcoming)
Senior Symposium, NYU Gallatin, New York, USA
(artist talk)
(artist talk)
NYU Gallatin, New York, USA
(studio presentation)
(studio presentation)
Gallatin Arts Festival, New York, USA
(excerpt performance)
(excerpt performance)
Studio Presentation
On April 23, 2026, ZIWEI presented a studio version of HAMLETMACHINE at NYU Gallatin.
[ 23.04.2026 studio presentation credits]
Concept / Choreography / Performance / Sound / Projection: ZIWEI 子维
AI & Technical Development: danzhe chen
Dramaturgy: Jane Su, Ruby Wang
Documentation: Boxuan Pan, Siyu Chen
Front of House: Jiaxin Hu
Advisor: Kathryn Posin
Special Thanks: Cece Zhang, Cerulean Long, Lingwu Li, Yuxi Ma
With the support of Gallatin Undergraduate Research Fund
HAMLETMACHINE was developed as Ziwei Chen’s Senior Project at NYU Gallatin (awarded Honors)
Excerpt Performance
On April 15, 2026, ZIWEI presented a 15-minute excerpt of HAMLETMACHINE at Gallatin Arts Festival 2026.
Artist Talk
On April 29, 2026, ZIWEI presented HAMLETMACHINE at NYU Gallatin’s Senior Symposium.
Writing