Home X at the Barbican

Art has been largely willing to keep up with the progress of technology, though it occupies a comfortable perch a little way behind, seldom troubling itself with the cutting edge. “Too temperamental,” objects Art, “Field test and hone that potential artistic medium and we’ll get back to you.”

The creators of Home X make no such objection. Director and composer An-Ting Chang, creative technologist Ian Gallagher and 3D designer Donald Shek, of Kakilang Arts, have formulated a spectacle like no other, currently on show in The Pit at London’s Barbican Centre. Boundaries are being pushed here; you can see the technology straining at the edges as it tries to accommodate their vision. Kakilang tell their story of exploration and new beginning through stunning visuals, music, live dance and ever-present video game avatars being controlled by players all over the world. It’s a lot to marry up and they achieve it. There are moments of extraordinary beauty in Home X, particularly the enchanting design of the game world and the interactions between two live dancers – Si Rawlinson in the UK and Suen Nam in Hong Kong – introduced together as avatars in the virtual story space, despite really being thousands of miles apart (though their fight is admittedly cartoonish and breaks the spell). 

There’s a big point to Home X that rocks the whole thing: a sociopolitical angle reflecting on the characters introduced sweeps through in the form of a series of talking heads, nominally discussing the notion of “home” but also colonialism, war, disability and a whole strata of other issues. They offer interesting perspectives, but it is a huge and poorly calculated jolt to proceedings that blights the project’s pledge to bring together only entirely live elements. 

Ultimately, Home X feels like a high-budget student project that has a nifty medium under its belt, but too many big ideas to shove through in one hour of performance. On the face of it, what they can do is impressive and beautiful in terms of the visuals and the application of technology. However, their big picture, though based on a valid social and political point, strays from its mark and betrays their own promise of what they deliver to their audience. 

Will Snell

Home X is at the Barbican from 21^st February until 25^th February 2023. For further information or to book visit the theatre’s website here.