Happy hour

150 polystyrene panels, three performers and an infinite number of generated structures.

Drawing inspiration from the current buzz around artificial intelligence, Happy Hour is a performative minecraft that strives to translate AI principles into a theatrical form.

From simple to complex and construction to deconstruction, many structures are built and demolished on stage over the course of an hour. They always resemble something specific: a swamp, a lake, a cemetery, a glacier, a tower, a temple, a fortress… but as soon as you can identify them, they are already being dismantled and rebuilt into something new. The performers’ frenetic activity resembles the process of machine learning, where neural networks try to mimic human characteristics and behaviour by processing huge amounts of data. Inevitably, a situation arises where the copy approaches the original, crossing boundaries that had seemed unsurpassable until now.

Just as computer scientists working with algorithms based on deep learning cannot understand the path that led to the result, so too can the events on stage remind us of a glimpse into a black box. Something beyond our capabilities emerges. Something we do not understand. Something that no longer needs us.
A powerful visual experience, Happy Hour offers a glimpse into an uncanny world we have created but cannot master: a meditation on human possibility in an era when human exclusivity is at an end.

“Happy Hour offers a refined blend of humour and depression.” – Lucie Kocourková, Divadelní Noviny

“Without any pomp, Happy Hour offers such a massive parallel to human civilization that it fogged up my glasses – without ever taking them out of my pocket.” – Martin Špetlík, lighting designer

About the company

Jan Mocek is a theatre maker and visual artist based in Prague. His performances blend elements of pop culture, politics and personal experience to speak about the times we are living in. At the same time, he offers audiences an emotionally atmospheric and powerful, sensual experience.

His recent performances Virtual Ritual (2019), I am the Problem (2020), Present: Perfect (2021), Landscape with Pheasant Hare and Doe (2022) and Happy Hour (2023) have been presented nationally and internationally at venues and festivals including Komuna Warszawa, Fast Forward Dresden, Rehearsal for Truth NYC, Submerge Digital Arts Festival (Bristol) and 4+4 Days in Motion (Prague). Mocek is a member of the IN-SITU European Platform for Artistic Creation in Public Space. His projects are presented in collaboration with the SixHouses production platform, led by Táňa Švehlová.