BOOM TSCHAK: Welcome to the Machine

13/11 & 14/11/2026, 7:30 pm, Tanzquartier Wien, Halle G
Electric Bodies
Fragments of Universal Dancer (2014) and Every Body Electric (2018)

07/11/2026, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm,
08/11/2026, 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm, Josephinum - Medizinhistorisches Museum Wien
TANK site specific / Josephinum (durational performance)

Electric Bodies is a two-part evening that shakes up the relationship between humans and machines, bodies and new technologies: both the solo Universal Dancer and in the groundbreaking Every Body Electric, feature bodies not as standardized, optimizable units, but as vibrating, unique, and resistant energy fields.

In her solo performance Universal Dancer (2014), Doris Uhlich searches for the power to bring about change in a world shaped by pragmatism and efficiency, and has a machine built for this purpose to flood the theater space with energy. Every Body Electric (2018) explores the specific ways in which each body can articulate its dynamics and its carnal joy. What possibilities open up when machines – such as wheelchairs, prosthetics, and crutches – are conceived as extensions of the body and staged as such? As simple as it is radical, this groundbreaking group performance challenges normative concepts of energy and power.

The Welcome to the Machine focus also includes the work TANK site specific / Josephinum (based on the 2019 stage version of TANK), in which this exploration extends into the space of the Josephinum, where art and medical history, anatomical knowledge, and notions of the naked body converge. The tank is commonly associated with the isolation of unknown and dangerous life forms. In Doris Uhlich’s performance, however, it becomes a site for studying and experimenting with bodily transformations. The performance features four performers wearing transparent protective suits from Doris Uhlich’s Habitat / pandemic version (2020), intertwining memories of the recent pandemic with the stories of the body gathered at the Josephinum.

© Universal Dancer (2014), Foto: Wolf Silveri

© Every Body Electric (2018), Foto: Peter Empl

© Every Body Electric (2018), Foto: Mirek Dworczak

© Every Body Electric (2018), Foto: Theresa Rauter

© Habitat / pandemic version (2020), Foto: Siegrid Reinichs

Credits

Universal Dancer, 2026, TQW Halle G

Choreography Doris Uhlich
Dramaturgical collaboration Nikolaus Selimov
Performance Doris Uhlich
DJ Boris Kopeinig
Light, machinist Gerald Pappenberger
Production Helen Parkes
Company management Margot Wehinger
Communication, press Franziska Heubacher
International distribution Giulia Traversi
Co-production Tanzquartier Wien
Supported by Stadt Wien Kultur (MA 7)

Every Body Electric, 2026, TQW Halle G

Choreography Doris Uhlich
Dramaturgical collaboration Nikolaus Selimov
Performance Adil Embaby, Josefine Mühle, Karin Ofenbeck, Thomas Richter, Vera Rosner, Katharina Zabransky
DJ Boris Kopeinig
Light, space Gerald Pappenberger
Production Helen Parkes
Company management Margot Wehinger
Communication, press Franziska Heubacher
International distribution Giulia Traversi
Co-production Tanzquartier Wien
Supported by Stadt Wien Kultur (MA 7)

Universal Dancer, world premiere in 2014, brut Wien

Choreography, performance Doris Uhlich
Dramaturgical collaboration Vanja Fuchs, Yoshie Maruoka
Machinist Gerald Pappenberger
DJ Boris Kopeinig
Light Mikko Hynninen
Outside eye Christine Standfest
Production Christine Sbaschnigg, Theresa Rauter
Co-production brut Wien, Frascati (Amsterdam), Künstlerhaus Mousonturm (Frankfurt am Main)
Supported by the Municipal Department of Cultural Affairs, Vienna and the Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport

Every Body Electric, world premiere in 2018, Tanzquartier Wien

Choreography Doris Uhlich
Dramaturgy Elisabeth Schack
Performance Erwin Aljukic, Yanel Barbeito Delgado, Adil Embaby, Sandra Mader, Karin Ofenbeck, Thomas Richter, Vera Rosner, Katharina Zabransky
DJ Boris Kopeinig
Light, space Gerald Pappenberger
Costume Zarah Brandl
Feedback Yoshie Maruoka, Theresa Rauter
Produktion Christine Sbaschnigg, Theresa Rauter
Co-production Tanzquartier Wien, Residenz Schauspiel Leipzig and insert (Theaterverein)
Supported by the Municipal Department of Cultural Affairs, Vienna, and the Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport

TANK site specific / Josephinum, 2026, Josephinum - Medizinhistorisches Museum Wien
Art and Medicine

Concept Doris Uhlich, Boris Kopeinig
Choreography, performance Doris Uhlich
Performance Habitat / pandemic version Hugo Le Brigand, Ann Muller, Vera Rosner, Mim Schneider
Dramaturgical collaboration Adam Czirak
DJ, Sound Boris Kopeinig
Text Boris Kopeinig, Doris Uhlich
Tank Proper Space (Angela Ribera, Konstanze Grotkopp, Juliette Collas)
Facilities Juliette Collas
Light, technical realisation Gerald Pappenberger, Lea Romm
Production Marijeta Karlovic-Graf
Company Management Margot Wehinger
Communication, presse Franziska Heubacher
International distribution Giulia Traversi
A collaboration with Josephinum – Medizinhistorisches Museum Wien
Supported by Stadt Wien Kultur (MA 7)

TANK, world premiere stage version in 2019, tanzhaus nrw
World premiere site-specific version at Natural History Museum Vienna, brut Wien, 2021
World premiere site-specific version at Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, INTERNATIONAL INNSBRUCK. Biennial of the Arts, 2022
World premiere site-specific version at IFZ – Institut für Zukunft, Residenz Schauspiel Leipzig, 2022

Concept Doris Uhlich, Boris Kopeinig
Choreography, performance Doris Uhlich
Dramaturgical collaboration Adam Czirak, Yoshie Maruoka
DJ, Sound Boris Kopeinig
Text Boris Kopeinig, Doris Uhlich
Tank Proper Space (Angela Ribera, Konstanze Grotkopp, Juliette Collas)
Body objects Devi Saha
Light Sergio Pessanha, Gerald Pappenberger
Production Marijeta Karlovic-Graf (Bühnenversion 2019)
Company management, Produktion Margot Wehinger
Thanks to Karin Harrasser und Marian Kaiser
Co-production tanzhaus nrw / Düsseldorf, ImPulsTanz / Wien, brut Wien and insert (Theaterverein)
Supported by the Municipal Department of Cultural Affairs, Vienna

BOOM TSCHAK: Welcome to the Machine

Credits

More projects

TANK2019

Every Body Electric2018

Universal Dancer2014

TANK site specific2021

TANK
2019

Every Body Electric
2018

Universal Dancer
2014

TANK site specific
2021