Death of the Sirens Funded by Sachs Student Grant Award

Death of the Sirens

“Death of the Sirens” an interactive theatrical installation developed by fourth-year undergraduate student Roxanne Zhou, a major in Architecture with minors in Music and Physics, under a grant from The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation. Intended to capture the last living moment of the Sirens in Greek mythology, the interactive installation is designed to respond to auditory input, vocal or instrumental, and play back an algorithm-edited recording of the input or a composition on the robotic lyre hidden within the exhibition. The installation represents the Sirens' attempts to lure Orpheus and Odysseus with their tempting yet deathly singing and their ultimate failure to do so. Echoing Franz Kafka's hypothesis in "The Silence of the Sirens," the Sirens of this installation neither speak nor sing original content, but rather reflect and distort the mortals' inner voice. The exhibition poses the question of whether the deadly temptation comes from the mystical creatures or from the deeply kept thoughts, secrets, and desires within oneself.