Kafka’s novel with 3D sound

In the centennial year of Franz Kafka’s death, a binaural performance installation attempts to take you closer to the author’s seminal text Gaurav Nijjer Singh, a Delhi-based theatre maker and general manager at Kaivalya Plays, a performing arts and production company, spent several years working a day job at a data company. He’d spend the evenings doing theatre. That led him to bring the two worlds closer. The latest in Nijjer’s experiments is a performative installation, I/JOSEF, based on Franz Kafka’s Der Prozess/The Trial. 

It occupies the precarious space between performance and contemporary art by producing a binaural audio experience for the audience. Nijjer explains that binaural technology uses silent disco headphones for a three-dimensional sound. “The sound travels in your mind. You’ll hear someone next to you, someone behind you, and another person whisper in your ear,” he explains. By experimenting with such formats, he hopes to bring the younger generation into the theatre. 

Written in German between 1914-15, The Trial tells the story of the unexplained and unexpected arrest of Joseph K, a bank clerk. There have been many adaptations of the text since it was first published in 1924. “It was written in German but the English translation got more popular. We took that translation and adapted it. We then translated the adaptation back into German,” Nijjer says, adding that the performance will be available in both languages. 

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Though set in an unnamed time and place, the adapted text uses small references set in India for context. One such is that of a radio recording that talks about activist Umar Khalid’s arrest. Nijjer has made other changes, including turning the narrative to the first person. “So, it feels like what’s happening to Josef is happening to you,” he says. “We’ve also attempted to re-gender the script. All the characters who wield power in the original are male and the smaller characters are female. We’ve turned that upside down. The lawyer (a primary character) in our production is a female voice.”

Technology is in sharp focus in the format. Imagine a dark room. You enter the space and are handed a set of headphones. You sit down while your eyes adjust to the darkness and a series of voices at varying distances call for your attention. There is a whisper, there’s background noise, and there is the incessant ticking of a clock. Projections come alive in the dark room. As you listen, you can move around, and explore the artwork while the audio performance progresses. You can also switch between languages (English and German) in real time. 

Nijjer, who has spent time working with the noted German theatre group Rimini Protokoll, researching digital and hybrid performances, is also fascinated with Artificial Intelligence and believes it makes for a great creative collaborator. The images are AI-generated, and Nijjer has also used AI to edit them for the installation. This is not the first time that Nijjer has experimented with technology. He used the IVR format for his one-on-one interactive 2021 play, Lifeline 9999. “You would receive an IVR call from a number and experience the hour-long performance over the phone,” he explains. 

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The performance is part of a series of events by Goethe Institut/ Max Mueller Bhavan to mark the centenary of the writer’s death. Following its premiere in New Delhi, the production will travel to other cities. “The format can be adapted to various venues. It’s going from a room at Goethe to a black box theatre, to perhaps a classroom after that,” says Nijjer, adding that an online version may soon be available. 

At Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan New Delhi on 6, 7 and 12 September.

Prachi Sibal is a Mumbai-based writer