The project investigates embodiments of digitally-transmitted auditory and visual memetics, particularly in the wake of a 2021 study that exposed a prevalence of movement disorders among young teenagers—a mass sociogenic illness of “TikTok tics.” Through the improvisatory distortion of a user’s TikTok “For You Page” in real time, TikTokBox is a duet between a user and their feed, the individual and the collective, the conscious and the subconscious.

The performance will be followed by an informal discussion and Q&A.

The development of TikTokBox was generously supported by a 2022 Arts Integration Grant from the Hopkins Center of the Arts.