How does an ancient artifact think, move and respond to our current times? Hallucinations of an Artifact brings the Dancing Girl figurine from the Indus Valley civilization (c. 2300-1750 BCE) to life through dance and artificial intelligence. It pushes back at the multiple assertions that have been made on behalf of the figurine over the years. Can the Dancing Girl live, perspire, breathe, evolve and transform through dancing bodies?

The art historian Naman Ahuja speculates that the Dancing Girl may have been a warrior, not a dancer, reminding us that all historical artifacts are shaped by how we view them, and co-opted into specific frames of it reference. Hallucinations of an Artifact performatively disrupts the linear articulations and narratives framing the Dancing Girl, bringing this irreverently playful and notoriously unclassifiable artifact to life.