Review: Future Cargo

Something's not right. There's smoke, the engine won't start and the dog is nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, we're mesmerised by the silver catsuit-clad humanoid figures, faces obscured.

They move before our eyes on a conveyor belt, slow, tentative and mechanical at first, before gradually increasing in speed, intensity and complexity; opening up and exploiting everything that humanity and their physique has to offer. From actions as mundane as brushing one's hair, to as vigorous as playing a match of tennis. Their spotlight? The rolled-up side of a 12-metre long haulage truck.

While the audience is a safe distance from the action, brought into the fold by volume-adjustable headphones, you can't help but feel unsettled, as this unknown force feels too close for comfort. At one point, you can hear the echoing, pleading cries of "please take me, I'm ready", which sound as if they're originating from the people seated behind you.

This 40-minute outdoor show by Frauke Requardt and David Rosenberg evokes themes explored in sci-fi classics like Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Are the beautiful and indescribable alien figures the architects of our salvation, or our destruction? That's ultimately up to you to decide.

Future Cargo, The Garden of Unearthly Delights, until 17 March