Convergence / Alexander Schubert (DE)
Convergence is a performance in which human musicians and their AI-generated avatars play together. A computer voice gives commands, scans the people on the stage, and creates digital images on canvases in the dark space. These characters are fed by synthesized image and sound data, from which the artificial intelligence then shapes the process. Neither the musicians nor the composer know in advance what effect these images and their music will have—it only becomes clear at the moment of the performance and has something threatening about it due to the screams requested by the AI. The machine intervenes in this cycle of action and reaction with its own algorithms and becomes an even stronger counterpart to self-perception. Alexander Schubert translates this plot with his large team of developers, AI experts, the Ensemble Resonanz, and the IRCAM team into an exciting musical theater performance of about 30 minutes that triggers both anxiety and fascination.
"Convergence" won the golden Nica at the Prix Ars Electronica 2021.
Credit: Ars Electronica - Robert Bauernhansl
Convergence / Alexander Schubert (DE)
Convergence is a performance in which human musicians and their AI-generated avatars play together. A computer voice gives commands, scans the people on the stage, and creates digital images on canvases in the dark space. These characters are fed by synthesized image and sound data, from which the artificial intelligence then shapes the process. Neither the musicians nor the composer know in advance what effect these images and their music will have—it only becomes clear at the moment of the performance and has something threatening about it due to the screams requested by the AI. The machine intervenes in this cycle of action and reaction with its own algorithms and becomes an even stronger counterpart to self-perception. Alexander Schubert translates this plot with his large team of developers, AI experts, the Ensemble Resonanz, and the IRCAM team into an exciting musical theater performance of about 30 minutes that triggers both anxiety and fascination.
"Convergence" won the golden Nica at the Prix Ars Electronica 2021.
Credit: Ars Electronica - Robert Bauernhansl