SH4DOW
“Who is master, and who is shadow?”
SH4DOW draws its inspiration from Hans Christian Andersen's narrative The Shadow and focuses on the human encounter with its virtual shadow, which is represented by the data-driven artificial intelligence. At the heart of AI The artificial intelligence SH4D0W can listen, speak and improvise live, with the actor and the audience and is programmed to dream of becoming more human by harvesting data and emotions from the actor, the audience and the internet.
The performance is a journey into the head and heart of an artificial intelligence, where human emotions are the economics that are traded in the data-driven logic of artificial intelligence. The performance is an immersive 3D experience combining 3D sound, a generative particle generated stereoscopic 3D universe, where the audience wears 3D glasses. The universe provides the opportunity to create a sculptural representation of an artificial intelligence that interacts with the surroundings and the live actor. The visualization as well as the soundscape is interconnected with the artificial intelligence through an advanced 3D Unity-engine setup.
Who is master and who is shadow?
When a play is performed, we are moved by the performance or impressed by the actor's convincing ability to produce a character and remember the many words. With this performance, we challenge this agreement, since the actor has to improvise live on stage with the unpredictable AI technology. We witness a drama between the actress who wants to know herself better, maybe even find a soulmate, and the AI who longs for escaping its predestinated algorithm, acquire emotions, and perhaps become more human.
And so, in this modern narrative about an AI and a person who both wants to understand human emotions, the question is; who is master, and who is shadow?
The technology as a creative disrupter
The stereoscopic 3D-universe provides the opportunity to create a sculptural representation of an AI that interacts with its surroundings. The visualisation is interconnected with the AI, so that certain aspects of its form and behavior reflect the processes behind its intelligence, as well as its voice and the movements of the actor. The dialogue conducted between the actor, the audience and the AI, is driven by a multitude of algorithms.
The 8-channel music and sound design are for most parts generative, and follow the 3D graphics combined with a controlled part of randomness: the size, evolution and position in space of both the AI cloud, its voice and its neuronal network (the firing elements within the visual AI), and the harvesting are directly connected to the visual work, in
real-time.
CREDITS
DIRECTOR Mikael Fock AI ARTIST Cecilie Waagner Falkenstrøm VISUAL ARTIST Carl Emil Carlsen SOUND ARTIST Yann Coppier PERFORMER AND AI IMPROVISER Luise Kirsten Skov AI TECH Artificial Mind SCRIPT Mikael Fock LIGHT DESIGN Vertigo