“The journalist found himself in the woods.” Mark da Costa, digital artist with a Ph.D. in anthropology, he was speaking from the controls of an artificial intelligence-powered video installation at the Onassis Foundation’s ONX Studio, a high-tech media lab in the Olympic Tower in midtown Manhattan. He was talking to the computer running this installation. About me.
“A horde of food delivery bikes showed up,” da Costa continued, spinning a nonsensical story that the AI would soon display on screen. “The heavens open and a friendly galactic being descends with a scepter. Frank and the galactic being meet with the delivery drivers and share a meal under the canopy of the forest…”
Immediately, a fleet of food delivery bikes appeared on the three giant video screens surrounding us, and the entire scene was rendered in a charming, nostalgic style reminiscent of travel posters from 100 years ago. . Attached to the handlebars of each bicycle was a wicker basket filled with bountiful bounty. Although the forest was completely computer-generated, it looked green and inviting. This story was told in a sweet tone by a fembot who appeared to be Oxbridge-educated.
Da Costa was demonstrating “The Golden Key,” one of four digital video installations on display at the Black Box Theater in the Fisher Building at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Collectively known as “Techne,” these installations mark the latest edition of BAM’s Next Wave Festival, an innovative service that BAM deemed necessary after cutting programs and laying off 13 percent of its staff in 2023. It’s closing.
Techne, which will be held until January 19th, is a festival within a festival. The studio is curated and primarily funded by Onassis ONX, a digital culture initiative by the Onassis Foundation. The Onassis Foundation built the studio and is making its multimillion-dollar facility available for free to dozens of artists.
The series opened Saturday with “The Vivid Unknown,” John Fitzgerald and Godfrey Reggio’s AI reimagining of Reggio’s 1982 film “Koyaanisqatsi.” The next one, “The Golden Key,” takes its name from a short story by the Brothers Grimm that inspired readers to devise their own endings more than 200 years ago. This is followed by “Voices,” a foray into the spiritual world by Athens-based video artist Margarita Athanasiou, and “Secret Garden,” a collection of black women’s success stories by Brooklyn artist Stephanie Dinkins. With the exception of “Voices,” each production is interactive by sensing audience reactions or, in the case of “The Golden Key,” receiving input directly from computer kiosks on the floor of the theater space.
The best of them are using AI to criticize technology, or, in Fitzgerald’s words, “machines that have spun out of control.” Just like the title “Koyaanisqatsi”, which means “life out of balance” in the Hopi language, “The Vivid Unknown” is an almost wordless collection of sounds and images that shows humanity’s separation from nature. are. However, unlike the original film, the AI version does not include actual photography or music by Philip Glass. It is generated by software trained on Reggio films and Glass scores.
Fitzgerald first saw Koyaanisqatsi in 2001, when he was an anthropology major at Brown University. He soon switched to studying film, and eventually began projecting “Koyanisqatsi” onto the ceiling of his room. “My intention was to step into that experience,” he said as we sat at ONX. “That was one of the first times I thought about immersive storytelling.”
Then, a few years ago, he was introduced to Reggio. He was then in his 80s and living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, but no longer traveling. “Who goes to Santa Fe to have coffee with someone?” Fitzgerald said. “But I did it on a whim.”
“The Vivid Unknown” and Techne’s other installations came to BAM through the organization’s former president, Karen Brooks Hopkins, who retired in 2015. Now a director of the U.S. branch of the Onassis Foundation, she was the person ONX turned to at the time. I was looking for a large public space to display the work I created in my lab.
“Most of the time, you’ve seen these immersive pieces at big shows,” Hopkins said in a phone interview, recalling, for example, a light show that purports to immerse you in Van Gogh’s work. “What we’re trying to do here is really bring that into the performing arts.” Something new and experimental 40 years ago.
Like many arts organizations, BAM is recovering from the pandemic and resulting declines in attendance and fundraising. The theater is also suffering from defection at the top. President Gina Duncan will take over in 2022, and artistic director Amy Casero took on her current role just six months ago after serving on an interim basis when her predecessor theater launched. Producer David Binder is leaving after four years with the company.
With 11 events this season, Next Wave appears to be bouncing back from the nadir of 2023, when only eight plays were staged, but it’s still a far cry from the 31 plays staged in 2017. do not have. “I try not to count,” Casello joked. We met at a cafe in Brooklyn.
Prior to his retirement, Mr. Binder made digital media a priority for BAM. Casero also followed his lead, but it seems unlikely that she will become champion. Regarding “The Golden Key,” she said, “I don’t understand how it works yet, but I’m grateful to be able to participate. It’s really wonderful to see so many different outcomes.” What are her views on AI in general? “I put myself in the resistant category, but I trust people who are smarter than me.”
At first glance, “The Golden Key” is a digital toy that can be interacted with to generate wild threads. But on a deeper level, as da Costa said during a preview at the Olympic Tower, the work is “an encounter with the future where machines tell us stories,” in this case faux folk tales.
After inputting a vast index of folklore into an AI, da Costa and his co-creator Matthew Niederhauser explored, across centuries and widely divided civilizations, who we are and where we come from. We programmed it to simulate the kinds of stories that taught us. from. “Myths are the common basis for understanding the world,” da Costa said, noting that his system surrounds us with fascinating but empty fabrications. But what happens if someone sets up an autonomous AI system operating on an industrial scale to fabricate nonsensical, or worse, false stories?
Much has been written about the havoc social media has caused, in part because the overriding goal of social media companies is to maximize engagement and, in turn, profits. be. “It doesn’t take much to think about who is going to manage these tools,” da Costa said. “What are the economic and political interests behind it?”
Niederhauser, who was listening via video call, said: “This is not the time for artists to retreat from technology. Now is a very important time to engage and try to get people to think critically about how it works. It’s a great time.”
Techne (presented by BAM, Onassis, and Under the Radar)
Through January 19th at BAM Fisher, 321 Ashland Place, Brooklyn. bam.org/new-media/2024/techne. “The Vivid Unknown” (January 4-5 and 7) “The Golden Key” (January 8-11) “Voices” (January 12) and January 14-15). “Secret Garden” (January 16-19).
Jan. 7, 7:30 p.m.: A special screening of “Koyanisqatsi” will be held at BAM Rose Cinemas, 30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, followed by a Q&A with John Fitzgerald and Godfrey Reggio. Ta.
