Body­politics and
Arti­ficial Intel­li­gence

For five months, a group of d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing people - mediated by artist Marco Donnarumma, himself a late-deafened person - has conducted artistic research on their own corporeal experiences of sound, as well as on their ambivalent relation to hearing prostheses and AI technologies. Through critical thinking, sound-based autoethnography, and movement sessions with custom-made AI musical instruments, the group created and exchanged knowledge.

The research formed the basis for Donnarumma's creation process for I AM YOU BODY. Three artworks have emerged: The Collection is a multi-piece artwork that looks at sound and deafness by integrating the group’s notes, personal accounts and collective reflections on prosthetics, perception, multiplicity and interdependency.

(Permanent installation until 23 h, loops of 25 min. each)

The expanded film installation from I AM YOUR BODY by Marco Donnarumma combines poetic reflections on the unlearning of normative conceptions of sound together with visual and sonic research into the wilderness of Iceland and the Ruhr of Germany. The installation offers a journey through an alien lived experience of sound, its fleeting presence, its seeming absence and the potential states of being it fosters.

What do sounds mean to those who do not hear them? How can something be heard that cannot be heard? What sensory gaps are created by assistive technologies such as prosthetics and artificial intelligence (AI)?
The solo performance of I AM YOUR BODY by Marco Donnarumma offers a synaesthetic experience into a radically alternative sensorium. By repurposing and reappropriating AI algorithms and prosthetics developed for normative hearing, the performance interweaves sound, movement and light.

Followed by, approx. 9.30PM - 10PM
Discussion with Marco Donnarumma


Tickets via: www.tickets.pact-zollverein.de

As part of the project I AM YOUR BODY, a group of D/deaf and hard of hearing people - in collaboration with artist Marco Donnarumma, himself la late deafened person - entered into a collective, artistic research process to share their own bodily experiences of sound, as well as their ambivalent relationship to hearing prostheses and AI technologies. Through an exploration of sound-based autoethnography, critical thinking, and movement sessions with custom-built AI musical instruments, they shared and created new knowledge. Drawing on notes from the group, personal accounts, and collective reflections on prosthetics, perception, diversity, and interdependence that emerged from these exchanges, Donnarumma created a three-part art project.

In a public conversation, the I AM YOUR BODY-working group will discuss and elaborate on their experiences and insights regarding the artistic research process.

Troi Lee is a London based Deaf DJ, performer, festival curator and event organiser, putting on raves and producing online streamed showcases in sign-songs, dance, comedy, VV (Visual Vernacular) and other visual performances made by and for Deaf communities worldwide. 

He is the founder of Deaf Rave, a London based collective of Deaf DJs and performers who use British Sign Language. With powerful vibrations and heavy bass, they take the audience on a musical journey that will tantalise more than just their acoustic senses. Expect an international showcase of Sign-songs, Sign-rap, dance, and other visual performances made by Deaf communities worldwide!   

For five months, a group of d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing people - mediated by artist Marco Donnarumma, himself a late-deafened person - has conducted artistic research on their own corporeal experiences of sound, as well as on their ambivalent relation to hearing prostheses and AI technologies. Through critical thinking, sound-based autoethnography, and movement sessions with custom-made AI musical instruments, the group created and exchanged knowledge.

The research formed the basis for Donnarumma's creation process for I AM YOU BODY. Three artworks have emerged: The Collection is a multi-piece artwork that looks at sound and deafness by integrating the group’s notes, personal accounts and collective reflections on prosthetics, perception, multiplicity and interdependency.

Intelligent instruments are a result of how contemporary AI technologies are becoming integral components of our musical ecosystems. The application of creative AI can range from automatic music creation to the embedding of intelligent algorithms in the instrument itself. In this talk Thor Magnusson will compare the Socratic elenctics, a philosophical method of inquiry, with the way we engage with modern creative AI systems. The new prosthetics are those of the mind as well as the body.

Based on experience in practice-based research on creative AI systems, Magnusson will present a new mode of exploration and enquiry that emerges when we encounter an intelligent instrument and begin to discover their ergodynamics. The HCI notion of interactivity moves aside for autonomy and a stronger perception of agentical relations through dialogue, probing, curiosity, surprise, alterity and collaboration. When our musical instrument becomes an interlocutor with a strong agency our interaction shifts more to that of prediction, expectation, and confirmation, resulting in a heightened improvisational approaches.

The expanded film installation from I AM YOUR BODY by Marco Donnarumma combines poetic reflections on the unlearning of normative conceptions of sound together with visual and sonic research into the wilderness of Iceland and the Ruhr of Germany. The installation offers a journey through an alien lived experience of sound, its fleeting presence, its seeming absence and the potential states of being it fosters.

What do sounds mean to those who do not hear them? How can something be heard that cannot be heard? What sensory gaps are created by assistive technologies such as prosthetics and artificial intelligence (AI)?
The solo performance of I AM YOUR BODY by Marco Donnarumma offers a synaesthetic experience into a radically alternative sensorium. By repurposing and reappropriating AI algorithms and prosthetics developed for normative hearing, the performance interweaves sound, movement and light.

Tickets via: www.tickets.pact-zollverein.de

YAYA is not a who
YAYA is not a what
YAYA is a need, for you and me.

YAYA is a crew, a platform that provides space and voice for club andpop culture. YAYA is a solidarity space with a focus on BIPOCfemmes. In September, YAYA are musical companions* of the P2P month of media art. We listen to the sounds of this interesting formation at all four locations.

Line-Up
Dj Sedaction
Visuals by whosluluxfluppe42

Alexander Schubert / Decoder Ensemble

ANIMA™ is an AI-controlled institute, an experimental performance in which a computer unit shapes every interaction and communication. The work of Alexander Schubert / Decoder Ensemble is artistically based on the assumption that the identity and perception of a person is merely a model that can be explored, varied and manipulated. With the concrete application of so-called »Deep Learning«, the fluidity of the human being and the constantly changing world are metaphorically made experienceable. Amidst the AI-driven setting of this VR simulation, performers communicate with a machine, interact with variations of themselves, and immerse themselves in a suggestive world rich in associations. ANIMA™ questions how manipulable our self-image and perception are, showing possible ways to free ourselves from conventions, rules and human conditioning. With ANIMA™, composer Alexander Schubert continues his artistic research on artificial intelligence in collaboration with IRCAM - Centre Pompidou Paris.

Tickets unter: www.tickets.pact-zollverein.de

Trigger: Strobe light

What is a dream? Where is the body when it sleeps? Can dreaming be a political or utopian practice? What is the aesthetic of sleep and dreaming, what reality does it create? The surrealists believed in dreaming as an access to the unconscious. Today's performative and media arts seem to refer to dreaming as a specific mode of being-in-the-world. Ben J. Riepe's workshop creates a choreographic dream journey.

Following the dream/worlds workshop, Maren Butte, Haytham El-Wardany and Ben J. Riepe will discuss the connections between dream worlds and digital worlds in a joint conversation: It is about the relationship between the body senses, dreams and media.

Moderation by Martin J. Hoffmann

Registration at: info@medienwerk-nrw.de

Artificial intelligence is changing our lives and increasingly determining our ideas about the future. In the process, it is imagined either as supporting humans or as dominating them. Using everyday examples and artistic projects, expert and founder of Code Girls Natalie Sontopski and artist and curator Francis Hunger discuss myths and metaphors of artificial 'intelligence' and classify them as statistical, parameterised machines.

Alexander Schubert / Decoder Ensemble

ANIMA™ is an AI-controlled institute, an experimental performance in which a computer unit shapes every interaction and communication. The work of Alexander Schubert / Decoder Ensemble is artistically based on the assumption that the identity and perception of a person is merely a model that can be explored, varied and manipulated. With the concrete application of so-called »Deep Learning«, the fluidity of the human being and the constantly changing world are metaphorically made experienceable. Amidst the AI-driven setting of this VR simulation, performers communicate with a machine, interact with variations of themselves, and immerse themselves in a suggestive world rich in associations. ANIMA™ questions how manipulable our self-image and perception are, showing possible ways to free ourselves from conventions, rules and human conditioning. With ANIMA™, composer Alexander Schubert continues his artistic research on artificial intelligence in collaboration with IRCAM - Centre Pompidou Paris.

Tickets unter: www.tickets.pact-zollverein.de

Trigger: Strobe light