The Movement Lab presents: the Artificial environments / environmental Intelligence Festival
The Ae/eI Festival features work-in-progress installations and performances in the Movement Lab every day during the week of February 21-28, all of which are free and open to the public. It is guided by the question, what happens when we close the loop on the constructed binary of nature and technology?
Artificial environments / environmental Intelligence Festival Night 3:
‘dance prompts’ <dance jam> | a generative prompt party to train an AI choreographer
Created by cari ann shim sham, Demetris Charalambous, and Karsen Tengan
Friday, February 23rd | 5:00pm
Phase one of a participatory artificial intelligence generative dance project to develop an AI choreographer biased towards inclusive and accessible movement. 'dance prompts' <dance jam> | generative prompt party will test images, text, games and spatial design on bodies in motion. The attendees will engage in conversation post jam about which prompts worked best for their bodies. Selected prompts will be used to train a neural network to choreograph for Phase two of the project.
Jam begins at 5:00 PM
Capacity in the lab is capped at 40 audience members. Attendees who have RSVP'd before the event will have priority, and admission will be determined on a first come first serve basis on arrival. If you RSVP before the event but you arrive late, we reserve the right to give your spot to someone on the waitlist.
Attendees who have not RSVP'd will be put on a standby waitlist if they arrive in-person before the event.
cari ann shim sham* is a wild artist, free diver, & edible mushroom hunter. Her practice explores bodily circular movement's relationship to magic, self portraiture as critique, human interactions with technology, the power of asking questions & the possibilities of improvisation & experimentation to liberate dance. She often works in the nude. Recently exhibited by Loop Art Critique, Li Tang Gallery, NFTBali, Superlative Gallery, and Las Lagunas Art she is currently investigating AI choreography, generative dance, blockchain GIF archival of performance, & ways of using blockchain in lieu of social media. Her work has shown at notable venues such as Cannes, United Nations General Assembly, Samsung Developers conference, Future of Storytelling, Jacob's Pillow, REDCAT, & BAM. Four of her dance films are distributed by Routeledge and she is the first video artist to redesign Rauschenberg's 'Shiner' for "Set & Reset, Reset" by the Trisha Brown company. She is co-founder and curator for the Museum of Wild and Newfangled Art and is a full Arts Professor of Dance & Technology at NYU, TISCH Dance Department. www.cariannshimsham.com
Demetris Charalambous is an experimental NYC-based maker born and raised in Cyprus. Demetris's mediums span performance, choreography, and visual art. Demetris' work and collaborations have been presented in spaces and platforms such as Performance Space New York, Center for Performance Research, Judson Memorial Church, the Living Gallery, NOWNESS.com, and Berlin Commercial. Demetris is an NYU Tisch School of the Arts BFA Honors scholar and has trained in workshops across Europe such as b12 Berlin Workshop Festival, Palucca Hochschule für tanz in Dresden, Academie de Danse Princesse Grace in Monaco, DeDutchDon’tDanceDivision in the Hague, English National Ballet and Rambert School in London.
Karsen Tengan is an artist of many mediums. After graduating from NYU Tisch, they have kept creating works in collaboration with cari ann shim sham* and Demetris Charalambous, notably Gorgeous Creatures (2022), and currently the development of an AI choreographer. These days Karsen is learning to sew, in order to bring to life the self-customizations floating around in their head. This is one part of the effort to build the world in their mind outside of it. “I want to live in my fantasy realm. Where bodies aren’t limited to human design, and you can customize your avatar with mecha, or have gills. Where magic is seen. And music is always playing. To your left is a cyberpunk alley, beyond that a forest of destruction, before you a spiral floor of trials so vast you lived ten lives already. And above you there’s a floating lake, and it’s gleaming, with steam spilling over the edges in a red starry sky and I’m running running running leaping glitching closer so I can dive in and find out where it leads. Or maybe I’ll wait for a bit, and let its water cleanse me as I shrink smaller and smaller until I am the lake itself. Who knows what I’ll do in that moment?” -Karsen, about the world they choose to live in. They’ll make a map next.