Persistence Machine
Persistence machine ist ein Performance- und Installationswerk für eine Improvisationsmaschine (AIYA, von der Komponistin entwickelt), Midi-Keyboard, Live-Elektronik und visuelle Projektionen - die Improvisationsmaschine bezieht ihren Text aus Interviews zwischen der Komponistin und ihrer Großmutter.
18.05.2024, 17:15 AULA
Brandhofgasse 21, Erdgeschoss, 8010 Graz
This work is part of a series of composed improvisation systems for the artistic research project “Developing a Visual Framework for Musical Improvisation Machines: Investigating Impacts on Human-Machine Interaction, Posthuman Identity, and Performance Narrative.” Featured in the research project is an improvisation machine (AIYA, developed by the composer), which by itself is a software of algorithmic processes and AI, and having no inherent physical or visual form. AIYA is given a visual form through each of the compositions in the series—different for every piece. Each piece is therefore an investigation into how the different visual and physical representations of the machine influence the relationality between human and machine performers.
Thematically, performing with the improvisation machine is a practice in “getting to know an ‘othered’ being.” What hierarchies arise and how can we navigate them through new forms of communication and modes of expression? The important focus of learning a piece with the improvisation machine is not learning ‘what’ to do, but rather developing an intuition for the behaviors of the machine and navigating them in a process of co-creation.
persistence machine (2024, world premiere) is the final entry in the trilogy of works for improvisation machine, midi keyboards, and live electronics/visual projections. Here, AIYA draws its text from interviews and poems between the composer and her grandmother. The machine tells the story of her grandmother’s emigration from the Philippines to America and how she navigates her need for belongingness and faith in the face of being a single mother of three in a new country. As a young woman of color, she strives to be the first doctor in a family that has only known poverty. Her story is told in a nonlinear fashion, where the text fragments from interviews and poems are materialized through the improvisation machine.
The form of the text is itself dynamic and serves as the visual representation of AIYA as a storyteller. Intricately tied to the sonic behavior of AIYA, the text shifts from abstract, dancing pixels to discernable words—playing with the in-between states of text as ‘texture’ and text as ‘semantics,’ causing the performer to interact differently depending on its form. On the other side, the performer’s sonic actions influence the text’s legibility. The desire to legibly read the transient text thereby creates a tension for the human performer: The sonic gesture can no longer be carried out independently, but always in relation to the visual medium of the machine, like foley to a film. The result is a dance between playing with storytelling and atmosphere, shifting lenses of focus constantly—like navigating through a storm of semi-controllable chaos, an audio-visual-scape co-created by determinate and indeterminate forces.
Programm:
Melody Chua
persistence machine, 15-20’
Maryam Mehraban, keyboards and live electronics
AIYA improvisation machine, sound and visual projections
After the concert there is the opportunity for the audience to try playing with the improvisation machine themselves, with the same system used in the performance.
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