Phivos-Angelos Kollias: Nostophiliac AI (2022)
Short Description / Kurzbeschreibung
Nostophiliac AI
AI-generate Audio-Visual Experiences
found object & collective memory
CONCEPT
We interact daily with algorithms that emulate human perception and collective memory. By trying to communicate with us, the algorithms sound, look and behave more and more like us by reflecting our perception and memory back to us.
What if those AI tools become instruments of manipulation by tackling the spectator’s sense of familiarity using shared cultural signs, tropes, or archetypes?
We investigate & explore the relationship between collective & individual memory reflected & manipulated through AI: the concept of the “found object” & its algorithmic transformation of meaning.
ARTISTIC PROCESS
On the musical side, an AI feedback network that listens to familiar sound objects generates a continuous sound transformation. On the visual side, a generative adversarial network represents a collective artificial memory and perception.
Each time, the sound and image transformations create a personal narrative, a phrase, a gesture for the spectator. The results generate a collective manipulation of nostalgia experienced as a series of short music video screenings or in an exhibition format made from a multi-screen and multi-speaker installation.
Our prototype combines sound/image transformation: MaxMSP for sound, CLIP (OpenAI) and VQ-GAN (ImageNet) for visuals.
PRIZE: Third prize at the Musicworks Electronic Music Composition Contest, Toronto,
FUNDING: Musikfonds eV, Berlin
SCREENINGS/PERFORMANCES
- AI Music Creativity Conference-Festival (Japan)
- Sound-Image Festival (London)
- Resilience Festival (Italy)
- Passages of Time/A.D. Gallery (University of North Carolina, USA)
- Technarte Conference (Bilbao, Spain)
- Provocation Ideas Festival (Toronto, Canada)
- MusLab Festival (Guayaquil, Ecuador)
Interprets And Location / Interpreten und Ort
Phivos-Angelos Kollias, Berlin, Germany
Short Biography / Kurze Biographie
Dr. Phivos-Angelos Kollias is a Berlin-based music composer and researcher specializing in VR, Interactive Installations, and Video Games. He holds a PhD in electroacoustic music from the University of Paris VIII and has studied classical and electronic music in Cambridge, London, and Paris. Dr. Kollias has received nine awards and nine nominations, including the FIVARS Excellence in Sound Design Award and a Musicworks Electronic Music Competition prize. His group collaborations have won twelve awards, such as the Apple TV Game of the Year and the Gamescom Indie Award, and have been listed twice in Forbes’ top lists. His work has been commissioned by organizations like ZKM, Dell Computers, and the German Music Council, among others. His scores are published by BabelScores. He has also published scholarly articles and spoken at conferences like the Xenakis International Colloquium and the Europe-China Cultural Forum.
