An AI-powered robot pet, AI-inspired stand-up comedy, and live music with AI will be amongst the futuristic exhibits and performances at the University’s first AI Arts Festival organised by our Web Science Institute and Winchester School of Art.
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The one-day public event, taking place on Sunday 2 June in Winchester, at Theatre Royal Winchester and The Arc will be officially opened by The Right Worshipful the Mayor of Winchester, Councillor Russell Gordon-Smith, and will explore and celebrate how and where artificial intelligence meets the arts.
The festival is split into daytime and evening sessions. During the day, there will be demonstrations, installations, music, discussions and stand-up comedy.
The evening event will feature a performance by France鈥檚 with musical machine collaborators designed at France鈥檚 renowned national institute for computer-music research, . There will also be a discussion on AI and the arts with Dame Wendy Hall, Regius Professor of Computer Science, BBC technology writer Bill Thompson and guests, including some of the artists.
Stand-up comedy and a live music and a visual installation by Dr Pablo Galaz, Lecturer in Composition and Analysis complete the evening line-up. Dr Galaz鈥檚 鈥楬uman-like鈥� will feature four musicians, with one using facial gestures and hand movements to trigger sounds from computers and electronic devices.
鈥淚t鈥檚 as if the machine is trying to understand the human body,鈥� said Dr Galaz. 鈥淭he audience will be surrounded by the performers and visual projections, and it will be like being inside the machine.鈥�
Ink Gao, postgraduate researcher in Design at Winchester School of Art, is taking part with her AI robotic pet, GUA. Inspired by the actions and behaviours of reptiles and birds, GUA can sense light, touch, movement and sound, and she 鈥榯hinks鈥� and acts independently.
鈥淚鈥檇 describe her personality as active, inquisitive, and sometimes aggressive,鈥� said Ink, who studied biology as an undergraduate and is combining this experience with design and engineering.
鈥淢y motivation for designing and building GUA is the potential to replicate real life pets. Most people love to interact with animals, but not everyone can keep a pet. In the future, I think people will have robotic pets like GUA as companions 鈥� they don鈥檛 replace the real thing, but are a good substitute.鈥�
Professor Thomas Irvine, the festival鈥檚 co-artistic director and Head of Music at the University, said: 鈥淚鈥檓 so pleased that this exciting new festival has come together like it has. My co-directors, Les Carr, Professor of Web Science, and Professor Larry Lynch, Head of Winchester School of Art, and I are thrilled that we鈥檝e been able to put together a programme that brings together artists, writers, musicians and even comedians to explore what AI means for artistic expression. There are lots of questions to ask about this technology, but also lots about our humanity it can already show us. It鈥檚 a special time.鈥�