nuevo_algo_ritmo.ckpt

nuevo_algo_ritmo.ckpt - Manso O and Joan Sandoval

Mans O AV Tech Show, Sónar Festival, Barcelona 2023

Using AI, sound, rhythm and dance, artists MANS O and Joan Sandoval take us on a journey through the often hidden stages of AI model creation, from raw datasets to the various stages of image formation. It is an invitation to discover the complexities of AI, and to debate a technology that shapes our lives. 

- CCCB Barcelona

Although artificial intelligence is increasingly integrated into our everyday routines, from voice assistants to weather forecasts, the complex processes behind these tools often remain a mystery. The popularity of generative AI models such as Chat GPT, Stable Diffusion, and Dall-E has skyrocketed. However, the average user is often unaware of everything that is going on under the bonnet. Tech giants invest huge resources in training these models on vast datasets, sometimes with unclear ethical implications. What the end user typically encounters is just the final output, generated with a simple click of the mouse.

This piece aims to lift the bonnet on this technology and expose the creative process of an AI that uses data sets learned from capturing images of bodies in rehearsals and research environments. Each dataset requires a minimum of 6000 body photographs. In this case, it will be MANS O’s body and its rhythms that are transmitted through a series of cameras to a computer running an algorithm that synthesizes the real in digital form, computerizing the artist’s body in real time. The result is a hypnotic dance between body and computer, guided by innovative, bass-heavy rhythms.

A complex setup involving different cameras and computers, realtime explorations of motion tracking, live face and body recognition, dataset creation, the use of custom-trained and pre-trained AI algorithms that enable live deep fakes and body transformations, guided by textual prompts. All this conducted by Chataigne, TouchDesigner and lots of Python scripting.


Concept Creation and Design: Mans O and Joan Sandoval
Music: Mans O
Visuals Software Programming: Joan Sandoval
Visuals Live Control: Joan Sandoval
Lights: Pura Cadera
Analog Video fx: @hcarnero