Expanded AI: Interdisciplinary Human-Machine Collaborations

Expanded AI: Interdisciplinary Human-Machine Collaborations was hosted by Art + Australia on November 9 at Science Gallery Melbourne. The panel, led by artist and researcher Robert Walton, was an interdisciplinary discussion between Monica Lim, David Pledger, Alisdair Macindoe and Stanton Cornish-Ward. The panellists from theatre, dance, music, film and art share recent and current projects that emoploy AI, from architectural interventions, algorithmic choreographic processes, the development of a piano-based AI-generated echo chamber and the use of image generating technologies in film and history projects.

About the Expanded AI Panellists

Robert Walton is an artist and director recognised with multiple awards for his work in theatre, screen, installation, writing, interactive art, and research. He is the Dean’s Research Fellow at The University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. In this role, he leads the development of performances and artworks that explore the creative potential of both ancient and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence/automated intuition, virtual holograms, theatre, swarm robotics, standing stones, engineered bacterial bioluminescence, MR/XR, storytelling, building information model data, and ambient computing.

Stanton Cornish-Ward (b.1993) is an artist and filmmaker from Boorloo (Perth) currently based in Naarm (Melbourne). Her work explores the nuances of memory, intergenerational trauma, and the human impact of advancing technologies. She is the co-founder and director of Hiball, a female led film production firm specializing in moving image for the digital age. Her work has been selected for numerous international festivals in Aotearoa (New Zealand), Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, Ireland, Germany, Hong Kong, The Netherlands, Mexico, Romania, Spain, U.K, and U.S.A

Alisdair Macindoe is an independent multidisciplinary choreographer living on Woi Wurrung country (Melbourne, Australia). With an interest in extending the boundaries of choreographic practice, Alisdair’s work spans dance, sound, electronics, coding and text. Recent works have seen him explore automated dance and Artificial Intelligence; new technology for music expression; trans-humanism; waste and climate change; and identity in the age of narcissism. Alisdair’s independent and collaborative work has been commissioned and presented widely, including FORGERY (2021, Australasian Dance Collective & Brisbane Festival); PROGRESS REPORT (2023 & 2021, with co-director Alison Currie for Vitalstatistix & Frame Biennial @ The Substation ); SYSTEM ERROR (2021, co-created with Chamber Made & Tamara Saulwick for Arts House); REFERENCE MATERIAL (2021, Darebin Speakeasy); NONCOMPETE (2018, The Substation); MEETING (2015, with co-creator Antony Hamilton, commissioned by Arts House, presented across 35 international seasons) and BROMANCE (2010, Next Wave, Arts House & Performance Space).

Monica Lim is a Malaysian-born Australian sound artist whose work spans installations, performance art, contemporary dance and screen. She is interested in new cross-disciplinary genres and forms as well as combinations of new technology with music. Her work has been presented at Arts House, Science Gallery Melbourne, AsiaTOPA, White Night, Liquid Architecture, Melbourne Fringe, Arts Centre Melbourne, Sydney Dance Company and WorldPride as well as international symposiums such as ISEA and NIME. Monica is currently undertaking postgraduate research at the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne in movement-led composition and new technologies. She is part of the research team at VCA Dance's TrakLAB and the University of Melbourne's Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Ethics. Monica is a 2023 Artist-in residence at the Grainger Museum and is co-creator of the Electromagnetic Piano with Mirza Ceyzar and David Shea. Monica is co-founder of Project Eleven, a philanthropic initiative which supports the contemporary arts and serves on the boards of the Melbourne Recital Centre, Substation and Liquid Architecture as well as the Member's Council for Musica Viva.

David Pledger is an award-winning contemporary artist, curator, producer, writer and thinker working within and between the performing, visual and media arts in Australia, Asia and Europe. His live performances, installations, interactive artworks, documentaries, digital art, ideas and discursive events have been presented in books, journals, magazines, museums, galleries, arts centres, a city car-park, an abandoned stables, a suburban house, hotels in Surfers Paradise, a Slovenian film studio and the Australian Institute of Sport. His work is notable for engaging publics in productive and provocative ways. From his initial practice, live performance, he has developed a cross-disciplinary dramaturgy in which a central platform is engaging with artists across artforms and experts from social, scientific, academic and philanthropic fields. Practice interests include the body, the politics of power, the digital realm and public space.