In this interactive installation, participants use their physical bodies as an interface in which to communicate with a machine improvisor. Together, both entities build an improvisatory dialogue through sonic and visual mediums. In a time where virtual meetings and remote learning become an accepted normal, and where one develops a heightened sensitivity to what it means to have a human presence, this interactive installation plays with the notions of external embodiment, extended mind, and what constitutes an affective virtual presence in the context of improvisation.
aiya meets self invites participants to explore this transformation of ‘other’ and ‘self’ by creating spontaneous, playful soundscapes together with the machine improvisor. The experience blurs the lines between physical and symbolic identities, plays upon fluctuating power dynamics in musical improvisation, and asks one to reimagine the tangibility and affect that can emerge from one’s own virtual presence.
