Theatre, A.I. and 'ludic technologies'

Lead Research Organisation: Aberystwyth University
Department Name: Theatre Film and Television Studies

Abstract

We propose a research network to investigate three related yet distinct fields of: contemporary theatre, artificial intelligence and ludic technologies. The main focus of the network will be to investigate these fields from the perspective of humanist discourses and artistic practice. We feel that this perspective has often been omitted in the current discussions and academic discourses on A.I. and thus it would be a timely consideration. We also feel that in our current post-digital age, there is scope, novelty and timeliness in an interdisciplinary research approach to these three fields, in particular when considering how contemporary artistic practices can question our relationship with newly emerging technologies.

The focus and the originality of this network lies in the exploration of the way that these three disciplines intertwine and an exploration of A.I. through humanist and artistic practice perspectives. With the ever-increasing investments and developments in this area there is a strong case for an investigation of its cultural impact. Through this focus there is a potential to enable the development of a coherent theoretical framework through which the bringing together of theatre, A.I. and ludic technologies can be conceptualised. We also feel that many geographical areas such as mid-Wales have been underrepresented in the discussions surrounding A.I. in favour of a more globalised domain. Hence the network will enable the activation of more local discourses on these topics.

The network will bring together academics from the field of A.I. research, computer studies, game studies, arts and humanities, theatre and performance artists/practitioners with the aim of exploring the above research agenda. This will be achieved through three events (three symposia/workshops) running over the course of two years. Each symposium will consist of small conference-like proceedings where participants will share research papers and discuss their findings. Each proceeding will be followed by a workshop event led by an invited artist/practitioner/designer.

Planned Impact

In this section we will briefly outline how the impact of this project will be achieved for three different stakeholder groups. For each group we will consider impact in terms of both short-term and long-term objectives.

The first group of stakeholders will consist of practitioners in the field of contemporary theatre and performance, A.I. design and videogames design. The short-term impact will be achieved as follows. The research network will enable this group to discuss new ideas and directions for their practice in the context of theoretical framings and knowledge transfer espoused by the project. This will be achieved through three symposia. Each symposium will last for a day and will consist of two stages: a keynote and a presentation of papers by members of the group followed by discussions. The second stage will consist of performance events, conceptual discussions and workshops delivered by the invited practitioners. There will be long-term impact in building new relationships between practitioners and academic researchers, leading to potential future collaborations. This will be achieved through collaborations on the edited volume and future publications, a joint exhibition project of conceptual work generated by the network, future symposia and grant applications.

We identify the second group of stakeholders as potential external collaborators such as the Digital Catapult Innovation centre, National Theatre Wales and S4C. We will approach members of these organisations and invite them to participate in the network's activities in order to establish relationships and links that will be mutually beneficial. The short-term impact on this group will be achieved as follows. Digital Catapult would benefit from new critical perspectives and discussions of future directions in which A.I. will be implemented in artistic practice. NTW would benefit from insights into how A.I. and 'ludic technologies' can be implemented in contemporary performance and theatre practice. These insights would benefit and inform the programming agenda and strategy of NTW. In a similar vein this research network would also benefit S4C in terms of programming and future project involvement. The long-term impact will be achieved by forging links between academia, media industry and businesses which will lead to potential future collaborations on interdisciplinary projects.

The third group of stakeholders are the non-academic audiences. The short-term impact will be achieved as follows. Non-academic participants will have the opportunity to engage and participate in the organised workshops. There will be opportunities to spectate and also to explore new technologies and experience. External collaborators such as NTW and S4C have an extensive experience in organising and curating public-facing events and their involvement will contribute towards extending the social reach of the network. We can collaborate with their marketing teams in order to identify and target audiences who would be interested in the topics of the network. The long-term impact will be achieved as follows. The network will host an interactive website that will disseminate information about the project and hold video documentation of the events. Also, as a final event, we will organise a gallery exhibition of ideas and concepts generated by the network and produce a catalogue which will document this work (printed and online form).

Publications

10 25 50
 
Description The grant project developed new knowledge around the relationship between A.I., humanities, and ludic technologies. It explored interdisciplianry areas between these three distinct but related disciplines. New areas of knowledge and potential futrure research were opened and articulated by the participants. This opened up new pathways for future collaborations between scientific, ludological and artistic approaches to A.I.
Exploitation Route Many stake holders will benefit from this research. Artists will benefit from the perspectives espoused by academics and commercial partners involved in the project. Commercial participants will benefit from academic perspectives and research. Organisations such as the BBC will benefit from the project since it was an opportunity to carry out RnD work. Academic participants would have benefited from multiple perspecives that the project enabled. It also created a platform for discussion and further collaboration on the topic at hand.
Sectors Creative Economy

Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software)

Education

Culture

Heritage

Museums and Collections

 
Description Academic participants on the project will enhance their reserach profile by contributing to a curated issue of the International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media. BBC will use the research from the project to enhance and inform their services. Artist participants will develop new methodologies and strategies for their work based on the findings from the grant.
Sector Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software)
Impact Types Cultural

 
Description Trustworthy Autonomous Systems Hub 
Organisation University of Southampton
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We worked together with the TAS Hub to promote workshop events in the Network and used the TAS network to share information and get participants for events
Collaborator Contribution TAS Promoted the event, asked for participants from their Hub and shared this via the Creative theme of their project We worked together with the TAS Hub to promote workshop event in the Network and used the TAS network to share information and get participants for events
Impact This partnership led to working with: BBC R&D Thales Group National Gallery X - TAS partners See events here https://www.ntail.org/copy-of-workshops
Start Year 2021
 
Description Workshop by Prof. David de Roure: 'Embracing disruption: music as a rehearsal for an emerging symbiosis of human and machine' and keynote: 'Living in the Moment: Co-Creating Music with AI' 
Organisation University of Oxford
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We worked together together with Prof. David de Roure to organise a workshop and bring in interested participants by using his research networks and contacts.
Collaborator Contribution Prof. David de Roure gave a workshop titled 'Embracing disruption: music as a rehearsal for an emerging symbiosis of human and machine' and a keynote: 'Living in the Moment: Co-Creating Music with AI'
Impact This partnership provided us with an insightful workshop about the role of early adopters of AI in creative industries who are already living in world of creative humans and AI. The workshop focused on the creative and disruptive aspects of A.I. creative practices.
Start Year 2021
 
Description Workshop held by Prof. Natasha Lushetich from the University of Dundee titled: 'Ludic Technologies: A Dance with Complexity' and Keynote: 'Recursion as Disruption' 
Organisation University of Dundee
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We helped to organise the workshop and ensure that there was a pool of participants conducive towards networking activity.
Collaborator Contribution The main idea behind this workshop was that AI, as used in administration, banking, education, the gig economy, and many other spheres of life, is both an invisible (and invisibly violent) hegemonic force, and an 'alien' form of thought, to borrow Joseph Weizenbaum's expression. Our current cultural experience is one of simultaneous over-determination (black-boxed AI procedures arriving at unfathomable conclusions such as 'automatic' bank account termination or 'automatic' health insurance claim refusal) and indeterminacy as constant change. The workshop engaged a number of participants in discussions and creative activities in order to explore how ludic technologies, seen as material and immaterial transformation techniques and methods, can navigate this paradox. Prof. Natasha Lushetich also gave a keynote: 'Recursion as Disruption'
Impact The workshop enabled discussions and fostered networking possibilities for all those who were interested in this area of research.
Start Year 2021
 
Description Workshop: Cultural exchange with the realm of artificial intelligence and Keynote: 'The Game of Life' 
Organisation National Gallery, London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution We helped to organise the workshop and keynote given by Dr. Ali Hossaini
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Ali Hossaini gave a Keynote titled: 'The Game of Life'. He also run a workshop: 'Cultural exchange with the realm of artificial intelligence'. The workshop sought to define a conceptual framework for understanding A/IS through their creative output.
Impact The workshop engaged participants in discussions and design activities surrounding the topic and research of the network grant. It also fostered networking possibilities.
Start Year 2021
 
Description Workshop: Jazz as Social Machine 
Organisation Alan Turing Institute
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We facilitated and helped to organise the workshop.
Collaborator Contribution The workshop led by Thomas Irvine (University of Southampton/Turing Institute) comprised of talks and a round-table discussion. These included: Session 1: Jazz as Social Machine "Political ecologies of jazz and machine learning:Project overview and theoretical considerations" (Dr Thomas Irvine, University of Southampton/Alan Turing Institute) "Jazz, movement, resistance, data: What does it mean to imagine the history of jazz as the history of a social machine?" (Prof Christopher J Smith, Texas Tech University) "Breaking the Chains, an interactive multimedia sound and game environment about jazz and AI" (Dr Brona Martin, University of Kent) Q & A Session 2: Towards ludic understandings of data and art (round-table). Respondent Dr Seth Giddings, Winchester School of Art)
Impact The workshop enabled discussions and fostered networking possibilities for all those who were present and interested in this area of research.
Start Year 2021
 
Description Workshop: Jazz as Social Machine 
Organisation University of Southampton
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We facilitated and helped to organise the workshop.
Collaborator Contribution The workshop led by Thomas Irvine (University of Southampton/Turing Institute) comprised of talks and a round-table discussion. These included: Session 1: Jazz as Social Machine "Political ecologies of jazz and machine learning:Project overview and theoretical considerations" (Dr Thomas Irvine, University of Southampton/Alan Turing Institute) "Jazz, movement, resistance, data: What does it mean to imagine the history of jazz as the history of a social machine?" (Prof Christopher J Smith, Texas Tech University) "Breaking the Chains, an interactive multimedia sound and game environment about jazz and AI" (Dr Brona Martin, University of Kent) Q & A Session 2: Towards ludic understandings of data and art (round-table). Respondent Dr Seth Giddings, Winchester School of Art)
Impact The workshop enabled discussions and fostered networking possibilities for all those who were present and interested in this area of research.
Start Year 2021
 
Description Workshop: Making AI Understandable (BBC) 
Organisation British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution We organised and facilitated the event.
Collaborator Contribution The workshop led by Tristan Ferne explored creative ways of explaining AI by addressing the following questions: What can we make that demystifies AI for the public, across digital products to education, media, language, imagery and culture? How can we help make better mental models of how AI works? Can we make people care about understanding AI? How can we show where it touches peoples' lives and affects individuals? How can we better show the benefits and limitations of AI systems? How can we ensure explaining AI benefits the individual and society, and enables trust in AI systems where appropriate?
Impact Workshop discussion between facilitators and participants of the network.
Start Year 2021
 
Description Symposium I: Humanist Perspectives Nottingham University, 9th of April 2021 (the event was held online) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Symposium I: Humanist Perspectives
Nottingham University, 9th of April 2021 (the event was held online)

The symposium explored approaches towards a humanistic understanding of the inter-relation between the domains of A.I., theatre and performance and ludic technologies. The structure of the event was as follows:

Session I: Keynotes
10:00 - 10:15 Introduction
10:15 - 10:45 Prof. Steve Benford (University of Nottingham)
10:45 - 11:15 Dr. Maria Kallionpää (Hong Kong Baptist University)
11:15 - 11:30 Coffee
11:30 - 12:00 Nick Tandavanitj (Blast Theory)
12:00 - 12:30 Panel

12:30 - 14:00 Lunch

Session II: Workshops
14:00 - 17:00 Three Parallel Workshop Sessions. In partnership with the TAS Hub. https://www.tas.ac.uk/

1) Making AI Understandable (BBC)

2) How Do We Understand Trust and The Need to Design Autonomous Systems for Trust? (Thales Group)

3) Jazz as Social Machine (University of Southampton/Turing Institute)
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.ntail.org/events-2
 
Description Symposium II: Ruptures/Disruptions Aberystwyth University, 29th of July 2021 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The symposium explored how the application of A.I. in theatre and performance and ludic technologies can instantiate ruptures and disruptions to our contemporary cultural context and the everyday. The symposium also looked at ways in which A.I. can be used in staging provocations and provocative design.

Symposium schedule was as follows:

Session I: Keynotes
10:00 - 10:15 Introduction
10:15 - 10:45 'Recursion as Disruption', Prof. Natasha Lushetich (University of Dundee)
10:45 - 11:15 ' Living in the Moment: Co-Creating Music with AI', Prof. David de Roure (Oxford University, The Alan Turing Institute, PRiSM, Royal Northern College of Music)

11:15 - 11:30 Coffee
11:30 - 12:00 'The Game of Life', Dr. Ali Hossaini (National Gallery X and King's College London)
12:00 - 12:30 Panel

12:30 - 14:00 Lunch

Session II: Workshops
14:00 - 17:00 Three Parallel Workshop Sessions.

There were three parallel Workshop Sessions running between 14:00-17:00 on Thursday 29th of July:

1) Ludic Technologies: A Dance with Complexity (Prof. Natasha Lushetich)

2) Embracing disruption: music as a rehearsal for an emerging symbiosis of human and machine
(Prof. David de Roure)

3) Cultural exchange with the realm of artificial intelligence (Dr. Ali Hossaini)
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.ntail.org/events-2
 
Description Symposium III: Immersion and Embodied Experiences: AI, VR and Inclusive Futures (University of Nottingham) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The symposium will explore how A.I., theatre and performance and ludic technologies impact our understanding of immersion and corporeal/embodied experiences in the postdigital age. There will be scope for further exploration of the impact of A.I. development on VR, AR and MR technologies which are opening up new modes of experience and engagement with virtual worlds. (In-person and online)
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.ntail.org/events-2
 
Description Workshop: Performing A.I.: Stage, Sound and Screen 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Aberystwyth University Arts Centre, 20th and 21st of December 2022. This will be an in-person event.

A series of workshops that will explore how A.I., theatre and 'ludic technologies' can be employed and used as part of creative devising methodologies to develop work for the stage, sound art and screen.

Workshops included:

Performing AI. Using AI tools for playwriting led by Vlad Butucea
Sounding AI: Performance, Collaboration and Synthetic voices led by Dr Yaron Shyldkrot
Design Fiction Worldbuilding led by Prof Paul Coulton

These were followed by round table discussions the following day.
Future research plans were discussed and focusing on the role of A.I. in rural settings and communities was proposed.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.ntail.org/events-2