Artificial intelligence is only a "collaborator" I then finish
We artists will never be useless
Interview by Anna Benedettini - La Repubblica
Reality is here, he on another planet where avatars and drones live, we dance with algorithms and artificial intelligence, study neuroscience, physics and astrophysics.
Wayne McGregor is the volcanic, internationally renowned choreographer who from over thirty years successfully explores the new frontiers of technologies in dance. British, 54 years old, smile from good guy, awarded the title "Commander" of the British Empire, he is a master and a pioneer. Along these dual lines, he has created hits at the Royal Ballet, La Scala, the Met ( Woolf works, his cult hit with Alessandra Ferri, lands on the 26th), experimented with rock stars from Radiohead to Jon Hopkin, collaborated with film for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and choreographed the four avatars of the legendary Abba Voyage show. A visionary convinced that new technologies are a reservoir of innovation for dance. How, we will see in the coming weeks: at the 67th Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, which opens on the 28th where McGregor, from July 12 to 14, debuts Deepstaria, a new creation with his dancers, fine heads of music and AI technologies; then from July 18 to August 3 at the Venice Biennale Dance Festival, which he directs from 4 years and where many hope for a reappointment.
Mr. McGregor, "Deepstaria" is the name of a jellyfish, What does it have to do with your show?
"It is a beautiful, shape-changing creature, living in the depths of the sea and self-generating. It evoked for me the theme of immortality in a poetic way, with resonances to the abyssal depths of the sea and to the sidereal depths of space. Not to case the stage will be a real black hole thanks to an extraordinary technology, the Vantablack, which creates the blackest blackness in the world. There will be dancing to special sounds. Nicholas Becker, a noisemaker and Oscar winner, and music producer Lexx have devised and used Bronze, an artificial intelligence sound composition system; the ingenious thing is that it produces recorded sounds that adapt to the live situation, so they change to each performance, even the dancers have to to themselves modify their movements. This keeps their physical sensibility alert, vivid. Which means that thanks to AI we have returned to the purest essence of the relationship between music and dance. With the dancers, we also experimented with an artificial intelligence system with Google, which allows them to try out new options of dance pieces, renewing the possibilities of movement."
Doesn't all this science scare you?
Why? On stage you see bodies, hopefully very beautiful, making movements, hopefully wonderful with primal music. What does it matter if to creating it is AI? What matters is that there is a human hand. The AI is only an "augmented" collaborator: it is I who then refine. We artists will never be useless; we should not be catastrophists. It is legitimate to open an ethical debate to fight against the Wild West, not against technologies. Google or a cell phone, a pacemaker or a robot that cleans blood are forms of AI that have improved life. It is human teaching."
And what role do artists play?
"The potential of AI can extend their creativity, invent new languages. Think of dances on TikTok and Instagram. 0 to Leonardo with his flying machines on stage. Making art is about exploring possibilities."
Is it true that Deepstaria will have an even more technological sequel?
"Yes, in 2025, On the other Earth: the audience will be immersed in this incredible "Future cinema" by Jeffrey Shaw, the first post-cinematic interactive screen, 60 meters, 360 Led, augmented reality, 3D, haptic technology, and where you can experience dance in another way."
AI is also in the choreography you are preparing at the Venice Biennale. What is it about?
"We are working with my dancers and sixteen fantastic Biennale College students in a special place, the great hall of the Palazzo del Cinema at the Lido without the seats and on a big stage. I was inspired by the first film seen at the Festival in the 1930s, Dr. Jekyll, in which the director used an innovative technique for make-up color filters."
More technology. Yet the title of the festival is "We human."
"It is a reminder at this time of political turmoil. I wanted to to show that humanity is always one, even if it has different ways of acting and cooperating. All the artists show humanity in their practices, collaborations, experimentation like the Golden Lion Cristina Caprioli or emotion like the Silver Lion Trajal Harrell. As for AI, to explain what I mean, there will be an incredible film, De humani corporis fabrica: a journey into the human body, where you see its delicacy and extraordinary technology. Humanity is this: fragility and ingenuity."