Chorusing Symbionts

During a month in spring the creatures of Chorusing Symbionts created by Matteo Marangoni will visit Zone2Source and hang out high up  in the trees in front of het Glazen Huis in the Amstelpark.

We’d love to see you at our ‘double opening’ at Glazen Huis the 19th of April. Inside there will be an opening of Host(ile) Lands.

Chorusing Symbionts is a project investigating the possibility of interspecies music bridging the worlds of humans, robots and animals within the framework of ecoacoustics. The project is inspired by current research in the field of artificial intelligence and bioacoustics, and more specifically machine learning applied to animal communication. It proposes a type of embodied and sensorial science-fiction in which new artificial creatures are bred to evolve organically in a symbiotic relationship with their naturally evolved counterparts.

The project takes as a starting point the following question: can the current attention which is given to the field of artificial intelligence, which is commonly understood as the simulation of human intelligence, be utilised to promote a broader understanding of intelligence, reaching beyond human-centric perspectives? And what can we learn from nature about sharing space amongst species, which might contribute to a more balanced relation between humans and the biosphere?

Chorusing Symbionts takes the form of an ensemble of artificial creatures which communicate with each other and are acoustically and energetically integrated in the environment. The creatures are designed to be placed in public gardens and parks and to generate spatial electronic music which invites listeners to pay attention to their surroundings.

about the artist

Matteo Holyoke Marangoni combines music with visual art, theatre, and new technologies. He develops robotic instruments and artificial creatures to compose spaces in which sound is experienced with the whole body and all the senses. His work draws inspiration from animal communication, bioacoustics, and ecoacoustics, exploring how sound can mediate relationships between humans, machines, and other life forms, and proposing embodied and ecological notions of intelligence, consciousness and subjecthood. His work is presented in museums, concert halls, festivals, public spaces, and research contexts in formats ranging from site-specific sound installations, music theatre performances, lectures and workshops.

TEAM:

Mihalis Shammas (3D design), Luuk Meints and Ionela Pop (3D design and digital fabrication), Matthijs Munnik and Daan Johan (electronics), Ahnjili ZhuParris (machine learning), Riccardo Marogna (DSP and music composition), Stephan Olde (IoT), Erfan Abdi (videography)

Chorusing Symbionts builds upon previous work developed with Dieter Vandoren

PARTNERS:

TU Delft, Crossing Parallels
Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden
Academy of Creative and Performing Arts, Leiden University
Days of Art & Science, Leiden
iii, The Hague
Zuiderparktheatre, The Hague,
Zone2Source, Amsterdam
Marres, Maastricht
STUK, Leuven
Serralves, Porto

FUNDING:

Creative Industries Fund NL
Performing Arts Fund NL
Municipality of The Hague