Conversations for Human and A.I.
By Samuel Long
Covid-19 has created a shift in how and where people work and how they manage time. The transition for many of in-person work to working from home, has revealed how productive people can be in their own environment. It has also allowed more time for loved ones, creativity, and reflection. It’s a paradigm shift which will likely continue when the virus abates. The rapid development of artificial intelligence allows for even more free time, energy and creativity. This will fuel a seismic shift in priorities, from acquisition to humanism, confusion to clarity and selfism to altruism. And that’s what this composition emulates and illustrates. “Conversations for Human and A.I.” is an electronic duet between composer Samuel Long (also known by the artist name, Lapis Elle) and his artificial intelligence system affectionately called “Thing.” The composer built a mutli-function artificial intelligence system which creates chord structures in response to melodic performances on modular synthesizers. The system itself is inspired by Pando, a colony of thousands of quaking aspen trees in Utah that looks like a forest, but is actually a singular organism. “Thing” will be used for multiple projects and collaborations, and as a result, will constantly grow and evolve as our society grows and evolves as a result of these extraordinary times. In this piece “Thing” can be heard as all of the orchestral sounds, while the modular synth performance (by touch and hand gestures) are all electronic. This creates an important contradiction: the more familiar sounds are inhuman and sterile while the abstract and obtuse sounds are more personal and human.
About the Visual Art "I Spread"
Using optical fiber as a simulacra, this project seeks to make physical the connectedness of ideas. Everything is connected because everything can be connected. Drawing inspiration from the rhizomatic Pando tree organism, the flexible destination of light represents the propagation of information in an ecosystem. This system relies on chance and resists organization, creating intervals in ways that she is unable to control.
About the Artists
Composer: Samuel Long
Samuel Long is a composer, whose work bridges the gap between experimental classical music and modern electronic composition. He graduated magna cum laude from the Music Conservatory at SUNY Purchase College, and his credits include works for the screen, stage and stand-alone albums. His compositions for the Youtube animator Meatcanyon have each been viewed over 2 million times.
Visual Artist: Rachel Azzinaro
Rachel Azzinaro is a graphic designer and artist currently living in Richmond, Virginia. She has a deep and multifaceted love for printmaking, history, science fiction, letterpress printing, ancient art, and theory. Her art practice combines a fascination in humanity’s natural and speculative impact on the world and on history. Rachel enjoys making work about its Aboutness.