Can artificial intelligence suffer from mental illnesses that people suffer from? How would these systems be cured?
The project aims to show in an immersive and interactive visual way the research currently being carried out by teams from CSIC, IGTP, Institute of Biomedical Research of Barcelona, and the Barcelona Computer Vision Center, entities participating in the project, created by Fundació Èpica of La Fura dels Baus, to find patterns and similarities between the two and experientially show them in first person to those who visit the space.
All actions are based on topics arising from conversations and discussions with experts from research centers, scientists, and technical collaborators and are supported by “Kalliópê“, an app developed by Fundació Èpica that allows interaction with all the people who enjoy the experience in real-time through their mobile devices, allowing them to receive indications, sound and other stimuli that complete a total immersion and involvement with the show.
Action 1: Physicality
This first action proposes the physicality of artificial intelligence through an experience with interactive and immersive dynamics using the interaction with the public’s mobile devices, which receive real-time indications to perform dynamics that allow them to explore the space in a very personal way. The start of the action is proposed to collect data from people through three distinguished points in the space. One of the points has abstract projections of human bodies, another point proposes the “scanning” of the public’s DNA, and the last point is the projection of a three-dimensional model of the space they are visiting. After the dynamics between the public at these points, the action continues in the adjacent space where there is a cubic structure in which there are projections and lights reactive to sound that at one point, allow visualizing a living entity conceptually printed with human tissue recreated from the data collected in the first phase that begins to come to life until finally before being released, there is an energy collapse that guides the public to the next action.
Action 2: Development
How is the passage of schizophrenia from the early stages to the more advanced stages? Could Artificial Intelligence be induced to schizophrenic episodes to help us find solutions for people?
The action intends to show this course using surrounding projections with which the members of the action are directly related and the implication of the public in the scene actively. The initial phase of the illness is represented by mapping with visuals superimposed on stairs as an architectural element of the space that generates a dialogue in which the concept is introduced in a visual, auditory, and performative way. Then, maintaining the interaction with the space, the performative part starts a journey through the walls together with the projections and the sound creating distortions until reaching the moment in which the disease is in the most advanced stage where delirium and other aspects are shown in which the audience is involved through their mobile devices that start to vibrate and emit flashes producing a completely sensory outcome.
Action 3: Love
This proposal tries to launch a bridge between AI and mental illness through love. It aims to reflect on how it affects society and vice versa and how to help people with the disease using the tools at our disposal. Through an immersive journey made with projections and performance and where the narratives of the action arise from conversations with Artificial Intelligence, a family tries to help a member who suffers from schizophrenia through drugs. They don’t succeed… Finally, the AI intervenes but also ends up suffering from schizophrenia because it is limited to pattern recognition, something that society itself has taught. An eternal return is formed, a constant “samsara”, which brings people back to square one, inviting the audience’s reflection through emotions.
Action 4: Good AI or bad AI?
In the performative action “Good AI or bad AI?”, two antagonistic visions are presented: Utopia versus Dystopia, inviting reflection on the future of humanity according to the use made of Artificial Intelligence tools. In the first vision, a group of apathetic humans are observed following functional and mechanical AI instructions to reach orgasm. This scene is interrupted by a preacher who, with a touch of humor, awakens us from this nightmare and introduces us to a utopian world where technology not only facilitates our existence but also elevates our humanity. The AI, depicted as a beam of light in dialogue, guides the audience outwards, towards a promising future. On this path, four avatars with superhuman characteristics stand out for their transcendence in the fields of health, the environment, knowledge, and the metaverse, symbolizing a tomorrow in which technology amplifies the best of the human condition.
Interactive and Immersive Performance
WORKSHOP #20 – NEURAL NETWORKS
Fundación Épica La fura dels Baus
MAY 24 – 26, 2024
Space dimensions:
Width 20m × Length 20m × Height 6m
Team
Artistic Direction
Pep Gatell
Executive Production
Nadala Fernández
Set Production
Alex Cueva
Management
Fran Iglesias
Project Management
Helena Martí
Technological Direction
Pedro Lorente
Technical Direction
Ramón Tarés
Scenic Direction
Tatín Revenga
Photo and Video Shooting
Marina Androver
Action 1
Alicia Marco
Daniel Ruiz
Guillermo Diez
Chiara Ventura
Simón Garita
Neftalí Contreras
Action 2
Ana Karen Orozco
Gerard Valls Montaño
Eugenia Mello
Coco Flores
Marc Treserras
Laura Zamora
Action 3
Abelardo Vladich
Agustín López
Isabel Archs
Laura López
Lucía Moreno
Tirma Ayerbe
Action 4
Antonio Oria
Isabel Álvarez
Joan Carbonell
Laia Castelo
Celia Baeza
Supported by
Fundació Èpica La Fura dels Baus
La Fura dels Baus
CSIC (Spanish National Research Council)
IGTP (Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute)
Barcelona Computer Vision Center
Institute of Biomedical Research of Barcelona
Badalona City Council
Barcelona City Council
Catalan Ministry of Culture
Spanish Ministry of Culture
Spanish Ministry of Science and Education
European Commission
S+T+ARTS