Plastic Biosphere
an audiovisual artwork series by
Kıvanç Tatar
Plastic Biosphere is a series of artworks that highlights the imperative coexistence of humankind and the material, plastics. In the anthropocene era, humankind created over 300 million tons of plastic every year, and this production has become a geophysical force of nature. The ubiquitous material extends beyond our reach and control, creating its own life-cycles, existing as an unignorable element of the biosphere.
I initiated this series during an artist residency at UNATC CINETic as a part of Ars Electronica 2019 Kepler’s Gardens series. The first edition was an interactive artwork. The second edition was an audiovisual artwork for which I collaborated with dancer Tamar Tabori. The last edition was a music album that was a recorded through the second edition.
No.3
The music album of Plastic Biosphere series is the third and the final edition of this series. It was super fun to explore the aesthetics of plastic material on urbanscapes using AI technologies in this series. The music album is made during the production of live audiovisual performance. You can find the video of the AV premier below.
Some musical layers of this album was produced using a model of MASOM trained on a synth recordings dataset. As an example of those musical layers, the last track is made of a single musical layer generated by MASOM that is passed through a reverb and some post-mix effects. I am only changing a filter here and there on that track. Hence, the AI generated elements in this album are pad-like, ambient, synth-ish musical layers. The rhythmic elements are my own make or playing. I enjoyed the production process in this work, where the pad-like layers generated by AI software was a starting point of each track.
The album is mixed and mastered by my dear friend and colleague Uğur Akagündüz.
Some musical layers of this album was produced using a model of MASOM trained on a synth recordings dataset. As an example of those musical layers, the last track is made of a single musical layer generated by MASOM that is passed through a reverb and some post-mix effects. I am only changing a filter here and there on that track. Hence, the AI generated elements in this album are pad-like, ambient, synth-ish musical layers. The rhythmic elements are my own make or playing. I enjoyed the production process in this work, where the pad-like layers generated by AI software was a starting point of each track.
The album is mixed and mastered by my dear friend and colleague Uğur Akagündüz.
No.2
premiered online on August 16th, 2021
performed @interplay on September 23rd and 24th; 2021
...an online stream of live audio-visual performance with contemporary dance, produced and performed using artificial intelligence technologies.
performed @interplay on September 23rd and 24th; 2021
...an online stream of live audio-visual performance with contemporary dance, produced and performed using artificial intelligence technologies.
A silhouette of human body pixelates an anthropocene landscape stylized by AI technologies that copy the look, color schemes, and stroke styles from images of plastic, The body is in a playful, real-time interaction with moving images of anthropocene landscape that is transformed into the artwork through the aesthetics of plastics in its natural life-cycle. A kinect camera tracks the body to create real-time interactivity with the assistance of AI solutions. The real-time interaction between the machine and the human body evolves as the performance unfolds.
Plastic Biosphere series use two different applications of AI technologies: moving images and music. For moving images, I focus on the style imitation applications of Deep Learning algorithms. The style imitation algorithm is combined with real-time shaders to create interactivity. On the music side, Kıvanç is performing the music in this piece in real-time with a Musical AI system titled MASOM. Hence, Plastic Biosphere explores how the body can start a dialogue with the machinery of AI through music and moving images. The interactivity between the human body and the machine emphasizes the far-reaching effects of embodied existence of humankind on nature.
Credits
Kıvanç Tatar
Artistic Director / Creative AI development
Tamar Tabori
Contemporary Dance
Dan O'Shea
Technical Director
Remy Siu
Technical
Consultant
Kıvanç Tatar
Artistic Director / Creative AI development
Tamar Tabori
Contemporary Dance
Dan O'Shea
Technical Director
Remy Siu
Technical
Consultant
This stream is hosted on the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of the Coast Salish Peoples including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations.
This work has been funded by Canada Council for the Arts and supported by Vancouver New Music.
This work has been funded by Canada Council for the Arts and supported by Vancouver New Music.
No.1
Kıvanç Tatar, 2020
@UNATC Garden Bucharest, Romania
ARS ELECTRONICA FESTIVAL 2020
@UNATC Garden Bucharest, Romania
ARS ELECTRONICA FESTIVAL 2020
No.1 is an interactive installation where a silhouette of the audience’s body pixelates an anthropocene landscape
that is stylized by artificial intelligence using images of plastic, andmusic is generated in realtime by using an AI system called MASOM.
UNATC Garden presents the results of the online collaboration
between five international artists, virtually gathered in CINETic
Residencies, active in interactive art and CINETic Centre researchers
and artists.
UNATC Garden Bucharest Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_H8vS0mUUeKsLv7Tkw4AbA
Ars Electronica page: https://ars.electronica.art/keplersgardens/en/cinetic-residencies-talk/
UNATC page: https://cinetic.arts.ro/plastic-biosphere/
Ars Electronica page: https://ars.electronica.art/keplersgardens/en/cinetic-residencies-talk/
UNATC page: https://cinetic.arts.ro/plastic-biosphere/
Credits
Kıvanç Tatar
Artist, Creative AI developer
Assoc. Prof. Alexandru Berceanu
CINETic Director
Grigore Burloiu
Technical Director
Artist, Creative AI developer
Assoc. Prof. Alexandru Berceanu
CINETic Director
Grigore Burloiu
Technical Director
Panel Talk @Ars Electronica 2020
UNATC Distant Art
CINETic Residencies