Corporeality and AI technique

This project aimed to investigate and develop methods for communicating movement, embodiment and corporeal manifestations. The project was a pilot study carried out in close collaboration with research in AI and motion synthesis. The intention was to develop a “language” for choreographing AI-generated dances. This language was intended to be based on how choreographers and dancers communicate today, both bodily and verbally, while also exploring new ways of communicating movement specific to the relationship with AI.

The ambition of the project was to deepen the understanding of human communication of movement, to explore if established dance practices can be developed through new knowledge on communication as well as to investigate if new dance practices can evolve through different types of communication than the current. The research questions in the project were: How can work with dance/movement and AI technique develop methods for communicating artistic and pedagogical intention? In what way can AI technique in practice be integrated with artistic and pedagogical intention to develop and challenge norms, conceptions and limitations in relation to movement and body? How is our interpretation of dance changed by being embodied by a non-human-corporality?

The project was carried out through a methodical approach consisting of various methods and strategies. It began with mutual interdisciplinary discussions on technique, concept definitions, perspectives on movement, art, understanding of each other’s disciplines, language, and communication. These discussions provided a foundation for practical workshops. The first workshops focused on the language and physical understanding of movement and the body, meaning that all participants in the project not only discussed the phenomenon of dance but also danced together. The following workshops were focused on AI technique and physical movement in relation to each other. This relation was tested and developed through labs and recordings in motion capture studio. The results of the explorations were continuously assessed. In the project there was also a continuous dialogue on specific ethical perspectives and considerations. A critical standpoint to the relation between the artificial and the material was maintained in all phases of the project. The participants, from their competences and subject areas, were together aware of and reflecting on contemporary discussions in society, within research and within art when it comes to AI. The project´s implementation contributed to new questions on language, choreography, communication in relation to AI relevant to the area of mime acting as well as giving a norm critical perspective. In dance and movement pedagogy the project was highly relevant since it put emphasis on new ways of approaching movement communication, where clarity and quantifiability became key factors. The project also generated deepened questions regarding the relation between body and movement, as well as human and non-human.

The project was a collaboration between Åsa Johannisson and Katarina Lundmark, assistant professors in mime acting and in jazz dance, at SKH and Simon Alexandersson, researcher in AI technique and movement synthesis at KTH.

Internal funding SKH

2024