An innovative project that merges artificial intelligence with art has emerged at the Serpentine North Gallery in Hyde Park, London. Titled 'The Call', this unique art installation is spearheaded by artists Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst in collaboration with the Serpentine Arts Technologies team. The interactive piece features what has been dubbed a 'GPU pipe organ'—a wall of fans that emits a choral sound. This acoustical phenomenon is achieved through a diffusion model that finely tunes the rotation per minute (RPM) of each fan.
The creators faced the moral complexities of data use in AI by crafting their dataset ethically. Rather than sourcing data from existing repositories, often criticised for copyright concerns, Herndon and Dryhurst curated a bespoke dataset. They compiled a songbook of hymnals, encompassing every phoneme in the English language. Taking this songbook on tour, they recorded voluntary contributions from 15 different community choirs across the United Kingdom. The choirs' performances were captured using ambisonic recording methods, ensuring a detailed audial recollection of each session.
In a novel approach to data ownership in the AI realm, the recordings are owned by the choirs themselves. This arrangement was established through an inventive intellectual property structure developed with the Future Art Ecosystems team at Serpentine. Herndon, discussing this initiative on social media platform X, emphasized that the choirs would retain a significant level of control over how their contributions are utilised—a sharp deviation from typical AI datasets, where creative expressions are frequently used without the contributor's consent.
The dataset produced is notably the largest of its kind available to researchers, offering future-proofed resources thanks to the ambisonic recording techniques. This empowers the contributing choir members with a substantial voice in the ongoing dialogue about AI data usage, potentially setting a new standard for AI projects in the art and technology sectors.
The Call is not just visually mesmerising, enveloped in a white and gold frame with a central unit meticulously crafted from embossed brass, but it also invites the public to interact. Audience engagement is a key element of the installation, as it allows visitors to create sounds which the 'organ' then responds to in a polyphonic call and response format.
The installation remains open to the public at the Serpentine North Gallery until February 2nd, 2025. Entry is free, inviting a diverse array of visitors to experience this cutting-edge blend of art, technology, and AI. This offering provides an opportunity to appreciate how delicate and deliberate interactions between technology and humanity can create something both beautiful and harmonious.
Source: Noah Wire Services