By Tarek Fahmy
SHARJAH, UAE, Feb 5 (Reuters) - The conductor on the podium
has no baton, no tailcoat and no musical score, but Android
Alter 3 is kicking up a storm as it guides a symphony
orchestra’s players through their paces.
The robot has a humanoid face, hands and lower arms, which
gesticulate with what could pass for passion as it bounces up
and down and rotates during the live performance of Keiichiro
Shibuya’s opera “Scary Beauty” in the Emirate of Sharjah.
For Shibuya, a composer from Japan, the role of robots in
our everyday lives may well be increasing, but it is up to us to
decide how artificial intelligence might add to the human
experience, and humans and androids create art together.
“This work is a metaphor of the relations between humans and
technology. Sometimes the android will get crazy, human
orchestras have to follow. But sometimes humans can cooperate
very comfortably,” he said.
Shibuya wrote the music, but the android controls the tempo
and volume of the live show, and even sings at times.
“The premise is that the android itself is moving according
to its own will,” said its technician Kotobuki Hikaru.
The work’s lyrics are based on literary texts from American
“Beat Generation” writer William Burroughs and French author
Michael Houellebecq.
“The robots and AI that exist now are not at all complete.
The focus of my interest… is what happens when this incomplete
technology comes together with art,” said Shibuya.
From those who witnessed it, the performance drew a mixed
response.
“I think this is a very exciting idea…we came to see how
it looks like and how much is …possible,” said Anna Kovacevic.
A second audience member, who gave his name only as Billum,
said after the show: “You know, a human conductor is so much
better.”
Although he is interested in AI and anticipates big
breakthroughs, he concluded on the project: “the human touch is
lost.”
(Reporting by
Writing by Alexandra Hudson and John Stonestreet)
((alexandra.hudson@thomsonreuters.com;))
Keywords: UAE MUSIC/ANDROID (PIX, TV)
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