WHO ARE YOU – HIDALGO Workshop
WORKSHOP AND FLASH MOB DURING SCHOOL BREAKS
AI is omnipresent in everyday life—especially in the lives of young people: 90 percent of Instagram users are under 35 years old, 50 percent of TikTok users are between 16 and 24 years old. Young people naturally always carry their smartphones with them. They text, send photos and videos, share their favorite music and watch tutorials. They constantly leave traces and shape their digital selves. Algorithms suggest new music, give fitness tips, influence mental health, lifestyle and appearance.
In WHO ARE YOU, students look behind the facade of their own user behavior. The music education format is based on a HIDALGO production of the same name, which will premiere during the HIDALGO Festival in fall 2023: In this song lab at Microsoft headquarters, a singer allows herself to be optimized by an artificial intelligence. Using gesture and facial recognition, AI analyzes her for “mistakes”—and corrects them using impulses, visuals and sound. A confrontational musical performance between human and machine. The outcome is undecided.
After a visit to the performance with a special introduction, the students continue to work on the topic themselves in workshops including flash mobs. They ask themselves what thoughts and needs arise as a result. Are we being shaped by AI and the content it provides? The sound artists Paul Bießmann and Jonas Urbat will bring along some specially programmed apps, translate the digital behavior into live electronics, incorporate the students’ favorite songs and develop joint artistic interventions that will be performed as flash mobs during break times.
