Join us on Saturday, May 7th 2022 as art collective h0t club present their World Premiere of Freeicecream.network at CounterPulse’s annual Gala art party and auction event in San Fransisco.

h0t club, featuring Miller Puckette (author of PureData), Kate Bergstrom, and Martim S. Galvão debut their experimental multimedia performance Freeicecream.network that explores how our desire for connection and delicious treats entangles us with networks of information technologies.

The World Premiere will feature three human performers and three robots throughout a 25 minute experience. The show takes place on Saturday, May 7th at CounterPulse in San Francisco. Audiences will receive free ice cream as part of the show.

How to attend the performances

Freeicecream.network’s World Premiere will be presented as part of CounterPulse’s annual Innerspace Art Party & Auction: Homecoming alongside dozens of other artists, performances, and DJ sets.

Reserve tickets now to secure your place for Saturday, May 7th, 2022

The address is CounterPulse, 80 Turk Street, San Francisco, CA 94102. Innerspace: Homecoming runs from 7pm-midnight PDT, and h0t club’s performance times are 7:30, 8:00 & 9:00pm PDT. Each of these performances lasts approximately 25 minutes.

Use this link to share the invitation with others who might wish to attend the performance.

About h0t club

During h0t club’s 16-week residency at Thoughtworks Arts and CounterPulse the artists developed performing robots who respond to sensors and cameras placed throughout CounterPulse’s project space, moving autonomously and communicating with one another via a wireless network. This hybrid virtual/physical network of human and non-human agents is influenced and guided by the emergent behaviors of the system’s inhabitants.

May 7th’s showcase is an extension of their previous work:

To learn more about h0t club, read our blog on their upcoming world premiere of Freeicecream.network at CounterPulse.

Dilate Ensemble and Sarah Weaver of NowNetArts: In Conversation

Dilate Ensemble joined special guest Sarah Weaver, director of NowNetArts (NY), for a conversation in the field of network arts. This event was part of the “Improvising the Net(Work)” residency in partnership with CounterPulse.

The conversation focused on Dilate Ensemble’s unique explorations pushing the boundaries of telematic networks resulting in their CATENA performance in January.

CATENA, a non-looping visual and densely textured sound experience had performers and audience members explore livestreams from two different physical spaces inside CounterPulse’s Tenderloin San Francisco building. Seamlessly integrated remote, distributed, and off-site sound and movement performances were mixed into the live time environment. CATENA interrogated what the imprint of a physical space and the bodies within can be given the harsh restrictions imposed during Covid lockdown.

Dilate Ensemble includes:

• Carole Kim (California): video installation, direction
• Gloria Damijan (Vienna): extended toy pianos, percussion
• Scott L. Miller (Minnesota): Kyma, electronics
• Luisa Muhr (New York): voice
• Jon Raskin (California): sax, concertina, voice, electronics, recycled materials
• With special guest: Shinichi Iova-Koga: dance

To learn more about Dilate Ensemble and Sarah Weaver, read our recent blog about their conversation on networks at CounterPulse.

Director Ellen Pearlman Receives Fulbright Scholar Award

Thoughtworks Arts Director Ellen Pearlman has received the prestigious Fulbright Scholar Award as a Researcher/Professor at the Department of Mathematics at the University of Warsaw, Poland for 2023. As a Fulbrighter, she joins the ranks of many distinguished program participants.

Ellen was selected to further develop her research in Artificial Intelligence and Computer Vision in the Department of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics at her host institution, University of Warsaw, Poland, beginning in March 2023. Established in 1816 it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country. Ellen will utilize her research and department collaboration to continue her project on epigenetics and AI “Language is Leaving Me”, which she began while a Research Fellow at MIT.

Presentations

Ellen Pearlman participated in a panel at Horasis, on Art and Cultural Diplomacy, on March 4th, 2022. Horasis’ mission is to enact visions for a sustainable future and includes thought leaders from around the globe. In December 2021, Ellen’s interactive work AIBO (Artificial Intelligence Brainwave Opera) was included in an exhibition for Vertigo STARTS Europe in Estonia. Ellen lectured at the Polish Japanese Academy of Computer Information in Warsaw Poland “Can An AI Be Fascist?”, and taught a Master Class at their XR Lab as part of her Fulbright Specialist posting to Poland. She then presented “Is There A Place In Human Consciousness Where Surveillance Cannot Go? “ at Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej Łaźnia for New Horizons In New Media in Gdansk, on November 17th. Ellen explored themes of surveillance Artificial Intelligence and shared her interactive brainwave opera, AIBO.

News from Past Thoughtworks Arts Residents

Catie Cuan traveled to Washington, D.C. to see a statue of herself at Smithsonian’s Arts + Industries Building for the exhibit, If Then She Can, STEM. This monumental exhibit of 120 3-D printed statues celebrates contemporary women innovators in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and features the most statues of real women ever assembled together. During the month of June, Catie will be a Futurist-in-Residence at the Smithsonian Arts + Industries Building.

Heather Dewey-Hagborg has her work Radical Love included in the exhibition Speculative Portraits, at SFMoMA, running April 9–September 5, 2022. Heather’s recent work Gram’s Faces, which is both an homage to her grandmother and an exploration into an AI system’s fixation with the interior components of her grandmother’s home, opened at Fridman Gallery as part of Forward Ground on March 30th.

Moon Ribas and Neil Harbisson were Futurists-in-Residence at the Smithsonian Arts + Industries Building in March. Moon further developed The Pregnancy Sense, a cyborg organ that allows her partner Quim to listen in real-time to the fluids of the baby’s amniotic sac and heartbeat through bone-conducted headphones. During their residency, Neil and Moon invited visitors to explore various artificial senses and encouraged discussion on what a post-human future would look like.

Adrianne Wortzel received publication for her art-book series SEE NO EVIL, and inclusion in the exhibition: DAILY RITUAL curated by Amanda McDonald Crowley, at the Center For Book Arts, January 14 - March 26, 2022.

Rashin Fahandej was awarded the Prix Ars Electronica Award of Distinction in Digital Music and Sound Art for A Father’s Lullaby. The project was incubated as part of Rashin’s residency at Thoughtworks Arts.

Updates from Art-A-Hack™ Alumni

Heidi Boisvert gave a virtual talk for BioArt Talks at CBIS, on April 1st, 2022, at her alma mater, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Center for Biotechnology, the ARTS department & the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, and The Sanctuary for Independent Media’s NATURE Lab. She detailed her current research methods and emerging insights from the Limbic Lab, and discussed how these findings have informed her works in bio-adaptive, networked dance and mixed reality theatre performances.

Eva Lee presented Hearing a Who: Dr. Seuss, the Nature of Mind, and Intelligent Technology on February 16th at the Through A Different Lens: Innovation Lab Lecture Series, Fairfield University College of Arts and Sciences Innovation Lab in partnership with Quick Center for the Arts. Eva recently received an Official Selection from Cannes Short Film Festival 2021 and NewFilmmakers NY Festival 2021 for her short animated film, Sojourner.

Max Haarich (Deepfakes Masterclass ‘19) recently received the Prize for Interaction and the SAAI Factory Award for Participation for Smart Hans - The Mind-Reading A.I. Horse that can “guess” what number you’re thinking. This project was incubated at our Deepfakes MasterClass with Baltan Laboratories.

Rena Anakwe was awarded a 2021-2022 MacDowell Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Arts and a 2022 Jack Nusbaum Artist Residency at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).

Publications

Ellen Pearlman: AI Comes of Age - Performance Arts Journal (PAJ), MIT Press, Dance for Transformation: “DANCEDEMIC” AlumniTies, Medium. Cyborg Arts Co-Lab: Interdisciplinary Collaboration Enriched Through Art-A-Hack™ Practices -Art Hack Practice: Critical Intersections of Art, Innovation and the Maker Movement, 1st Edition, Edited by Victoria Bradbury and Suzy O’Hara, Routledge Publication. The Resurgence of Russian Cosmism - Performance Arts Journal(PAJ), MIT Press.

Blog Posts

• Andy Slater Receives United States Artist Award: UNBOUND by Residency Team
• Dilate Ensemble Presents CATENA at CounterPulse: Livestream by Residency Team
• Climate Action Projects Showcase: Art-A-Hack and BeFantastic 2021 by Residency Team
• Olivia Ting and Andy Slater Awarded Leonardo/ISAST CripTech Residencies by Residency Team
• Thoughtworks Arts at Ars Electronica Festival 2021: Co-creation Containers by Residency Team
• Network Improvisation Residents Share Projects at CounterPulse Festival by Residency Team
• “h0t club” & Dilate Ensemble Awarded Network Residencies by the Residency Team
• CripTech Incubator: Thoughtworks Arts Partners with Leonardo/ISAST by the Residency Team
• ClimateAction.tech Receives Prix Ars Electronica Award for Digital Humanity by the Residency Team
• Rashin Fahandej Receives Prix Ars Electronica Award of Distinction by the Residency Team
• Art-A-Hack Announces Open Call On Climate Action: BeFantastic Together by the Residency Team
• How We Created a GPT-2 AI “Sicko” Chatbot for a New Media Opera by Ellen Pearlman & Jonathan Heng
• Deepfakes MasterClass: Thoughtworks Arts and Baltan Labs by the Residency Team
• Thoughtworks Arts Presents at Bozar Labs in Line With STARTS Prize 2020 by the Residency Team
• New York Times Features Catie Cuan’s Project With ThoughtWorks Arts by the Residency Team
• Life During (and After) Covid-19 - Artistic Strategies and Breakthrough Responses by the Residency Team
• Confronting the Unknown: Art & Technology Research for Service Design by the Residency Team
• Dancedemic World Premiere at Battery Dance Virtual Festival by the Residency Team
• Welcoming Our New Residents to Thoughtworks Arts Residency by the Residency Team
• Showcase of Art & Emerging Technology Projects at Thoughtworks Germany by the Residency Team
• A.I. Brainwave Opera Has World Premiere at the Estonian Academy of Music by the Residency Team
• Rachel Uwa Shares the Origins of Her Berlin Art and Technology School by the Residency Team
• Ellen Pearlman Presents at U.S. Fulbright Alumni Exchange Seminar by the Residency Team.
• Ellen Pearlman and Rashin Fahandej Selected for ZERO1 2020 Incubator by the Residency Team
• Karen Palmer Exhibits at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York by the Residency Team
• Rashin Fahandej’s Residency Project Exhibited at ICA Boston Biennial by the Residency Team

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