Open seminar: Performing Arts in the Age of AI

Marsio Stage (Otakaari 2, Otaniemi)

Welcome to an open seminar organized by Espoo Theatre and Aalto University.

Artificial intelligence and emerging technologies are rapidly changing the contexts in which performing arts are created, produced, and experienced. This event brings together perspectives from the arts, technology, and academia to explore what these developments mean in practice: from new forms of artistic collaboration and experimentation to partnerships between cultural institutions and technology ecosystems. Through three keynote presentations, the program asks how the performing arts can engage with technological change while retaining their own forms of knowledge, imagination, and critical thinking. The speakers of the event represent leading institutions and practitioners in these fields in Finland and Belgium.

Programme:

17:00 – Opening

17:15 – Keynote 1: Centre for Radical Creativity
by Riikka Mäkikoskela, Aalto University

18:00 – Keynote 2: Building Productive Alliances Between Different Ecosystems
by Stijn Jansen, Creative Director, Wintercircus Ghent

How can arts and technology organisations build meaningful partnerships despite their different cultures and ways of working? Drawing on the collaboration between Wintercircus and NTGent, Stijn Jansen explores the opportunities, challenges and lessons of connecting artistic and technological ecosystems.

18:45 – Keynote 3: Goose Bumps Tech Lab
by Yves Degryse, Artistic Director, NTGent and BERLIN

How can technology become a creative partner in the performing arts? Yves Degryse introduces NTGent’s Goose Bumps Tech Lab and its experiments with AI, artistic creation and machine agency, with Alva Ishii and Sonder as concrete examples.

The Centre for Radical Creativity is an interdisciplinary actor at Aalto University that brings together science, art, technology and business. It investigates what radical creativity means for individuals, organisations and society and supports and develops education that puts these findings into practice. Through collaboration with companies, foundations and the public sector, The Centre for Radical Creativity explores how creativity can change the way we think and act.

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NTGent is a dynamic city theatre that challenges, inspires and engages a diverse audience. Through high-profile productions and theatre as a catalyst for social debate, NTGent combines a Ghent-based perspective with an international reach. Its three artistic focal points – Art & New Technology, Art, Care & Rituals, and Art & the City – form the foundation of a multifaceted creative house of makers where generations of artists collaborate.

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Located in the heart of Ghent, Wintercircus is a dynamic technology and innovation hub where entrepreneurship, creativity and curiosity come together. Its 15,000 m² historic site combines a startup campus hosting more than 35 early-stage technology companies, a community of entrepreneurs and forward-thinkers, and a public arena that welcomes a broad programme of performances, art installations, conferences and events.

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