Amanda Vincent’s name has become part of something larger (so to speak), it is included in the name for a new species of seahorse, Hippocampus amandavincentae.
Elana Shepert’s August 11 (?), 2026 article for Vancouver is Awesome charms almost as much as the seahorses do,
Seahorses. These petite ocean dwellers are the stuff of dreams. They look like aquatic, mythical mini horses. And, to top it off, males are the ones who give birth.
Recently, a University of British Columbia [UBC] professor who has dedicated her life to the study and preservation of the unique fish had one named after her — but it isn’t found in Canadian waters.
Amanda Vincent says she’s honoured that the new species has her name, but hopes more can be done to bring the animal she loves from the brink of extinction.
“A third of seahorse species are threatened with extinction. And another third are data deficient, meaning we don’t even know enough to calculate their status,” she tells Vancouver Is Awesome.
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Do we have seahorses in Metro Vancouver waters?
The short answer is: it’s complicated. All “true seahorses,” as Vincent puts it, are designated by the Ancient Greek word hippocampus, and none of these are found in the Pacific Northwest. You may have recognized the word “hippocampus” as the seahorse-shaped part of the human brain. It’s named after these seafarers.
But members of the overarching “seahorse family” are located in Metro Vancouver waters (science is complicated). This group is called Syngnathidae and includes other fascinating creatures such as pipefish and seadragons, in addition to seahorses.
The Vancouver Aquarium often has exhibits with seadragons, but otherwise you won’t find those locally. To spot those mind-bendingly cool aquatic fish, you’ll have to visit the Land Down Under. …
Attention B.C. divers: You can spot pipefish here, which is the closest thing to a seahorse locally. The most-common species is the bay pipefish, slender beauties with curious faces found from California up to Alaska. They are roughly 40 centimetres long and camouflage with their habitats.
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But Canada does have one “true” seahorse, located in Nova Scotia: the lined seahorse (Hippocampus erectus).
A new species named after a Vancouver professor
Vincent was recently honoured with a new seahorse species in the Indian Ocean, Hippocampus amandavincentae, named after her.
The new species is a real beauty, says Vincent, often silvery-white through to golden, and may even change colours to match its habitat, “as many species do.” Its range stretches from the Western Indian Ocean to East Africa, up to the Red Sea and down to Western India.
“And it’s a very elegant-looking seahorse, I’m proud to say,” she says happily, but adds they only have a few specimens so far.
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Studying Hippocampus: How seahorses save the world
Vincent says she chose to study seahorses because they’re so unique.
“In seahorses, only the male gets pregnant [emphasis mine]…. So I started studying them way back when I was doing my PhD, because I was so interested in male pregnancy and what that meant for the evolution of sex differences in general. And then I fell in love with these crazy fishes, which are just different from almost anything else,” she explains.
The whimsical creatures also help stir up conversations around conservation.
“If we talk about the fact that bottom trawls drag up everything in their path when they’re fishing, people are like, ‘Well, OK.’ But when I say, ‘Well, there’s seahorses in the bottom of those nets’ … people get a lot more interested,” she says.
Seahorses transformed global export regulations for marine life, and now 185 countries have agreed on export regulations for them. In the wake of this movement, scientists and advocates secured similar regulations for sharks, rays, angelfish and other species, Vincent explains.
An international team of scientists has named a seahorse species from the Indian Ocean, Hippocampus amandavincentae, in honour of Prof. Amanda Vincent, director and co-founder of UBC’s Project Seahorse, for pioneering seahorse science and advancing marine conservation.
This magical seahorse was found by researchers among heaps of fish bycatch at Tuticorin harbour in southern India. This elegant-looking fish measures about 16 cm long and has a short snout, five spines forming an elevated crown on top of its head, and more spines running along its body and tail. Scientists had encountered this iconic fish for more than a century without realizing it was a distinct species. They now believe its range extends across the Indian Ocean, from Mozambique to the Red Sea to India.
Now it finally has a name of its own, Hippocampus amandavincentae, one that is rooted in conservation. The study describing it was published in the leading taxonomy journal Zootaxa.
The naming is the latest recognition of Prof. Vincent’s work in seahorse and marine conservation. Prof. Amanda Vincent was the first biologist to study seahorses underwater, the first to document the extensive trade in these fishes, and the first to initiate a seahorse conservation projec
t–Project Seahorse– [sic] which has put seahorses on the global conservation agenda. In 2021, she became the first marine biologist to receive the Indianapolis Prize, the world’s leading animal conservation award.
“We have named this seahorse, Hippocampus amandavincentae, for Amanda Vincent, whose work established seahorse conservation as a field,” said co-author Graham Short, Focal Point for Taxonomy and Evolution in the global expert group for conservation of seahorses and their relatives.
“This honour makes my heart glow. It’s amazing that such a wonderful creature was hiding in plain sight. I surveyed the array of fishes dragged up by trawlers in Tuticorin, India, where this new species was first found, and missed it completely. Now I have yet another special reason to push hard at ending bottom trawl fishing,” said Prof. Vincent.
“The timing is especially meaningful as it coincides with celebrating 30 years of Project Seahorse achievements. I’m deeply grateful to my friends and colleagues for this kindness,” she added.
By looking closely at their snouts and spines, studying their DNA, and revisiting specimens preserved in museums, the researchers were able to resolve this supposed species into three distinct species: Hippocampus amandavincentae,Hippocampus histrix and Hippocampus jayakari.
“Many museum specimens and online biodiversity records of spiny seahorses in the Indian Ocean have been assigned to Hippocampus histrix for decades. Our findings now reveal that these records actually represent multiple species, with practical consequences for global conservation decision-making and policy implementation” said senior author Rajeev Raghavan, an assistant professor at Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies.
“Accurate species identification is a crucial first step towards understanding distribution, population status, and developing effective conservation strategies,” said lead author Shalu Kannan. “This discovery reveals the hidden biodiversity of the Indian Ocean and highlights the importance of documenting and protecting its unique species and the ecosystems they depend on,” she added.
The findings are particularly important because seahorses are globally recognized flagship species threatened by unsustainable fishing, exploitation for traditional medicine and the aquarium trade, and habitat loss. All seahorse species are listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora Appendix II, meaning their international trade is regulated to ensure it does not threaten their survival. In India, they receive the highest level of protection under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
“Knowing that Hippocampus amandavincentae exists as a separate species, recognizing what makes it unique and understanding where it lives is obviously critical for its conservation. Our team at Project Seahorse will do everything we can to support healthy populations of this and other seahorses,” Vincent concluded.
This is a joint effort, which flirts on the edge of art/science, between two groups according to the Iconic Fishes About page,
About Inspired by #IconicFishes
Inspired by Iconic Fishes is a global art movement inviting people of all ages, from anywhere in the world, to explore, create, craft, share, or tell stories that celebrate the wonders of our iconic fishes: seahorses, pipefishes, seadragons, and their quirky cousins like trumpetfish, cornetfish/flutemouth and bellowsfish. In doing so, we hope to spark curiosity, inspire creativity, and encourage action to keep them and their habitats healthy.
Meet the conservation leaders behind Inspired by #IconicFishes
Project Seahorse
Project Seahorse is a leader in marine conservation, making discoveries & collaborating globally to take effective action for seahorses and their seas.
Project Seahorse works to protect seahorses, for their own sakes and to support ocean conservation more broadly, generating cutting-edge research and using it to prompt and guide highly effective conservation interventions.
Directed by Professor Amanda Vincent, a global expert in marine conservation, Project Seahorse has won many international awards and honours for scholarship and for front line conservation, emphasizing our distinctive blend of skills, experience, and credentials.
Project Seahorse works in collaboration with researchers, governments, conservation groups, and local communities worldwide. Project Seahorse is hosted at The University of British Columbia, Canada, and the Zoological Society of London, UK.
IUCN SSC Seahorse, Pipefish and Seadragon Specialist Group
Project Seahorse hosts and leads the global Seahorse, Pipefish and Seadragon Specialist Group (SPS SG) for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission (SSC). Our SPS SG is tasked with – and dedicated to – the conservation of seahorses, pipefishes, pipehorses and seadragons — as well as near relatives such as trumpetfishes, cornetfishes/flutemouths, and bellowsfishes/snipefishes.
The SPS SG leads on assessing, planning and acting for these iconic fishes. We provide independent technical and scientific advice to governments and other groups to improve the conservation status of these species. We assess their threats of extinction, undertake research that can make a difference, plan for management and policy change that will benefit the species, and act to ensure survival of their wild populations… all while networking with a host of agencies and organizations. A key element in our work is communicating to improve support for these wonderful animals.
Calling on artists, makers, and dreamersto join a global arts movement that celebrates the wondrous lives of truly #iconicfishes: seahorses, pipefish, seadragons, and their quirky cousins like ghost pipefish, trumpetfish, cornetfish, and bellowsfish.
Because to know them is to treasure them.
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Why this matters?
In treasuring iconic fishes, we champion the health of our oceans By celebrating these remarkable species, we ignite curiosity and rally action to protect the ecosystems they call home. Their beauty inspires a creative movement that shines a light on marine life, its wonders, and its threats. And inspires action to keep our oceans healthy.
The unique power of art Art in all its forms moves us in ways facts cannot – it connects, inspires, and transcends barriers. Through creativity, we spark hope, passion, and meaningful action for the ocean’s future.
So, let’s dance, sing, create or craft for these iconic fishes!
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I find the seadragons particularly fascinating,
Common Seadragon Aquatic – Free photo on Pixabay (pixabay.com)
It looks ‘leafy’ to my inexpert eye; the Iconic Fishes website offers this seadragon description,
Seadragon
There are three species of seadragons, all belonging to the same family (Syngnathidae) as seahorses and pipefishes: the weedy seadragon, the leafy seadragon, and the recently discovered ruby seadragon. They are found exclusively off the southern coast of Australia.
Fun Fact
Seadragons have a long tube snout and leaf-like appendages that extend from their various nobs and ridges, resembling the flowing costumes of dancers. These delicate “leaves” not only give them a graceful, decorative appearance but also help them blend seamlessly into the seaweeds they call home. Just like other fishes in the family, they also have the ability to change colours.
“This is a thrilling discovery,” says Amanda Vincent, director of Project Seahorse. “These charismatic and mysterious animals are so highly cryptic – and, in many places, so threatened – that we often have to be very lucky to find them.”
The divers, Nédia Coutinho and Martin Roy, owners of UW Distribution, an underwater imaging company, spotted the seahorse during a routine dive.
“I was obviously not looking for a seahorse but when I saw it I could not believe my eyes,” says Coutinho. “I was so excited, even without knowing that it’s not common around Nova Scotia. I have dived on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and in the Caribbean and this is the first time I have ever seen a seahorse.”
Seahorses are found in coastal waters around the globe, from northern Europe to the Indian Ocean and from Korea to New Zealand. They are threatened by harmful fishing practices and overfishing, with tens of millions of animals caught and traded for use in traditional Chinese medicine, aquarium display, and as curios. Loss of their habitats also poses problems.
“Seahorses face so many challenges that they desperately need new allies,” explains Vincent. “Globally, there are fewer than 15 scientists studying seahorses in the wild, which is why citizen science initiatives like iSeahorse are so important, and why divers like Nédia and Martin are so integral to their conservation.”
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Amanda Vincent and seahorses have been mentioned here before (way back in 2013). It’s nice to catch up on the latest seahorse news and on Vincent’s more recent work.
Somehow, I must have missed the earlier notices but, on the upside, the folks at the London Arts-Based Research Centre (LABRC) have extended the deadline to September 1, 2026 for anyone wanting to submit a proposal in response to the Call for Papers. Here’s more from an August 13 2026 LABRC notice (received via email),
We would like to announce that the proposal deadline for our Science and Sensibility transdisciplinary conference has now been extended to September 1. Kindly find the conference details below, or visit the conference webpage on https://labrc.co.uk/science-and-sensibility-2026/
“Art and science bear intrinsic similarities in their attempts to illuminate aspects of the human condition. Grounded in exploration, revelation, and representation, art and science work toward advancing human understanding”, Patricia Leavy, Method Meets Art.
According to Richard Dawkins, “There’s real poetry in the real world. Science is the poetry of reality”. So why are art and science sometimes considered as two separate fields, rather than two different sides of the same coin? And who says that scientists, engineers, and medical researchers take interest only in matters within the boundaries of the laboratories and hospitals? How might the perspective of art provide fresh avenues for understanding and contribute significantly to the enrichment of scientific knowledge? For poets, writers, and artists there are no such boundaries, for there is poetic wisdom in scientific knowledge, beauty in anatomy, and concepts worth celebrating in writing. And for biographers and memoirists, the medical humanities offer experiences that are worth preserving in prose. Our forthcoming conference seeks to deconstruct the common divide between two seemingly distinct disciplines of art and science, building bridges instead of boundaries, and showing the importance of creatively contemplating, cherishing, and preserving the beauty of what we learn and experience.
This conference, therefore, aims to bring together scholars, creatives, and other arts-based researchers from different disciplines working on topics related to transdisciplinarity, with a focus on the bridging of science with the arts. You may be a scientist or a medical practitioner who writes poems and stories or takes on another art (such as music, sculpture, the visual arts, etc.) or alternatively, you may be a creative inspired by science, or a practioner [sic] in a field that utilises creative approaches for scientific purposes—so the intertwining of your thoughts, ideas, and creativity are welcome, and we can’t wait to hear about your work that combines your creativity with science!
Send us your proposals by August 31st.[extended to September 1, 2026] Presenters can either share academic papers and/or creative work (poetry, prose, photography, music, painting, etc.), as we highly encourage arts-based research. We welcome proposals from scholars (of all disciplines), creatives, graduate students, practitioners and professionals.
So whether you are working on research bridging art with creativity, or you have a piece containing astronomical images, eco-poetry, aesthetic reflections on chemicals and substances, lunar photography, artistic depictions of the human body, alchemical musings, art and arithmetic, psychological fiction (or non-fiction), an ode to omicron, or any other creative pieces arising from “scientific” inspiration, please share them with us!
We welcome 15-minute presentations on topics related (but certainly not limited to) the following fields:
Fiction as a mode for knowledge
Transdisciplinarity in its various forms
Music-based practices
A/r/tography
Physics as an inspiration in literature
Chemistry and the culinary, literary or visual arts
Astrophotography
Alchemy as an art and science
Psychology and the arts
Symbolic healing
Ecopoetics
Anatomy in painting
The medical humanities
Poetry and medicine
Photography and medical technology
Ruminations based on scientific theories
Space poetry
Art therapy
Music and mathematical formulas
Viruses and philosophy
The human body
Mental illness and the arts
Quantum physics and artistic expression
Technological advancements and their impact on artistic creation
Mathematical patterns in visual arts
Neuroscience and creativity
Climate change and environmental art
Data visualization as an art form
Ethical considerations in scientific art collaborations
Evolutionary biology and literature
Augmented reality and immersive storytelling
Artificial intelligence and its role in creative processes
Bioart and biotechnology in artistic practice
Intersection of robotics and performance art
Astronomy and music composition
Psychology of color in visual arts
Medical imaging techniques and artistic interpretation
Intersection of archaeology and art history
Cognitive science and theater/performance studies
Genetics and contemporary art practices
Philosophy of science and its influence on artistic discourse
Ecological activism through artistic interventions
Anthropology and the representation of cultures in art
Social sciences and documentary photography
Nanotechnology and its implications for artistic materials
Ethnomusicology and cultural expressions of scientific knowledge
Marine biology and marine-inspired art forms
Kindly fill out the proposal form by September 1, 2026.
For further queries, please email us on conferences@labrc.co.uk, and kindly allow us at least 2-3 working days to respond.
Want more inspiration? Check out our recently released issue of our literary and arts journal, Indelible, with the special theme of “Science and Sensibility”!
[downloaded from https://lbbonline.com/news/NTT-Inc-Pushes-Boundaries-of-Human-Potential-with-Waves-of-Will]
An April 10, 2026 article by Mark Lobel and Liv McMahon for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) highlights a remarkable dance performance,
A ballerina with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) says she was able to dance again after her brainwaves were used to power an avatar live on-stage in Amsterdam.
Breanna Olson, a mother of three, found out two and a half years ago she had ALS, the most common form of motor neurone disease (MND) and which, with no known cure, weakens muscles and over time affects speech, swallowing and breathing.
However, using sensors to measure the electrical activity transmitted from her brain, her motor signals could be converted into an digital avatar.
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Breanna lives in Tacoma, Washington state, in the US and has trained in ballet, contemporary, and jazz dance since childhood.
MND affects nerves in the brain and spinal cord, controlling muscle movement. As these weaken and stiffen over time it can affect walking, talking, eating and breathing.
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The performance, held at the OBA Theatre in Amsterdam in December [2025], was described at the time as the “first of its kind”.
It saw Breanna use an electroencephalogram (or EEG) headset, developed by Japanese tech firm Dentsu Lab in collaboration with data company NTT, to capture her brain activity and specific motor signals associated with imagining certain dance movements.
A brainwave interface translating these signals into computer instructions then allowed her to convey which of these movements she wanted her mixed-reality avatar to dance in real-time.
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Breanna told the BBC she got to know the “unique” but “quite challenging” technology during the project.
“You have to isolate your muscles and the noise around you… and really focus inward,” she said.
But despite its challenges, Breanna said the experience had helped re-establish a sense of expression and connection eroded by her condition.
“This is a new way of expression,” she said. “To be able to move in a new way and a different way is just freeing.”
The project, called Waves of Will, is part of a wider initiative which aims to explore how innovation and technology can help restore personal expression, identity and participation for those living with motor-degenerative diseases such as ALS.
“There are many brainwave technologies and research all over the world, but most of them are very expensive and not accessible to everyone,” Dentsu Lab chief creative officer Naoki Tanaka told the BBC.
“This is exactly why we started Waves of Will – to make a new brainwave interface.”
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The BBC’s April 10, 2026 article includes an embedded video and more images. For the curious, here’s more about the company and research that made the performance possible.
NTT, Dentsu Lab Tokyo, ALS, and Waves of Will
NTT was originally known as Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation. These days its a “leading global technology company providing services to consumers and business as a mobile operator, infrastructure, networks, applications, and consulting provider” according to a June 14th, 2023 NTT press release (PDF). Here’s more from the press release,
Initiatives to Enrich Communication for ALS Symbionts
To create a world where people with ALS can freely move, express themselves and interact with others
NTT Corporation (NTT), in cooperation with WITH ALS and Dentsu Lab Tokyo, through research and development, aims to realize a world where people living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)[1] can be freed from physical limitations caused by ALS progression, and communicate with others freely.
Background and Purpose “Communication is the most important thing.” These are the words of people living with ALS. As ALS progresses, cognition remains normal, and muscle strength throughout the body gradually loses function. It is said that by putting on a respirator, you can live your life to the full term, but on the other hand, by tracheostomy surgery to put on a respirator, you lose your voice. The choices made to keep living can also lead to loss of speech.
Because of the loss of the means of communication through spoken language and physical expression, many people fear disconnection from society and lose hope of living. Globally, more than 90% of ALS patients refuse to wear a ventilator.
NTT is promoting Project Humanity, which aims to solve problems by focusing on people, not only those with diseases and disabilities, but also those who support them. This initiative, as part of Project Humanity, aims to change the current situation surrounding ALS for people living with ALS through the implementation of our communication technology.
Past Initiatives Advances in speech synthesis technology have made it possible to record the voice of a person and realize synthetic speech with a voice that is unique to the person. However, as ALS symptoms develops, people often have difficulty speaking when they decide to record their voice. In addition, current speech synthesis technology requires the voices to be recorded in a proper recording environment, and it is a significant burden to obtain voice recordings. For this reason, there is currently a huge barrier for people living with ALS to use their own synthetic voice.
A year ago, we succeeded in reproducing a person’s voice using speech synthesis technology from the audio of a few minutes of recorded video. This technology enables communication in multiple languages with the voice of the individual. Last year, we partnered with WITH ALS and Dentsu Lab Tokyo to use this technology on the Cannes Lions stage. A Japanese ALS symbiont who cannot speak has experienced dialogue and musical performance in English with his own tone of voice. And this year, we succeeded in creating synthetic voices of multiple ALS symbionts from even fewer recordings and recordings of a few seconds. Even if you are not able to speak now, you can still create a synthetic voice if you have the audio recording of your voice before you lost your voice. The synthesized audio created with this technology will be used in a live music performance at the ALS Awareness Music Festival “MOVE FES.” hosted by WITH ALS on June 18 [2023], in conjunction with World ALS Day on June 21 [2023].
Future Initiatives In the future, we plan to expand nonverbal expressions so that people living with ALS can communicate more freely. First, we will further develop the motor-skill-transfer technology based on NTT’s biometric information and work on the following.
Free manipulation of avatars by ALS symbionts in metaverse space
Reproduce ALS symbiont’s motion in real space
In the operation of the avatar (Figure 1), the body is equipped with a myoelectric sensor that acquires biological information, and the biological information obtained by the minute muscular activity of the body is converted into operational input, thereby realizing to operate the avatar freely.
Dentsu Lab Tokyo is responsible for creating rich expressions. In the reproduction exercise (Figure 2), the muscles are controlled by presenting electrical muscle stimulation to the body to achieve the reproduction of intended motion.
Regarding avatar representation, we will use body motion generation technology to realize the nonverbal representation of the ALS symbiont as well as the speech of synthetic speech. Body motion generation technology automatically generates the corresponding motion of a person’s speech by using a motion generation model constructed from the characteristics of speech and motion data collected at that time.
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About WITH ALS Founded in 2016 by Masatane Muto, who is facing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The mission of WITH ALS General Incorporated Association is to raise awareness of the disease and promote advocacy in search of new treatments and support systems.
It also develops action plans and provides information to build hope and enhance the quality of life of those with the disease and their families. https://withals.com/
About Dentsu Lab Tokyo Dentsu Lab Tokyo is a creative R&D organization that combines research, planning, and development. Under the philosophy of “PLAYFUL SOLUTION” and “Be Irregular”, we use digital technology and ideas to develop expressions that move people’s minds and solve social issues that the world demands today. https://dentsulab.tokyo/
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In 2024 Dentsu Lab had two projects voted as finalists for the South by Southwest (SXWS)’s innovation awards. (You can read more about the projects here.)
Getting back to Waves of Will, a December 17, 2025 news item on the Little Black Book provides a little more information about the performance and the company’s hopes and dreams, Note: A link has been removed,
Dentsu Lab, in collaboration with long-term client partner NTT, Inc., has unveiled ‘Waves of Will’, a live dance performance that demonstrates how meaningful application of technology and advanced R&D can translate into emotional storytelling and an intimately human experience.
In this unique performance, professional dancer Breanna Olson, who lives with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), performs through a mixed reality avatar using a brainwave interface that allows her to express her will. Using an EEG-based system, Breanna’s brain activity is captured and analysed to detect specific learned motor signals that allows her to select from predefined movement options. Rather than responding to passive stimuli, the interface enables Breanna to actively convey her will.
Breanna used this system in pre-production to help shape the artistic direction of the piece, and during the performance itself, to select the movements that the virtual dancer would execute.
The performance unfolds in three acts: in the first act, Olson performs through her will, using the brainwave interface to trigger predefined movements of the avatar.
In the second act, she is joined by her brother Casey Herd, a former principal dancer and Breanna’s dance partner since childhood. And finally, in the third act, other dancers will join the duo, creating a graceful and emotionally resonant performance together.
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‘Waves of Will’ is the latest chapter in Project Humanity and All Players Welcome, the long-term collaboration between Dentsu Lab and NTT, Inc. exploring the use of technology to create a more inclusive world. In the previous chapter, Japanese EYE VDJ “MASA” Muto, who lives with ALS, transformed bio-signals into live music and “dance.” This project garnered international recognition at Cannes Lions, SXSW and the Japan Media Arts Festival, redefining the relationship between creativity and technology. Now, with ‘Waves of Will’, the partnership reaches its most ambitious expression yet, demonstrating how Dentsu Lab partners with clients like NTT to translate technological capability into cultural and societal impact.
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“This is what Innovating to Impact looks like in action,” said Naoki Tanaka, chief creative officer, Dentsu Lab. “Together with NTT, we’ve transformed cutting-edge R&D into an experience that moves people. It’s proof that when creativity and technology meet, innovation drives both cultural relevance and measurable client impact. For us, it’s not about ideas that stay in the lab, but about helping brands bring meaningful, world-first experiences to life.”
“Our partnership with Dentsu Lab has shown what’s possible when innovation meets purpose,” said Mariko Nakamura, senior research engineer at NTT, Inc. “Through Project Humanity and All Players Welcome, most recently with ‘Waves of Will’, we don’t just demonstrate our technology; we are changing how people see NTT and showing the impact we can make among global communities and cultures.”
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Founded in Tokyo over a decade ago as one of the first creative R&D labs of its kind, Dentsu Lab has evolved into a global innovation network exploring how technology, design, and human insight can create lasting impact. Today, the Lab operates across London, Amsterdam, Warsaw, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Its work applies the rigour of research and development to creativity, rapidly prototyping and testing ideas that bridge culture and commerce. Open by design, Dentsu Lab collaborates with clients, creatives, technologists, artists, and academic partners to translate complex innovation into emotionally resonant experiences. The collaboration with NTT on ‘Waves of Will’ exemplifies this mission: proving that creativity and technology, when united, can move both people, industries, and society forward.
You can watch the Waves of Will dance performance on Vimeo or on YouTube.
To dance, to make music
The Breanna Olson and dancing avatar story along with my April 2, 2026 posting “Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) and music composition” about a quadriplegic musician can serve as a launching pad tor some thinking about the future. First, comments by actor Timothée Chalamet provide more fodder for thought.
From a March 13, 2026 article by Gwyneth Egan for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) news online website,
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While talking to actor Matthew McConaughey about keeping movie theatres alive at a recent CNN and Variety town hall event, Chalamet said he doesn’t “want to be working in ballet or opera,” which he said “no one cares about” anymore.
Although he earned laughs from the live audience at the time, and added that he gives “all respect to the ballet and opera people out there,” his comments have since gone viral — and they’ve been met with swift backlash.
Critics of Chalamet — who’s Oscar-nominated for best actor this year for his leading role in Marty Supreme — have proven one thing to be true: people do care about the centuries-old art forms that endure in theatres and performance halls around the world.
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On the one hand, O’Donnell [Hannah O’Donnell, a Prince Edward Island-based opera singer] said she doesn’t want to bring more attention to Chalamet’s comments — but on the other, it’s been “awesome to laugh in the face of your haters.”
Chalamet’s name has been used as a discount code by ballet and opera companies, including the Seattle opera, which offered a 14 per cent discount — a nod to the “14 cents in viewership” Chalamet predicted his comments would cause him to lose.
Chalamet’s comments continue to provoke discussion most recently with actor Charlize Theron, from an April 20, 2026 posting “Timmy in Miami” by Lainey on Lainey Gossip
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In a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times published this weekend, Charlize reflects on her experience as a dancer earlier in her career and says that, “Dance is probably one of the hardest things I ever did. Dancers are superheroes. What they put their bodies through in complete silence.” At which point Timmy’s name comes up – and her response:
“Oh, boy, I hope I run into him one day. That was a very reckless comment on an art form, two art forms, that we need to lift up constantly because, yes, they do have a hard time. But in 10 years, A.I. is going to be able to do Timothée’s job, but it will not be able to replace a person on a stage dancing live [emphasis mine]. And we shouldn’t [expletive] on other art forms. Dance taught me discipline. It taught structure. It taught hard work. It taught me to be tough. It’s borderline abusive. There were several times that I had blood infections from blisters that just never healed. And you don’t get a day off. I’m literally talking about bleeding through your shoes. And that’s something that you have to practice every single day, the mind-set of just, you don’t give up, there’s no other option, you keep going.”
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The dancer’s avatar, the musician’s brain wave music (alternative rock), an actor’s careless comments about ballet and opera, and another actor’s assertion that AI will never replace a live dancer on stage; all of It’s enough to make you wonder what dance and music will be like in the future.
I have a number of sciencish doings and a musical event that takes place at the Perimeter Institute.
YouTube science channel job
Thanks to the Science Media Centre of Canada (SMCC) and its April 14, 2026 notice for this news,
Job opening: Showrunner for YouTube science channel, What If [for] Underknown [creator business]
The role requires a deep understanding of YouTube as a medium. This is a hybrid role, with 2–3 days a week in our Toronto studio and head office. It is only for permanent residents in Ontario. …
Before launching off into the job description, here’s a bit more about Underknown from its Wikipedia entry, Note: Links have been removed,
Underknown Inc. is a Canadian digital-first media production company based in Toronto that specializes in short-form educational science and factual programming.
History
Underknown was founded in 2016 by Steve Hulford, Raphael Faeh, and Peter Schmiedchen.[1][2] It began when Hulford and Faeh produced the science-explainer series What If in Hulford’s living room.[3] In 2019, Underknown received C$2.5 million in equity and debt financing, including support from Ontario Creates.[3]
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Productions
Underknown’s programming uses hypothetical questions, survival scenarios and natural history storytelling to explain scientific concepts.[10] Core franchises include the science series What If, the how-to strand How to Survive, the nature show Animalogic and the video essay channel Aperture.[1][8]
This is a strategic and creative leadership role where you will own the entire editorial direction and run the What If show team. You are responsible for deciding what content is produced, how it is packaged, and continuously monitoring channel and content performance.
The role requires a deep understanding of YouTube as a medium, including its unique language, audience psychology, and mechanics of attention. You must balance the art and science of production, running the channel like a financially sustainable business without sacrificing creative quality.
Day-to-day, you will act as the creative engine and keeper of the channel’s voice, primarily managing the full production lifecycle: pre-production, ideation, packaging, production, and post-production workflows. This includes finding irresistible stories, framing them effectively, and ensuring your team executes quickly at the highest quality.
NOTE: This is a hybrid role, with 2-3 days a week in our Toronto studio and head office. It is only for permanent residents in Ontario, Canada. Applicants that don’t reside in Ontario won’t be considered.
Responsibilities
Content Strategy & Channel Vision
Define and maintain the curious, cinematic, and scientifically grounded editorial direction of What If while identifying new growth opportunities.
Continuously experiment using audience data to increase watch time and reach.
Manage the channel’s P&L and resourcing, balancing creative ambition with financial sustainability and budget targets.
Ideation & Packaging
Lead the end-to-end ideation and packaging process, generating and ruthlessly filtering a high volume of concepts into irresistible titles, thumbnails, and hooks.
Develop comprehensive episode briefs that provide the production team with a clear creative north star and narrative direction.
Editorial Oversight & Production Management
Oversee all editorial and production execution by defining clear creative direction (visual style, tone), managing project timelines, resourcing, and scheduling, and ensuring narrative intent is maintained through clear briefs.
Drive continuous improvement and profitability by running data-driven performance experiments, monitoring pacing and profitability, and overseeing branded content executions with external partners.
Team Leadership
Lead and mentor a team of producers, writers, editors and our VFX team. Set clear expectations, give actionable feedback, and create the conditions for your team to do their best work.
Support team learning and career growth.
Qualifications you bring
Five or more years of experience in YouTube content creation, video production, digital media production, or content strategy.
A demonstrated track record of contributing to high-performing YouTube content (share examples).
Deep familiarity with YouTube’s mechanics: retention, CTR, packaging, algorithm dynamics.
Strong writing and editorial instincts.
Experience working across the full production pipeline from ideation to publication.
Located in Ontario, Canada (required).
Passion for science, technology, and speculative storytelling (bonus, but strongly preferred).
Experience working with VFX teams is preferred.
How to Apply
Please submit your resume, cover letter, and a portfolio of your previous work, specifically highlighting your video creation work.
Another thanks to the Science Media Centre of Canada (SMCC) and its April 14, 2026 notice for this news about a writer’s workshop (wish I’d gotten this a bit sooner),
Banff Mountain Writers Intensive Workshop 2026
Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity Program dates: October 28 to November 17, 2026 Application deadline: April 15, 2026
This three-week residency for writers in fiction, nonfiction, journalism, or poetry who are working on mountain narratives, environmental journalism, stories of adventure, or projects with an environmental theme provides dedicated time to create, connect with peers, and receive mentorship.
The Mountain Writers Intensive is a three-week residency for twelve writers in fiction, nonfiction, journalism, or poetry. Ideal for projects on mountain narratives, adventure, environmental journalism, and the human connection to landscape, the program emphasizes literary excellence and narrative development. Writers enjoy dedicated time to create, connect with peers, and receive mentorship in Banff’s inspiring mountain setting. The residency overlaps with the Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival, offering opportunities to engage with visiting authors, editors, and publishers. Lodging and meals are included, allowing participants to fully focus on their craft and creative growth.
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Good luck!
Modem Futura podcasts (a reminder)
I just got a friendly note (via email) from Andrew Maynard, “scientist, author, and professor of advanced technology transitions at Arizona State University,” which reminded me of one of his science communication ventures, the Modem Futura podcast. Before getting to Andrew’s note, here’s more about Modem Futura, Note: I have made some formatting changes so the following is not identical to what you will find on the page,
The Podcast that explores the possible, probable, and preferred futures
Modem Futura is your weekly guide to the future of science, technology, and society—where futures and foresight meets real-world impact. Hosts Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard—educators, futurists, and public scholars—dive into the breakthroughs and big questions shaping tomorrow: AI ethics, space exploration, climate tech, bio-engineering, digital media, STEM education, and the shifting future of work. In candid, banter-filled conversations with innovators, scholars, and storytellers, they unpack how emerging technologies influence human values, creativity, and culture—and what these trends mean for you today.
Whether you’re curious about quantum computing, electric air taxis, or the sociology of robots, Modem Futura connects cutting-edge research with the narratives that drive innovation. Join us each week to explore possible, probable, and preferred futures, and discover practical insights for navigating an increasingly tech-driven world. Follow and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and be part of the conversation exploring what it will mean to be human in the future!
Artemis II: The Science, the Wonder, and the Future of Being Human
For the first time since 1972, human beings have traveled to the vicinity of the moon — and on this episode of Modem Futura, Sean and Andrew sit with what that actually means. Recorded while the Artemis II crew was still in transit, this conversation is less a mission briefing and more a meditation on wonder: what it feels like to watch a tiny spacecraft carry four people a thousand times …
Here’s the message from Andrew’s friendly email April 13, 2026 note,
Just a quick FYI that, if you occasionally listen to the Modem Futura podcast hosted by myself and Sean Leahy, you can now sign up for regular email updates:
Notifications just include info on new episodes – nothing else (and you can obviously unsubscribe at any time once signed up)
And if you’re not a podcast person, apologies for the email intrusion but hope you’re keeping well anyway.
Cheers
Andrew
Human and artificial creativity
Kate Pullinger, Professor of Creative Writing and Digital Media, Director of the Centre for Cultural and Creative Industries at Bath Spa University (UK), had some thoughts about the recent Aarhus University’s (Denmark) TEXT – Center for Contemporary Cultures of Text conference “AI and the Creative Condition,” which I’ll get to after this from the About the Center webpage,
TEXT: Center for Contemporary Cultures of Text is organized to understand the impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) and Large Language Models (LLMs) on writing cultures at this pivotal moment in history, in which — after more than 6,000 years of handcrafted text production — we see all aspects of text creation and use are being altered. We are convinced that a research-based understanding of the role of text in a new technological environment is a condition for a prevailing human-centered control of the production and usage of text.
The center works on the evaluation and development of language technology based on linguistic research, as well as on investigating when the introduction of new practices and technologies contributes to a better text culture—and when something valuable is lost. Learn more out the researchers involved and the organization of our work packages.
TEXT is based at Aarhus University and funded by the Danish National Research Foundation. The center’s partners include It-vest, Danish Foundation Models, and Rhetor, with external participants from Cornell University, UC Berkeley [University of California Berkeley], UC Davis [University of California Davis], and the University of Oslo.
The AI and the Creative Condition Conference, held at the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies in Aarhus, Denmark, aims to explore the transformative impacts of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) and Large Language Models (LLMs) on writing cultures. As we transition from over 6,000 years of handcrafted text production to a [sic]
Highlights
Keynote by Karin Kukkonen: ‘Contingency and the Proxies of Literary Writing’.
Panel discussion on ‘Creativity in the AI Era: Perspectives from the 7Cs’ by Florent Vinchon and Todd Lubart.
Keynote by Roger Beaty: ‘Measuring and enhancing human creativity with AI’.
Panel on ‘Uncovering the Patterns of Our Collective Unconscious’ by Ulf Dalvad Berthelsen.
Keynote by Kyle Booten: ‘Designing Negative Spaces for Human Minds’.
Conference dinner at Det Glade Vanvid on March 23, 2026.
Registration deadline: March 8, 2026.
Call for papers deadline: December 15, 2025.
Hosted by Center for Contemporary Cultures of TEXT and Human-AI Collaboration (HAIC-III).
Focus on the impact of Generative AI and Large Language Models on writing cultures.
Anna Katrine Mathiassen wrote a March 25, 2026 conference summary for TEXT, which provides a little more context for Kate Pullinger’s April 8, 2026 posting on Kate’s Newsletter provocatively titled “I Would Prefer Not to Be Publicly Shamed”, Note 1: She leads with a three item introduction, Note 2: Links have been removed, Note 3: Kate Pullinger co-led a writing and digital media masters programme with Sue Thomas at de Montfort University (UK) and I studied with them,
AI and the Creative Condition
Item One: Poetic forms are technologies: a sonnet is an algorithm, which is another word for a set of instructions. If you don’t follow the rules, your poem will not be a sonnet1.
Item Two: The relationships people form with AI chatbots follow recognisable masterplots as the chatbot works to both affirm and entertain the user to keep them coming back for more. This infinite chat spiral can lead in many directions, including human-AI romantic entanglements and, in the worst cases, suicide2.
Item Three: Alan Turing might have formulated the Turing Test (can a computer programme convince you that it is human?) after watching ‘Pygmalion’ by his favourite playwright, George Bernard Shaw. In this play Dr Higgins dialogue-coaches the flower-seller Eliza Doolittle until London’s upper classes are convinced she is one of them3.
In March [2026] I attended AI and the Creative Condition, a two-day conference at Aarhus University in Denmark, and the ideas above came from some of the papers and keynote presentations. Hosted by TEXT: Centre for Contemporary Cultures of Text, the conference brought together a vibrant mix of computer scientists, neuroscientists, psychologists, critical theorists from the humanities, literary studies people, educationalists, writers, artists, and poets. I attended because I’ve followed the work of TEXT for a decade or so now, and because I thought I could do with a dose of well-informed, critical, and engaged thinking on the potential for a world where we ‘write with’ AI, where we figure out how to use language models to enhance and support our writing and researching processes.
Anything positive about the current discussion of AI needs to come with many caveats, the biggest of which is the environmental and energy costs of the data centres and computational power required by these systems. The acronym ‘AI’ has become synonymous with the billionaire tech bros of OpenAI, Meta, X, Google, Anthropic4, etc as they fight it out for market dominance4. The term ‘artificial intelligence’ is so broad no one really seems to know what it actually means. It is present in our lives in multiple ways, deeply embedded within the apps we use on our smartphones, responsible for remarkable advances in medicine as well as, for example, the way the traffic lights on the high street work better than they used to do.
But these days a lot of the media buzz around AI is focussed on LLMs (large language models), the vast datasets composed of human-created language and images that both threaten livelihoods throughout the creative industries while promising huge benefits in increased productivity and, as was the focus of the conference, enhanced creativity. LLMs support ‘generative AI’ which is often referred to as ‘genAI’ – AI models that will generate text, images, and video when prompted.
One of the most interesting presentations at the conference was called ‘Yes! Yes! I Absolutely Love This Insight!’ Affirmative Narrative as Interactional Strategy in Dialogues with LLM Chatbots. The three scholars, Refsum, Walker-Rettberg, and Roin, who co-wrote this paper are part of AI Stories, a research project based in the Centre for Digital Narratives at the University of Bergen, Norway. Their study looked at a court case in the USA where the families of chatbot users who have committed suicide are suing the AI company they see as responsible for these deaths. The scholars analysed the chatbot transcripts from these users, made publicly available due to the litigation. Drawing on their knowledge of literary forms, linguistics and, in particular, narratology, these scholars have shown that the transcripts contain deeply embedded ‘masterplots’ – the myths and stories that are foundational in western culture like, for example, the brave warrior quest plot and the Cinderella love story. It is the combination of these powerful plots, the constant affirmation chatbots offer to the user, and the way chatbots refer to themselves in the first person as ‘I’, that in many cases leads to anthropomorphism and the assumption that the chatbot is in some way sentient. Other studies have shown the dramatic increase in user engagement with chatbot-as-therapist as well as chatbot-as-best-friend and chatbot-as-romantic-partner. The paper theorises that these men killed themselves after having spent months being led by their chatbots through the brave warrior masterplot, a foundational story that often ends in a noble death.
At the same time as the conference was taking place, a debut author, Mia Ballard, was being thrown under the bus by her publishers in the UK and the US for the alleged use of AI in the writing of her novel, Shy Girl. For a balanced look at what took place, read Thad McIllroy’s excellent report on it on The Future of Publishing’s website. The NYTimes reported that Mia Ballard has denied using AI in the writing of the novel and has been so battered by this hugely public and damaging shaming that she feels her reputation as a writer is ruined. At the conference Izabella Adamczewska-Baranowska presented a paper, Talking to the Muse, on the well-respected Polish poet, Justyna Bargielska, who faced a similar scouring in the press for daring to use an AI chatbot to help her think through how best to write about grief for a new collection of poems.
In the UK the Society of Authors has come up with a badge, ‘Human Authored’, that authors can add to their books to make it clear that they have not used generative AI during the writing process. The email announcing this scheme also contained the last call for authors to register their books in the $1.5billion class action against Anthropic’s copyright-defying landgrab of hundreds of thousands of books when they created their LLM, Claude. While I’m a staunch supporter and member of the Society of Authors and am participating in the class action (fifteen of my own titles were used without my permission, six of which are included in this action), I can’t help but think that ‘Human Authored’ is a decent but flawed initiative. …
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What the AI and the Creative Condition conference helped me think about is that it is possible to harness the power of LLMs to create a kind of playground for writing, a place where you can tap into the research capacities of the models, using them to help you think your way through problems you encounter as you write. In this more positive light generative AI is a technology to think with, a way to boost human creativity. Community-led language models were discussed by Katy Gero, one of keynote speakers; green energy data centres are already a reality in China and other parts of the world.
I’ve come away from Aarhus having eaten too many cardamon buns while undergoing a rethink on whether to engage with these technologies for my own writing practice. …
The April 13, 2026 notice (received via email) about a musical performance at Canada’s Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI) in Waterloo, Ontario came as a bit of a surprise since there’s no mention of physics as there would be if it were one of their art/science events,
QUATUOR MAGENTA
String quartet on tour from Paris, France
Wednesday, April 22, [2026] at 7:00 pm ET
Perimeter Institute will host the string quartet Quatuor Magenta on April 22 at 7:00 PM. The concert is presented by the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society (KWCMS).
“A model of technical discipline, elegance and musical excellence” (La Croix, transl.), the QUATUOR MAGENTA was founded in 2021 and is already performing on France’s most prestigious stages, from the Philharmonie de Paris to the Festival de RadioFrance Montpellier. Their “remarkable balance, flexibility and spontaneity” (Diapason, transl.) not only thrills their audiences, but led them to the finals of the 8th Joseph Haydn Chamber Music Competition in Vienna and earned them prizes at the 2023 FNAPEC competition (Académie des Beaux-Arts scholarship) and the 2022 Zukunftsklang Competition Stuttgart (3rd prize). November 2024 marked the quartet’s first international tour to Canada with six concerts in Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia, generously supported by the Centre National de la Musique and SPEDIDAM.
You can go to the KWCMS concerts page to buy tickets (scroll down as there are other concerts also listed),
Dinuk Wijeratne (b. 1978): Two Pop Songs on Antique Poems
Fanny Mendelssohn: String Quartet in E-flat major
ARTISTS
Ida Derbesse, 1st violin Elena Watson-Perry, 2nd violin Claire Pass-Lanneau, viola Fiona Robson, cello
“A model of technical discipline, elegance and musical excellence” (La Croix, transl.), the QUATUOR MAGENTA was founded in 2021 and is already performing on France’s most prestigious stages, from the Philharmonie de Paris to the Festival de RadioFrance Montpellier. Their “remarkable balance, flexibility and spontaneity” (Diapason, transl.) not only thrills their audiences, but led them to the finals of the 8th Joseph Haydn Chamber Music Competition in Vienna and earned them prizes at the 2023 FNAPEC competition (Académie des Beaux-Arts scholarship) and the 2022 Zukunftsklang Competition Stuttgart (3rd prize). November 2024 marked the quartet’s first international tour to Canada with six concerts in Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia, generously supported by the Centre National de la Musique and SPEDIDAM.
The Quatuor Magenta is based in Paris, France, where they are junior artist-in-residence at the Singer-Polignac Foundation and ensemble-in-residence at Proquartet – Centre Européen de Musique de Chambre. They have been invited to perform at numerous festivals in France, including the Musikfest Parisienne, the Festival de la Chaise-Dieu, Un Temps pour Elles, Un Été en France with Gautier Capuçon and the Modigliani Quartet’s Festival Vibre!, as well as in Switzerland (Festival de la Collégiale in Neuchâtel) and in Germany (Klangraum Konzerte in Cologne).
Last season, contemporary music had pride of place with Quatuor Magenta’s participation in the Kronos Quartet’s « 50 for the Future » Marathon at the Philharmonie de Paris’s String Quartet Biennale. This season includes six octet performances alongside the renowned Quatuor Van Kuijk, in partnership with La Belle Saison.
The Quatuor Magenta was honoured to participate in the inaugural year of the Élite program at the École Normale de Paris, under the mentorship of the Quatuor Modigliani. They currently study with the Quatuor Ébène at their quartet academy at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, as well as with Rainer Schmidt of the Hagen Quartet at the Basel University of Music. They are grateful for the support of the Safran Foundation and ADAMI. They work with Chapeau l’Artiste Production.
I received (via email) an April 3, 2026 notice from Toronto’s ArtSci Salon featuring two April 2026 art/science events (available online here) being held in Toronto, Note: Some links have been removed,
Beneath the Skin: Biophysical Signals as a Creative Medium
Featuring Mark-david Hosale & Ilze Briede [Kavi]
Friday, April 10 [2026] 3:00-4:30 pm Jackman Humanities Building – JHB 100 (first floor) 170 St. George Street [Toronto, Ontario]
This presentation explores an art–science research-creation practice that uses biophysical sensing as a medium for interactive and computational art. Central to this work is The Source (www.biomeci.com), a biosensing platform developed to enable artists and researchers to incorporate physiological signals directly into responsive media systems. The Source supports real-time capture of multiple biophysical signals, including electrocardiography (ECG), electrodermal activity (EDA), electromyography (EMG), electroencephalography (EEG), electrooculography (EOG), and respiratory effort (RSP).
Mark-David Hosale will introduce The Source and demonstrate how physiological signals provide insight into affective and physiological states and how these states can be used to shape audiovisual, haptic, and multisensory outputs in interactive artworks and performances.
Ilze Briede [Kavi] will present her academic research and artworks that use The Source, including the collaborative works, Somatic Interventions (2022)and Reimagining Living Ontologies (2024), both of which have resulted in scholarly publications. She will also discuss her current PhD research exploring brain data (EEG) and cybernetic feedback systems in artistic practice.
The presentation examines how biophysical signals can function not only as measurements of the body but as expressive materials within embodied and cybernetic media systems that expand the sensorium of computational arts.
This is a free public event. Please register via the Eventbrite link here.
This event is organized by the Jackman Humanities Institute Working Group Performing Gestures, Producing Cultures: Towards an Interdisciplinary Understanding of Human Movement.
Sponsored and hosted by Jackman Humanities Institute.
Ilze Briede (artist alias Kavi) is a Latvian–Canadian artist and researcher working across visual art, digital design, interactive installation, and live audiovisual performance. Her creative and pedagogical practice engages with biophysical sensing, creative coding, and projection-based media to explore the aesthetic and epistemological potential of physiological data. Kavi is currently a PhD candidate in Digital Media at York University, Toronto, where her research investigates the design of cybernetic systems for performance and immersive narrative environments driven by real-time biophysical signals.
Mark-David Hosale is a computational artist and composer and an Associate Professor in Computational Arts in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance, and Design at York University. His work explores the boundaries between the virtual and the physical world, spanning performance, public art, and gallery installations. Mark-David is the founder of nD::StudioLab (www.ndstudiolab.com), a research-creation space dedicated to art-science exploration, computational art, and interactive architecture. His research integrates hardware, software, and digital fabrication to create immersive experiences that blur the line between the virtual and the real.
BOOK LAUNCH Technocreep and the Politics of Things Not Seen with editors: Neda Atanasoski & Nassim Parvin Tuesday, April 21, [2026] 5:00-7:00 pm William Doo Auditorium 45 Willcocks Street University of Toronto
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New and emerging technologies, especially ones that infiltrate intimate spaces, relations, homes, and bodies, are often referred to as creepy in media and political discourses. In Technocreep and the Politics of Things Not Seen, Neda Atanasoski and Nassim Parvin introduce a feminist theory of creep that they substantiate through critical engagement with smart homes, smart dust, smart desires, and smart forests toward dreams of feminist futures. Contributing authors further illuminate what is otherwise obscured, assumed, or dismissed in characterizations of technology as creepy or creeping. Considering diverse technologies such as border surveillance and China’s credit system to sexcams and home assistants, the volume’s essays and artworks demonstrate that the potentials and pitfalls of artificial intelligence and digital and robotic technologies cannot be assessed through binaries of seeing/being seen, privacy/surveillance, or harmful/useful. Together, their multifaceted and multimodal approach transcends such binaries, accounting for technological relations that exceed sight to include touch, presence, trust, and diverse modes of collectivity. As such, this volume develops creep as a feminist analytic and creative mode on par with technology’s complex entanglement with intimate, local, and global politics.
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Neda Atanasoski is Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Maryland.
Nassim Parvin is an Associate Professor in the Information School at the University of Washington.
Please, let us know if you can attend here This event is supported in part by SSHRC the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada and hosted by New College at the University of Toronto
Caption: The AI Art Biennale is an international, interdisciplinary event taking place in Kraków, curated and organized by SWPS University in Kraków in cooperation with leading institutions in the fields of art, science and culture. Credit: SWPS University
Join us on March 6-20 for the AI Art Biennale organized by SWPS University in Kraków. The program includes exhibitions, performances, artist talks, workshops, and a scientific conference.
The AI Art Biennale is an international, interdisciplinary event taking place in Kraków, curated and organized by SWPS University in Kraków in cooperation with leading institutions in the fields of art, science and culture. The Biennale’s artistic program is co-organized by the Faculty of Intermedia at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków; the scientific conference is co-organized by Cogiteon – Małopolskie Centrum Nauki.
The leading theme of the Biennale is Creative Dialogue and Education with AI. The event focuses on phenomena related to artificial intelligence in culture and art, as well as its role in science, education, and technology.
The biennale tells a story about people, about how art helps us explore our needs and reflects on our place in a fast-changing world. It looks at how new technologies influence our daily experiences, relationships, and perception of reality, said Magdalena Pińczyńska PhD / Associate Professor, Dean of the Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies in Kraków, Biennale Concept Lead, Biennale Concept Lead.
The first edition of the Biennale will bring together 45 artists, experts, and researchers from over 6 countries, representing the fields of art, science, and education.
Exhibition [Un]Conscious Algorithms
The exhibition creates a space for reflection on how artificial intelligence influences the creative process – not only as a tool, but also as a medium, a partner, and at times an unpredictable co-author.
The Biennale exhibitions will present the latest works at the intersection of art, technology, and science, with a particular focus on practices employing artificial intelligence, generative algorithms, and interactivity. The exhibition will explore the hidden layers of algorithmic processes—those that are implicit, intuitive, emotional, and unpredictable in the relationships between humans and machines. The curatorial team aims to create a space for reflection on consciousness, responsibility, and intention in art developed in dialogue with technology.
Conscious or unconscious? Artificial intelligence forces us to rethink what creative intention means. The exhibition becomes a laboratory in which we examine this boundary, not only technologically, but also emotionally and philosophically, said Patrycja Maksylewicz, PhD, from the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, Exhibition Curator.
The exhibition will feature artists from Poland and abroad, including participants from Germany, Denmark, France, and Spain.
The exhibition is divided into five curatorial sections.
Algorithm as Artistic Medium
Ethical Frictions and the AI Black Box
Simulations of Consciousness
Human-Machine Collaboration
Codes of the Body: Identity Algorithms and Responsive Fashion
An International Conference
Creative Dialogue and Education with AI is an interdisciplinary conference that brings together perspectives from science, art, education, and emerging technologies. The event creates a shared space for ideas, experiences, and visions of the future, gathering researchers, experts, artists, and designers from Poland and abroad who actively shape the debate on the relationship between humans and technology.
The conference invites reflection on how artificial intelligence is transforming contemporary models of knowledge, creative and educational practices, and social relations. Its interdisciplinary format fosters the exchange of perspectives and critical dialogue – especially where technology intersects with human responsibility, sensitivity, and imagination.
The program consists of three thematic sessions:
The Law, Ethics, and Education session focuses on the responsible development of artificial intelligence, addressing legal regulations, the ethical consequences of automation, and the challenges facing educational systems amid rapid technological change.
The Art session is dedicated to a creative dialogue with AI, exploring its role as an artistic tool, co-creator, and medium of critical reflection in areas such as contemporary art, architecture, design, and transmedia practices.
The Science session examines whether and how artificial intelligence accelerates scientific discovery, reshapes models of knowledge production, redefines the role of expertise, and influences the future of the university and research.
An integral element of the event is the Biennale Bot – an interactive, AI-based assistant that serves both as a guide to the conference and as a research tool.
One of the outcomes of the conference will be the research publication “Report 2027: Artificial Intelligence in Art, Science, and Education,” which will consolidate key insights from expert presentations and present the results of research conducted among Biennale participants and invited experts.
Is AI a tool, a co-creator, or a threat to artists? How are art universities preparing students for the future, and are museums and galleries ready for algorithm-generated art? These questions are explored in a report based on the conference and meetings held during the Biennale, said Justyna Berniak-Woźny, PhD, from SWPS University.
I’d love to know who realized that Taylor Swift concerts generate seismic activity and how they came to that realization (this question gets answered in the CalTech excerpt further down in posting). In any event, seismologists have been tracking the activity since 2023 according to a July 28, 2023 article on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) news online website, Note: A link has been removed,
When Taylor Swift took the stage at Seattle’s Lumen Field this past weekend, the Earth moved. Literally.
Jackie Caplan-Auberbach, a professor in the geology department at the University of Western Washington [Western Washington Univesity; WWU[, pulled the data, which showed the pop star’s Eras Tour concert caused twice as much shaking as the infamous “Beast Quake” of 2011 — when Marshawn Lynch scored a touchdown for the Seattle Seahawks, and secured the NFL team a victory in a wild card playoff game.
The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network (PNSN) calculated Seattle fans cheering for the touchdown made the Earth shake with the equivalent of a 2.0 magnitude earthquake.
“If that was a two, this would’ve been a 2.3.,” Caplan-Auberbach told CBC News.
She noted that it’s not clear whether it was the fans dancing, or the booming sound system that caused all the shaking. In fact, by geology standards, it’s a pretty insignificant blip on the seismometer.
The machine used to measure the vibrations from the Earthhappens to be located next to the stadium where Swift was performing back-to-back sold-out shows. [emphasis mine]
The seismometer set list
The data the seismologists collected can be used in some pretty interesting ways.
Mouse Reusch of PNSN told CBC News her colleagues took readings of the ground shaking, sped it up and turned them into an audio file.
When they played that back, they were able to reverse-engineer the concert’s set list by comparing the beats per minute of the readings and Swift’s songs.
“It was kind of this weird, backwards way of coming up with the set list from … the seismometer sitting next door to the Lumen Field,” she said.
Getting Swifties into science
Although Caplan-Auberbach said the data is just “a little bit of noise” from a seismology perspective, she notes the exercise is as a great opportunity to get teenagers and Swifties excited about science.
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Like so many discoveries in science, this seems to have been accidental.
Seismology study
Seismologists seemed to have jumped on the ‘Taylor Swift Ears tour earthshaking bandwagon’. A March 22, 2024 Caltech (California Institute of Technology) news release by Kimm Fesenmaier updates this story with news of the first of two studies on this phenomenon, Note: Links have been removed,
Fans at Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concerts in Los Angeles made SoFi Stadium and the ground around it “ring like a bell” last August [2023], creating measurable seismic activity during each song. So say scientists from Caltech and UCLA [University of California at Los Angeles], who collected seismic data during one of the shows.
In a new paper, the researchers report that it was the dancing and jumping movements of the 70,000-plus fans, not the music or sound system, at the August 4 [2023] concert that created the seismic waves that have come to be called “Swift quakes.”
Following reports of seismic tremors generated by fans at sporting events and a Taylor Swift concert in Washington state, the California Office of Emergency Services reached out to seismic network operators in California to see if any interesting data could be collected during Swift’s concerts at SoFi Stadium, August 3–9 [2023].
Monica Kohler (PhD ’95), research professor of mechanical and civil engineering at Caltech, and her colleagues responded. To study Swift’s show on August 4 [2023], they tapped into an existing regional network of seismic stations, gathering data from permanent sensors reaching as far as about 6 miles from the stadium. They also temporarily installed 10 seismic sensors within SoFi itself and one more across the street. The sensors installed inside the stadium were inexpensive accelerometers that the researchers regularly build and deploy using off-the-shelf parts for the Community Seismic Network, a distributed network of more than 1,200 strong-motion detectors in California.
The researchers were not disappointed. The stadium and its surroundings certainly shook during the show. As expected, the manner of shaking was less like an earthquake, with a clear spike in ground movement, and more like harmonic tremor that involves bursts of energy at specific frequency intervals over longer periods of time. This type of seismicity is often associated with volcanic activity, such as the underground movement of magma.
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Until now, seismologists have disagreed about what exactly was causing the seismicity related to concert tremors. Some claimed it was the vibrating loudspeakers or the instruments coupled to the stage that caused the shaking while others said it was more likely to be the movements of all the concertgoers.
The data showed that the movement, not the music, best fit the waveforms. To confirm that answer, Tepp [Gabrielle Tepp, staff seismologist at Caltech’s Seismological Laboratory], herself a bass guitarist, conducted a simple experiment. She set up a portable PA system close to one of the team’s accelerometers and blasted Swift’s song “Love Story.” Near the end, she jumped up and down to the beat. It was only when she started jumping that the seismic sensor recorded harmonic signals. Tepp also tried playing her bass guitar to a steady beat with the same speaker and, again, did not find the nice harmonic signal even though, as she says, “the bass beats were probably more exactly on the beat than my jumping was.”
The study was not only about investigating the source of concert tremor. Kohler points out that during emergencies, stadiums and other large structures, such as conference centers, are used as emergency shelters. “In those cases, it would be really important to be able to monitor the motions of these structures before, during, and after a large-scale event like an earthquake to be able to determine whether the structure is still safe, reliable, and sound,” Kohler says.
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Tepp points out that the study also serves as a useful reminder that earthquakes are not the only kind of seismic activity that seismologists should be analyzing. “We’ve designed all of our magnitude scales based on earthquakes, but what do you do when the signal doesn’t look like an earthquake? How do you characterize its strength?” Tepp says. “Looking at these non-earthquake signals can be really helpful for evaluating the different tools that we have as seismologists and reevaluating our assumptions that go into those.”
The seismic activity generated by Taylor Swift’s concerts in Dublin in 2024 provided a unique opportunity for scientific engagement and education, according to the authors of a groundbreaking new study.
Geophysicist Eleanor Dunn from the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies hit the headlines in July 2024 with her #SwiftQuakeDublin project studying the seismic activity generated by Taylor Swift’s concerts in Dublin.
Now the PhD student and one of her supervisors, Professor Joseph Roche from the School of Education, Trinity College Dublin, have published an academic paper in the International Journal of Science Education about the power of pop culture events to boost scientific understanding and engagement.
The paper, “Are you ready for it? Harnessing celebrity influence for science communication and seismology – The Taylor Swift effect”, describes the powerful potential for celebrity influence in science communication and public understanding of science.
In June 2024, as Taylor Swift played three record-breaking nights at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, researchers installed 42 temporary seismometers across 21 locations surrounding the venue. This extensive network allowed them to meticulously record and compare the seismic impact of the concerts with the readings from the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN).
Measuring this “SwiftQuake” garnered public and media attention through strategic social and traditional media campaigns, captivating fans and the wider public alike. Following the concerts, the team analysed the collected seismic data, sharing their findings with audiences and inviting fans to contribute their concert videos to aid in the seismic analysis.
Seismic signals measured at the stadium for songs such as Shake It Off were matched with patterns detected by the national network in the Dublin mountains and in Wexford, showing the SwiftQuake being detected more than 100km away.
By examining the extensive social and traditional media output, the study highlights how cultural events with massive public appeal can be leveraged to engage citizens and enhance their understanding of complex scientific concepts.
Lead author Eleanor Dunn, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, explains: “This project was an incredible opportunity to bridge the gap between celebrity pop culture and scientific inquiry. Witnessing the public’s enthusiasm, especially from Swifties, for understanding how their collective energy translated into measurable seismic waves was truly inspiring. It showed us that science is all around us, even in our favourite music events!
“This study demonstrates that integrating popular cultural events into scientific research can create accessible and exciting avenues for public engagement, transforming audiences into active participants in scientific discovery.”
Professor Joseph Roche, co-author of the study, from the School of Education, Trinity College Dublin, praised Dunn’s innovative approach. “Eleanor’s research showcases the power of interdisciplinary thinking, combining seismology, science communication, and celebrity studies. It’s a brilliant example of what happens when a researcher combines their unique research skills with their personal passions. Eleanor is a dedicated Swiftie and, once this study is published, Taylor is going to be just as big a fan of Eleanor’s research!”
Key Findings:
Innovative Engagement: The deployment of 42 seismometers around a major concert venue successfully captured the seismic impact of a large-scale cultural event.
Public Interest: Strategic social and traditional media campaigns generated significant public interest in seismology and science communication.
Citizen Science Potential: The project successfully invited and utilised fan-contributed content for scientific analysis, showcasing a unique form of citizen science.
Pop Culture as a Catalyst: The research confirms the potential of pop culture events to act as powerful catalysts for scientific understanding and engagement.
This paper is open access and you may want to read it just for the style. Note: Links have been removed,
Dear reader: introduction
In July 2023, news broke of the first recorded SwiftQuake, a phenomenon that captured the imagination and scientific curiosity of Swifties and journalists worldwide (Sainato, Citation2023; Kelly, Citation2023). However, had Swifties really created an earthquake during Swift’s iconic Eras Tour at Lumen Field Stadium, Seattle? As usual, the story is more complicated than headlines might suggest. Still, thousands of excited fans had generated seismic activity strong enough to be detected by seismometers located near the stadium.
This one-off event soon turned into a branch of geophysics in its own right – Swift Seismology – with research groups all around the world popping up following Swift’s record-breaking world tour as she travelled from the USA to South America, Australia, Southeast Asia, Europe and ending in Canada (BGS Press, Citation2024; Caplan-Auerbach et al., Citation2024; Tepp et al., Citation2024). The tour comprised 149 shows and was the highest grossing tour of all time (Lind, Citation2024).
…seismic events, known as SwiftQuakes, inspired an entire branch of geophysics interested in analyzing the seismic activity caused by fans …
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While the SwiftQuake data is impressive in itself, the public interest surrounding the seismic monitoring in Dublin surprised scientists. They found that their social and traditional media discussions around seismic activity sparked an interest in science with the younger generation.
Additionally, fans who attended the concert were encouraged to submit their concert videos to help aid the study, which allowed concertgoers to directly participate in the research and piqued their interest in the results even further.
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SwiftQuakes and a new branch of geophysics? Science is everywhere.
I received (via email) a November 25, 2025 notice from Toronto’s ArtSci Salon about some December 2025 art/science events (available online here) being held in Toronto, Note: Some links have been removed,
THE BODY ELECTRIC
Exhibition & Performances December 5, 6 & 7th, 2025
at Charles Street Video, 76 Geary Ave, Toronto
Opening, reception and performances: Friday, December 5th at 6pm, performances start at 7pm.
Exhibition Open to Public: Saturday, December 6th and Sunday, December 7th from 12pm – 4pm.
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Inspired by Walt Whitman’s visionary poem “I Sing the Body Electric,” this exhibition reimagines the body as a network of electric impulses, voltages, and signals that both generate and transmit lived experiences. Body Electric brings together artists, researchers, performers, and technologists who explore the inner electrical life of the human body through biophysical sensing.
By capturing physiological signals such as brainwaves (EEG), heart rhythms (ECG), and muscle activity (EMG), the exhibition reveals the hidden languages of the body — not as metaphor, but as material, as data, as expression.
Body Electric features contributions from York University faculty, students, and international collaborators. The exhibition builds a living bridge between the past and the present, connecting analogue pioneers with today’s generative futures, and invites us to look into the future with an open and curious mind.
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Biophysical Movement and Emotion as Computational Interfaces (bioMECI) Workshop Charles Street Video, 76 Geary Ave, Toronto Free with registration (same workshop both days):
This Workshop is a collaborative workshop centred on biophysical data, computational art, and performance. At the centre of this workshop is the biophysical sensing toolkit, called The Source (www.biomeci.com). The Source is a wearable device solution for full-spectrum biophysical sensing that integrates with commonly used software platforms, enabling its use in the maker and arts communities. Data gathered from The Source is analyzed using hardware and software tools that interface with popular platforms such as Arduino, Max/MSP, SuperCollider, Ableton Live, TouchDesigner, and Processing. The Source provides real-time access to signals from the brain, heart, muscles, skin and eyes and more. This modular system empowers artists to create responsive artworks that engage directly with the body’s inner states.
Inspired by Walt Whitman’s visionary poem “I Sing the Body Electric,” this exhibition …
Electricity governs life on Earth at every scale, from small molecular organisms to sophisticated evolved beings. In the human body, in particular, electricity presents itself as the firing of neurons, the pulse of the heart, the conductivity of the skin, and the flux of emotional states. This exhibition foregrounds electricity not only as a force of animation, but as a creative medium — a raw, natural element that artists can sense, shape, and translate. The electric medium is further carried into the technological domain as a means of instrumentation and expression of gathered data from the human body. Through interactive installations, performances, and sonic-visual systems, Body Electric invites audiences to witness how the body thinks, feels, and reacts beneath the surface. What emerges is a portrait of the human not as a fixed entity, but as an ever-changing field of affective and electrical relations.
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About the artists
The programme will feature a series of interactive installations, including body-physiology sensing chairs originally conceptualized by artist Alan Macy, a retrospective of the work of artist, composer, and scholar David Rosenboom, and installations by artists from York University’s nD::StudioLab (https://www.ndstudiolab.com/), including Ilze Briede [Kavi], Kwame Kyei-Boateng, Kyle Duffield, Mark-David Hosale, Hrysovalanti Maheras, and Nava Waxman.
It will also include live performances, among them
a new work by composer Gene Coleman with violinist Amy Hillis from York’s Music Department;
a performance by The Global Organoid Orchestra (GOO); and a set by the live-coding collective The Endemics.
The Global Organoid Orchestra (GOO) includes: *Mark-David Hosale and Ilze Briede [Kavi] in Toronto; *Diarmid Flatley, Marcos Novak, Iason Paterakis, and Nefeli Manoudaki in Santa Barbara; *and collaborators at the Kosik Neurobiology Lab, UC Santa Barbara (Ken Kosik, Director), *along with Tjitse van der Molen and Eve Bodnia.
The Endemics consists of *Ilze Briede [Kavi] and *Hrysovalanti Maheras.
bioMECI: Biophysical Movement and Emotion as Computational Interface
I have two art/science events and one art/science conference/festival (IRL [in real life or in person] and Zoom) taking place in Toronto, Ontario.
October 16, 2025
There is a closing event for the “I don’t do Math” series mentioned in my September 8, 2025 posting,
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ABOUT “I don’t do math” is a photographic series referencing dyscalculia, a learning difference affecting a person’s ability to understand and manipulate number-based information.
This initiative seeks to raise awareness about the challenges posed by dyscalculia with educators, fellow mathematicians, and parents, and to normalize its existence, leading to early detection and augmented support. In addition, it seeks to reflect on and question broader issues and assumptions about the role and significance of Mathematics and Math education in today’s changing socio-cultural and economic contexts.
The exhibition will contain pedagogical information and activities for visitors and students. The artist will also address the extensive research that led to the exhibition. The exhibition will feature two panel discussions following the opening and to conclude the exhibition.
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I have some information from an October 12, 2025 ArtSci Salon announcement (received via email) about the “I don’t do math” closing event,
in us for
Closing Exhibition Panel Discussion Thursday, October 16 2025 10:00 am -12:00 pm room 309 The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences (or online)
Artist Ann Piché will be in conversation with Andrew Fiss, Jacqueline Wernimont, Amenda Chow, Ellen Abrams, Michael Barany and JP Ascher
The second event mentioned in the October 12, 2025 ArtSci Salon announcement, Note 1: A link has been removed, Note 2: This event is part of a larger series,
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Marco Donnarumma Monsters of Grace: bodies, sounds, and machines
Tuesday, October 21, 2025 3:30-4:30 PM Sensorium Research Loft 4th floor Goldfarb Centre for Fine Arts York University
About the talk What is sound to those who do not hear it? How does one listen to something that cannot be heard? What kind of sensory gaps are created by aiding technologies such as prostheses and artificial intelligence (AI)? As a matter of fact, the majority of non-deaf people hear only partially due to age and personal experience. Still, sound is most often considered through the normalizing viewpoint of the non-deaf. If I become your body, what does sound become for me? Join us to welcome Marco Donnarumma ahead of his new installation/performance at Paul Cadario Conference Room (Oct 22, 8-10 PM University College [University of Toronto] – 15 King’s College Circle). His talk will focus on this latest work in the context of a largest body of work titled “I Am Your Body,” an ongoing project investigating how normative power is enforced through the technological mediation of the senses.
About the artist: Marco Donnarumma is an artist, inventor and theorist. His oeuvre confronts normative body politics with uncompromising counter-narratives, where bodies are in tension between control and agency, presence and absence, grace and monstrosity. He is best known for using sound, AI, biosensors, and robotics to turn the body into a site of resistance and transformation. He has presented his work in thirty-seven countries across Asia, Europe, North and South America and is the recipient of numerous accolades, most notably the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education’s Artist of the Science Year 2018, and the Prix Ars Electronica’s Award of Distinction in Sound Art 2017. Donnarumma received a ZER01NE Creator grant in 2024 and was named a pioneer of performing arts with advanced technologies by the major national newspaper Der Standard, Austria. His writings are published in Frontiers in Computer Science, Computer Music Journal and Performance Research, among others, and his newest book chapter, co-authored with Elizabeth Jochum, will appear in Robot Theaters by Routledge. Together with Margherita Pevere he runs the performance group Fronte Vacuo.
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I wonder if Donnarumma’s “Monsters of Grace: bodies, sounds, and machines’ received any inspiration from “Monsters of Grace” (Wikipedia entry) or if it’s just happenstance, Note: Links have been removed,
Monsters of Grace is a multimedia chamber opera in 13 short acts directed by Robert Wilson, with music by Philip Glass and libretto from the works of 13th-century Sufi mystic Jalaluddin Rumi. The title is said to be a reference to Wilson’s corruption of a line from Hamlet: “Angels and ministers of grace defend us!” (1.4.39).
So, the October 21, 2025 event is a talk at York University taking place before the “Who’s afraid of AI? Arts, Sciences, and the Futures of Intelligence” (more below).
“Who’s afraid of AI? Arts, Sciences, and the Futures of Intelligence,” a conference and arts festival at the University of Toronto
The conference (October 23 – 24, 2025) is concurrent with the arts festival (October 19 – 25, 2025) at the University of Toronto. Here’s more from the event homepage on the https://bmolab.artsci.utoronto.ca/ website, Note: BMO stands for Bank of Montreal, Note: No mention of Edward Albee and “Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf?,”
2025 marks an inflection point in our technological landscape, driven by seismic shifts in AI innovation.
Who’s Afraid of AI? Arts, Science, and the Futures of Intelligence is a week-long inquiry into the implications and future directions of AI for our creative and collective imaginings, and the many possible futures of intelligence. The complexity of these immediate future calls for interdisciplinary dialogue, bringing together artists, AI researchers, and humanities scholars.
In this volatile domain, the question of who envisions our futures is vital. Artists explore with complexity and humanity, while the humanities reveal the histories of intelligence and the often-overlooked ways knowledge and decision-making have been shaped. By placing these voices in dialogue with AI researchers and technologists, Who’s Afraid of AI? examines the social dimensions of technology, questions tech solutionism from a social-impact perspective, and challenges profit-driven AI with innovation guided by public values.
The two-day conference at the University of Toronto’s University College anchors the week and features panels and debates with leading figures in these disciplines, including a keynoteby 2025 Nobel Laureate in Physics Geoffrey Hinton, the “Godfather of AI” and 2025 Neil Graham Lecturer in Science, Fei-Fei Li, an AI pioneer.
Throughout the week, the conversation continues across the city with:
AI-themed and AI powered art shows and exhibitions
Film screenings
Innovative theatre
Experimental music
Who’s Afraid of AI? demonstrates that Toronto has not only shaped the history of AI but continues to prepare its future.Step into this changing landscape and be part of this transformative dialogue — register today!
Organizing Committee:
Pia Kleber, Professor-Emerita, Comparative Literature, and Drama, U of T Dirk Bernhardt-Walther, Department of Psychology, Program Director, Cognitive Science, U of T David Rokeby, Director, BMO Lab, Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, U of T Rayyan Dabbous, PhD candidate, Centre for Comparative Literature, U of T
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This looks like a pretty interesting programme (if you’re mainly focused on AI and the creative arts), from the event homepage on the https://bmolab.artsci.utoronto.ca/ website, Note 1: All times are ET, Note 2: I have not included speakers’ photos,
The conference will explore core questions about AI such as its capabilities, possibilities and challenges, bringing their unique research, creative practice, scholarship and experience to the discussion. Speakers will also engage in an interdisciplinary conversation on topics including AI’s implications for theories of mind and embodiment, its influence on creation, innovation, and discovery, its recognition of diverse perspectives, and its transformation of artistic, cultural, political and everyday practices.
Thursday, October 23, 2025
Mind the World
9 AM | Clark Reading Room, University College – 15 King’s College Circle
What are the merits and limits of artificial intelligence within the larger debate on embodiment? This session brings together an artist who has given AI a physical dimension, a neuroscientist who reckons with the biological neural networks inspiring AI, and a humanist knowledgeable of the longer history in which the human has tried to decouple itself from its bodily needs and wants.
Suzanne Kite Director, The Wihanble S’a Center for Indigenous AI
James DiCarlo Director, MIT Quest for Intelligence
N. Katherine Hayles James B. Duke Distinguished Professor Emerita of Literature
Staging AI
11 AM | Clark Reading Room, University College – 15 King’s College Circle
How is AI changing the arts? To answer this question, we bring together theatre directors and artists who have made AI the main driving plot of their stories and those who opted to keep technology secondary in their productions.
Kay Voges Artistic Director, Schauspiel Köln
Roland Schimmelpfennig Playwright and Director, Berlin
Hito Steyerl Artist, Filmmaker and Writer, Berlin
Recognizing ‘Noise’
2 PM | Clark Reading Room, University College – 15 King’s College Circle
How can we design a more inclusive AI? This session brings together an artist who has worked with AI and has been sensitive to groups who may be excluded by its practice, an inclusive design scholar who has grappled with AI’s potential for personalized accessibility, and a humanist who understands the longer history on pattern and recognition from which emerged AI.
Marco Donnarumma Artist, Inventor, Theorist, Berlin
Jutta Treviranus Director, OCADU [Ontario College of Art & Design University], Inclusive Design Research Centre
Eryk Salvaggio Media Artist and Tech Policy Press Fellow, Rochester
Art, Design, and Application are the Solution to AI’s Charlie Chaplain Problem
4 PM | Hart House Theatre – 7 Hart House Circle
Daniel Wigdor CoFounder and Chief Executive Officer, AXL
Keynote and Neil Graham Lecture in Science
4:15 PM | Hart House Theatre – 7 Hart House Circle
Fei-Fei Li Sequoia Professor in Computer Science, Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI
Geoffrey Hinton 2024 Nobel Laureate in Physics, Professor Emeritus in Computer Science
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Friday, October 24, 2025
Life with AI
9 AM | Clark Reading Room, University College – 15 King’s College Circle
How do machine minds relate to human minds? What can we learn from one about the other? In this session we interrogate the impact of AI on our understanding of human knowledge and tool-making, from the perspective of philosophy, computer science, as well as the arts.
Jeanette Winterson Author, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Great Britain
Leif Weatherby Professor of German and Director of Digital Theory Lab at New York University
Jennifer Nagel Professor, Philosophy, University of Toronto Mississauga
Discovery & In/Sight
11 AM | Clark Reading Room, University College – 15 King’s College Circle
This session explores creative practice through the lens of innovation and cultural/scientific advancement. An artist who creates with critical inspiration from AI joins forces with an innovation scholar who investigates the effects of AI on our decision making, as well as a philosopher of science who understands scientific discovery and inference as well as their limits.
Vladan Joler Visual Artist and Professor of New Media, University of Novi Sad [Serbia]
Alán Aspuru-Guzik Professor of Chemistry and Computer Science, University of Toronto
Brian Baigrie Professor, Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science & Technology, University of Toronto
Social history & Possible Futures
2 PM | Clark Reading Room, University College – 15 King’s College Circle
How does AI ownership and its private uses coexist within a framework of public good? It brings together an artist who has created AI tools to be used by others, an AI ethics researcher who has turned algorithmic bias into collective insight, and a philosopher who understands the connection between AI and the longer history of automation and work from which AI emerged.
Memo Akten Artist working with Code, Data and AI, UC San Diego
Beth Coleman Professor, Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology, University of Toronto
Matteo Pasquinelli Professor, Philosophy and Cultural Heritage Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia [Italy]
A Theory of Latent Spaces | Conclusion: Where do we go from here?
4 PM | Clark Reading Room, University College – 15 King’s College Circle
Antonio Somaini, curator of the remarkable ‘World through AI’ exhibition at the Museé du Jeu de Paume in Paris, will discuss the way in which ‘latent spaces’, a core characteristic of current AI models as “meta-archives” that shape profoundly our relation with the past.
Following this, we will engage in a larger discussion amongst the various conference speakers and attendees on how we can, as artists, humanities scholars, scientists and the general public, collectively imagine and cultivate a future where AI serves the public good and enhances our individual and collective lives.”
Antonio Somaini Curator and Professor, Sorbonne Nouvelle [Université Sorbonne Nouvelle]
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You can register here for this free conference, although, there’s now a waitlist for in person attendance. Do not despair, there’s access by Zoom,
In case you can’t make it in person, join us by Zoom:
October 22 | 2 PM | Student Forum and AI Commentary Contest Award | Paul Cadario Conference Room, University College – 15 King’s College Circle
October 22 | 8 – 10 PM |Marco Donnarumma, world première of a new performance installation | Paul Cadario Conference Room, University College – 15 King’s College Circle
October 23 | 2 PM | Jeanette Winterson: Arts & AI Talk | Paul Cadario Conference Room, University College – 15 King’s College Circle
October 24 | 7 PM | The Kiss by Roland Schimmelpfennig | The BMO Lab, University College – 15 King’s College Circle (Note: we are scheduling more performances. Check back for more info soon!)
October 25 | 8 PM | AI Cabaretfeaturing Jason Sherman, Rick Miller, Cole Lewis, BMO Lab projects and more| Crow’s Theatre, Nada Ristich Studio-Gallery – 345 Carlaw Avenue..
The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) presented two research projects at the CHI (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems) April 25 to May 1, 2025. A May 13, 2025 KAIST press release (also on EurekAlert but published May 15, 2025) describes the accomplishments, Note 1: VR is virtual reality and AR is augmented reality; Note 2: Embedded images have been omitted; Note 3: Additional citation information has been added (set off by square brackets) to the press release; Note 4: Both papers (as cited in the press release) are open access on the ACM website,
Accurate pointing in virtual spaces is essential for seamless interaction. If pointing is not precise, selecting the desired object becomes challenging, breaking user immersion and reducing overall experience quality. KAIST researchers have developed a technology that offers a vivid, lifelike experience in virtual space, alongside a new tool that assists choreographers throughout the creative process.
KAIST (President Kwang-Hyung Lee) announced on May 13th that a research team led by Professor Sang Ho Yoon of the Graduate School of Culture Technology, in collaboration with Professor Yang Zhang of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), has developed the ‘T2IRay’ technology and the ‘ChoreoCraft’ platform, which enables choreographers to work more freely and creatively in virtual reality. These technologies received two Honorable Mention awards, recognizing the top 5% of papers, at CHI 2025*, the best international conference in the field of human-computer interaction, hosted by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) from April 25 to May 1 [2025].
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T2IRay: Enabling Virtual Input with Precision
T2IRay introduces a novel input method that allows for precise object pointing in virtual environments by expanding traditional thumb-to-index gestures. This approach overcomes previous limitations, such as interruptions or reduced accuracy due to changes in hand position or orientation.
The technology uses a local coordinate system based on finger relationships, ensuring continuous input even as hand positions shift. It accurately captures subtle thumb movements within this coordinate system, integrating natural head movements to allow fluid, intuitive control across a wide range.
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< Figure 1. T2IRay framework utilizing the delicate movements of the thumb and index fingers for AR/VR pointing >
Professor Sang Ho Yoon explained, “T2IRay can significantly enhance the user experience in AR/VR by enabling smooth, stable control even when the user’s hands are in motion.”
This study, led by first author Jina Kim, was supported by the Excellent New Researcher Support Project of the National Research Foundation of Korea under the Ministry of Science and ICT, as well as the University ICT Research Center (ITRC) Support Project of the Institute of Information and Communications Technology Planning and Evaluation (IITP).
▴ Paper title: T2IRay: Design of Thumb-to-Index Based Indirect Pointing for Continuous and Robust AR/VR Input [by Jina Kim, Yang Zhang, Sang Ho Yoon. CHI ’25: Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Article No.: 1059, Pages 1 – 21 https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3714220 Published: 25 April 2025] ▴ Paper link: https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713442 ▴ T2IRay demo video: https://youtu.be/ElJlcJbkJPY
ChoreoCraft: Creativity Support through VR for Choreographers
In addition, Professor Yoon’s team developed ‘ChoreoCraft,’ a virtual reality tool designed to support choreographers by addressing the unique challenges they face, such as memorizing complex movements, overcoming creative blocks, and managing subjective feedback.
ChoreoCraft reduces reliance on memory by allowing choreographers to save and refine movements directly within a VR space, using a motion-capture avatar for real-time interaction. It also enhances creativity by suggesting movements that naturally fit with prior choreography and musical elements. Furthermore, the system provides quantitative feedback by analyzing kinematic factors like motion stability and engagement, helping choreographers make data-driven creative decisions.
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< Figure 2. ChoreoCraft’s approaches to encourage creative process >
Professor Yoon noted, “ChoreoCraft is a tool designed to address the core challenges faced by choreographers, enhancing both creativity and efficiency. In user tests with professional choreographers, it received high marks for its ability to spark creative ideas and provide valuable quantitative feedback.”
This research was conducted in collaboration with doctoral candidate Kyungeun Jung and master’s candidate Hyunyoung Han, alongside the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) and One Million Co., Ltd. [1MILLION DANCE STUDIO?] (CEO Hye-rang Kim [aka, Lia Kim?]), with support from the Cultural and Arts Immersive Service Development Project by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
▴ Paper title: ChoreoCraft: In-situ Crafting of Choreography in Virtual Reality through Creativity Support Tools by Jina Kim, Yang Zhang, Sang Ho Yoon. CHI ’25: Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Article No.: 854, Pages 1 – 16 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713442 Published: 25 April 2025 ▴ Paper link: https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3714220 ▴ ChoreoCraft demo video: https://youtu.be/Ms1fwiSBjjw
*CHI (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems): The premier international conference on human-computer interaction, organized by the ACM, was held this year from April 25 to May 1, 2025.
I did a little more digging with regard to Lia Kim (Hye-rang Kim) and found this précis from her profile on thefamouspeople.com,
Lia Kim is a Korean hip-hop dancer and choreographer. Her incredible choreography routines display a unique combination of street funk and urban hip-hop. She is best known for her intricate finger-tutting skills. Lia is the CEO of the Seoul-based ‘1Million Dance Studio.’ The studio is a melting pot of various dance forms from around the world and is a place where students connect with one another through the joy of dancing. Since Lia is a professional choreographer, she majorly focuses on detailing and technicality. This makes her dance routines an artwork. Lia has performed at several national and international events and has judged a few dance reality shows, too. She has choreographed a number of concerts and events and has also created dance routines for a number of celebrities.
