Tag Archives: Leonardo/ISAST LASER TALKS

Simon Fraser University’s (SFU) Metacreation Lab for AI, the June 2026 newsletter

Leave a reply

A June 22, 2026 Metacreation Lab newsletter landed in my email box and here are some of the items that caught my attention,

…

Philippe Pasquier Presents at SIAT [School of Interactive Arts and Technology] Graduate Research Colloquium Speaker Series

In February [2026], Metacreation Lab Director Dr. Philippe Pasquier was invited as one of the opening speakers for the SIAT Graduate Research Colloquium Spring Speaker Series. Hosted by the School of Interactive Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University, the series brings together researchers and students to engage critically with emerging technologies and their broader cultural and social implications.

WHATCH THE RECORDING

Philippe Pasquier Presents Laser Talk at Texas A&M University

Dr. Philippe Pasquier recently delivered a Laser [Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous Talk at Texas A&M University, exploring the artistic and aesthetic foundations of the Metacreation Lab’s work in creative AI. The talk situated contemporary generative AI within the broader histories of generative art and practice-led research, highlighting the diversity of AI approaches that extend beyond the current focus on large-scale commercial models.

The presentation was followed by an interdisciplinary discussion with faculty and students from across the arts and humanities, covering topics such as creativity, authorship, and the evolving role of AI in artistic practice.

WATCH THE RECORDING

New Mitacs Project Explores AI for Interactive Music Generation

The Metacreation Lab has launched a new Mitacs-funded research collaboration with Audiokinetic, the creators of the widely used Wwise interactive audio platform. Led by Metacreation Lab’s Master’s student Paul Triana under the supervision of Dr. Philippe Pasquier, the project explores new AI-driven workflows for adaptive music in video games and interactive media.

The research will develop a generative music pipeline that combines automatic music transcription, symbolic music generation, and neural audio synthesis to create seamless musical transitions and variations. By leveraging the lab’s recent advances in symbolic music AI, including MIDI-GPT, the project aims to provide composers and developers with more flexible and controllable tools for creating responsive soundtracks.

The collaboration will investigate how AI can support, rather than replace, human creativity, enabling richer interactive musical experiences while reducing production barriers for game developers and digital artists.

Mitacs-Funded Research Examines AI for Type 2 Diabetes Management

Researchers at the Metacreation Lab, in collaboration with Vancouver-based QiiQ Inc., have completed a Mitacs-funded scoping review investigating the current state of AI in consumer-facing mobile health applications for Type 2 diabetes management. The project, led by Metacreation Lab’s PhD student Dhruv Adhia with collaborators Dave Brown (QiiQ’s CEO) and Dr. Philippe Pasquier, analyzed 1,569 records across seven academic databases, ultimately synthesizing findings from 17 studies.

The review identified six major AI capability domains, including clinical decision support systems, AI-assisted dietary management, conversational AI, behavioural interventions, continuous glucose monitoring with AI coaching, and wearable sensor analytics. Across controlled studies, AI-supported interventions demonstrated meaningful improvements in diabetes management outcomes, including reductions in HbA1c levels.

The findings provide an evidence-based overview of which AI capabilities are currently demonstrating clinical value and which remain promising opportunities for future translation into consumer health products. The manuscript has completed supervisor review and is currently being prepared for journal submission.

Philippe Pasquier Discusses AI Literacy Beyond Polarization

Dr. Philippe Pasquier recently presented AI Literacy Beyond Polarization as part of the symposium Teaching AI: Art & Design Education Under Automation, organized by The Ohio State University.

The talk explored alternatives to the increasingly polarized debates surrounding generative AI, arguing for greater awareness of the diversity of creative AI approaches. Drawing on research and development at the Metacreation Lab, Philippe highlighted approaches centred on small data, model crafting, local and open-source tools, direct manipulation, and human-centred co-creation.

The presentation also featured Autolume, demonstrating how artists can train, adapt, and perform with their own generative models using small datasets and accessible workflows. The talk is now available online as part of the symposium’s public lecture series.

WATCH THE RECORDING

…

For anyone who’d like to receive the entire June 2026 newsletter, go to the Metacreation Lab contact page to subscribe. You can find older newsletters here at https://www.metacreation.net/previous-newsletters/.

For those who are curious about Leonardo and Mitacs, First, I have a little more. Leonardo, from the About page,

Fearlessly pioneering since 1968, Leonardo serves as THE community forging a transdisciplinary network to convene, research, collaborate, and disseminate best practices at the nexus of arts, science and technology worldwide. Leonardo’ serves a network of transdisciplinary scholars, artists, scientists, technologists and thinkers, who experiment with cutting-edge, new approaches, practices, systems and solutions to tackle the most complex challenges facing humanity today.

As a not-for-profit 501(c)3 enterprising think tank, Leonardo offers a global platform for creative exploration and collaboration reaching tens of thousands of people across 135 countries. Our flagship publication, Leonardo, the world’s leading scholarly journal on transdisciplinary art, anchors a robust publishing partnership with MIT Press; our partnership with ASU infuses educational innovation with digital art and media for lifelong learning; our creative programs span thought-provoking events, exhibits, residencies and fellowships, scholarship and social enterprise ventures.

I believe the inspiration for the name is Leonardo da Vinci.

Mitacs has this in its Wikipedia entry, Note: Links have been removed,

Mitacs is a nonprofit national research organization that, in partnerships with Canadian academia, private industry and government, operates research and training programs in fields related to industrial and social innovation.[1][2]

History

Mitacs was founded by Canadian mathematicians in 1999. The organization, whose name originally stood for “Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems”, worked in the field of mathematical sciences and associated disciplines but has since expanded. In 2004, the Mitacs Accelerate program was launched[3] and has since supported over 10,000 internships nationally.[4][5][6]

…

So, they’ve gone from a mathematics network to industrial and social innovation.

The type 2 diabetes management project featuring QiiQ and Dave brown yielded a ‘narrative’ surprise, from the QiiQ Health About page,

Pioneering the narrative-led approach to metabolic health and diabetes reversal. We believe health shouldn’t be a subtraction game, but a journey of discovery.

Redefining care through storytelling

At QiiQ Health, we understand that behavioral change is hard. Traditional approaches often rely on willpower and deprivation, which rarely lead to lasting results.

That’s why we created the Quest Loop. By combining engaging storytelling with an emotionally resonant experience, we help you observe your health journey from a new perspective—one where you are the protagonist overcoming challenges, guided by experts and data.

CEO & Co-Founder

DAVE BROWN

Trained as an engineer, I spent my early career believing that logic and code could solve anything. But I’ve come to realize that the “Era of the Engineer” is closing. We are entering a new phase: The Era of the Artist.

My mission has always been to solve problems that cause human suffering. For years, I looked to technology for the fix. But in our ailing healthcare system, I’ve seen tech-driven solutions fall short because they lack a critical ingredient: humanity. True transformation won’t happen from within the system—it must come from the outside, led by patients themselves. Real change requires more than just better math; it requires novel, empathetic thinking. It is time for the engineers to step back and let the artists step forward.

Now, with AI beginning to change the world at lightspeed, we must carefully consider what we are ready to tolerate as people. And if we haven’t reached it already, we will soon confront a moment of truth – are we going to stay in charge of our destiny?

More on this later…

…

The Era of the Artist? Interesting approach; I hope it’s successful and adopted.

The last one I’ve explored is Audiokinetic and it doesn’t present any real surprises, from its Wikipedia entry, Note: Links have been removed,

Audiokinetic Inc. is a Canadian software company based in Montreal, Quebec[3] that develops audio software for the video game industry. Its main product is Wwise audio authoring software. On January 8, 2019, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced that they had acquired the company.[4]

…

More usually it’s a US company that does the acquiring, this time it was the Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony.

Inside Dogma Lab; an ArtSci Salon event on March 25, 2021

Leave a reply

This event is taking place at 7 am PDT. Should you still be interested, here are more details from a March 17, 2021 ArtSci Salon announcement (received via email; you can also find the information on the artscisalon.com/dogmalab/ webpage) provides descriptions of the talk and the artists after the registration and viewing information,

Benjamin Bacon & Vivian Xu –  Inside Dogma Lab – exploring new media
ecologies

Thursday, March 25 [2021]

10 am EDT, 4 pm GST, 10 pm CST [ 7 am PDT]

This session will stream on Zoom and YouTube

Register in advance for this meeting:

https://utoronto.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMlfuyrpz4jG9aTl-Y8sAwn6Q75CPEpWRsM

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing
information about joining the meeting.

See more here:
https://artscisalon.com/dogmalab/

Or on Facebook:

https://facebook.com/artscisalon

Description

This ArtSci Salon /LASER morning event is inspired by the NewONE,
Learning without borders, a program at the University of Toronto
dedicated to interdisciplinary pedagogies and ecological learning
experiences. Art technology and science are waved together and inform
each other. The arts here are not simply used to illustrate or to
narrate, but to transmit, and make sense of complexity without falling
into given disciplinary and instrumental containers. The artistic medium
becomes simultaneously a catalyst for interrogating nature and a new
research tools able to display and communicate its complexity.

With this event, we welcome interdisciplinary artists Benjamin Bacon and
Vivian Xu.

Their transdisciplinary design lab, the Dogma Lab (http://dogma.org/, not only combines a diverse range of mediums (including software,
hardware, networked systems, online platforms, raw data, biomaterials
and living organisms), but also considers “the entanglement of
technological systems with other realities, including surveillance, sensory, bodily, environmental, and living systems. They are interested in complex hybrid networks that bridge the digital with the physical and biological realms, speculating on possible synthesized futures”.

Their research outcomes both individually and collectively have taken
the form of interfaces, wearables, toolkits, machines, musical
instruments, compositions and performances, public installations,
architectural spectacles and educational programs.

Situated in China, they have an invested interest in understanding and
participating in local design, technology and societal discourse, as
well how China as a local actor affects the dynamic of the larger global
system.

Bios

Benjamin Bacon is an inter-disciplinary artist, designer and musician
that works at the intersection of computational design, networked
systems, data, sound, installation and mechanical sculpture. He is
currently Associate Professor of Media and Art and Director of Signature
Work at Duke Kunshan University. He is also a lifetime fellow at V2_ Lab
for the Unstable Media in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

He has exhibited or performed his work in the USA, Europe, Iran, and
China such as the National Art Museum of  China (Beijing), Gallery Ho
(NYC), Wave Gotik Treffen (Germany), Chelsea Museum (NYC), Millennium
Museum (Beijing), Plug-In Gallery (Switzerland), Beijing Design Week,
Shenzhen Bay Science Technology and Arts Festival, the  Shanghai
Symphony Hall. Most recently his mechanical life and AI sculpture PROBE
– AVERSO SPECILLO DI  DUCENDUM was collected by the UNArt Center in
Shanghai, China.

https://www.benjaminbacon.studio/ [3]

Vivian Xu is a Beijing-born media artist, designer, researcher and
educator. Her work explores the boundaries  between bio and electronic
media in creating new forms of machine logic, speculative life and
sensory systems  often taking the form of objects, machines,
installations and wearable. Her work has been presented at various
institutions in China, the US, Europe and Australia.

She is an Assistant Professor of Media and Arts at Duke Kunshan
University. She has lectured, held research positions at various
institutions including Parsons New School for Design, New York
University Shanghai, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen).

https://www.vivianxu.studio/

This event is hosted by ArtSci Salon @ The Fields Institute for
Research in Mathematical Sciences, the NewOne @ UofT and is part of
Leonardo/ISAST LASER TALKS. LASER is a program of international
gatherings that bring artists, scientists, humanists and technologists
together for informal presentations, performances and conversations with
the wider public. The mission of the LASERs is to encourage contribution
to the cultural environment of a region by fostering interdisciplinary
dialogue and opportunities for community building to over 40 cities
around the world. To learn more about how our LASER Hosts and to visit a
LASER near you please visit our website: leonardo.info/laser-talks [5].
@lasertalks_

Interesting timing: two Michaels and Meng Wanzhou

Given the tensions between Canada and China these days, this session with China-based artists intrigues for more than the usual reasons.

For anyone unfamiliar with the situation, here’s a quick recap: Meng Wanzhou, deputy board chair and chief financial officer (CFO) of telecom giant, Huawei, which was founded by her father Ren Zhengfei. has been detained, at a US government request and in accordance with a treaty, since 2018 in one of her two multimillion dollar mansions in Vancouver, Canada. She wears an electronic bracelet for surveillance purposes, must be escorted on her shopping trips and other excursions, and must abide by an 11 pm – 7 am curfew. She is currently fighting extradition to the US with an extensive team of Canadian lawyers.

In what has been widely perceived as retaliatory, China shortly after Meng Wanzhou’s arrest put two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, wre arrested and put in prison allowing only severely limited contact with Canadian consular officials. As I write this on March 22, 2021, brief trials have been held (Friday, March 19, 2021 and Monday, March 22, 2021) for both Michaels, no outside observers allowed. It’s unclear as to which or how many lawyers are arguing in defence of either Michael. Sentences will be given at some time in the future.

Tensions are very high indeed.

Moving on to links

You can find the Dogma Lab here. As for Leonardo/ISAST, there is an interesting history,

The journal Leonardo was founded in 1968 in Paris by kinetic artist and astronautical pioneer Frank Malina. Malina saw the need for a journal that would serve as an international channel of communication among artists, with emphasis on the writings of artists who use science and developing technologies in their work. After the death of Frank Malina in 1981 and under the leadership of his son, Roger F. Malina, Leonardo moved to San Francisco, California, as the flagship journal of the newly founded nonprofit organization Leonardo/The International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology (Leonardo/ISAST). Leonardo/ISAST has grown along with its community and today is the leading organization for artists, scientists and others interested in the application of contemporary science and technology to the arts and music.

…

Frank Malina, founder of Leonardo, was an American scientist. After receiving his PhD from the California Institute of Technology in 1936, Malina directed the WAC Corporal program that put the first rocket beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. He co-founded and was the second director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), co-founded the Aerojet General Corporation and was an active participant in rocket-science development in the period leading up to and during World War II.

Invited to join the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) in 1947 by Julian Huxley, Malina moved to Paris as the director of the organization’s science programs. The separation between science and the humanities was the subject of intense debate during the post-war period, particularly after the publication of C.P. Snow’s Two Cultures in 1959. The concept that there was and should be a natural relationship between science and art fascinated Malina, eventually influencing him to synthesize his scientific experience with his long-standing artistic sensibilities. As an artist, Malina moved from traditional media to mesh, string and canvas constructions and finally to experiments with light, which led to his development of systems for kinetic painting.

…

Here’s a description of the LASER talks from the Leonardo/ISAST LASER Talks event page,

… a program of international gatherings that bring artists, scientists, humanists and technologists together for informal presentations, performances and conversations with the wider public. The mission of LASER is to encourage contribution to the cultural environment of a region by fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and opportunities for community building.

There are two talks scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday, March 23, 2021 and four talks for Thursday, March 25, 2021 with more scheduled for April on the Leonardo/ISAST LASER Talks event page,

You can find out more about the New College at the University of Toronto here where the New One: Learning without Borders programme is offered. BTW, New College was founded in 1962. You can get more information on their Why New College page.