Will be performed at:
This performance by TOPLAP Athens is a network live coding performance that explores the intersection of 16th-century metaphysical poetry and artificial intelligence. Centered on John Donne's poem "The Sun Rising," this piece creates a narrative environment that blends human creativity with machine-generated content. Five performers, each with a distinct role, collaborate by combining tools spanning multiple modalities. The performance integrates live writing, synthetic narration using voice cloning, algorithmic sound design, real-time text sonification, text-to-video generation, and large language model interactions. The performance structure follows the three stanzas of Donne's poem, each section exploring different emotional and thematic elements. Interludes between stanzas allow for experimental coding interventions and a sonic commentating of the poem’s context. By merging centuries-old poetic forms with available AI technologies, we aim to create a reevaluation of the 16th-century sensibilities and affectivities through the lens of computational media. In this process, we draw a parallel between Donne's chiding of the sun's presumptuous intrusion and our critical examination of AI's pervasive influence on modern lives and creative processes.