Unmediated Human Presence

6 days ago

I’d like to share some thoughts with you on unmediated human presence. ‘AI can rob us of many things, but this is the stuff they cannot take away from us’ said one excited audience member after our Sole Riot performance.

Visual Artist Gwendolyn Kassenaar embodied live painting in 'Sole Riot' performance. Photo: Chris Freeman

Precisely. I strongly believe that in our current times with AI encroaching on ever more aspects of our human existence, this kind of art matters! There is no substitute, no surrogate, no digital screen equivalent.

One generous audience member wrote to me afterwards:

‘I found myself in a gorgeous flow of watching canvas - material - hand- arm - body- then to your eyes and how they connected to the […] musicians next to you, back to their body - arms, hand, material’

What a poetic way of putting it! I felt grateful to receive this thoughtful feedback. This is exactly what it means to experience live performance. Navigating the performance space with darting eyes, choosing ever changing lines of sight, as this viewer so vividly describes. Seen through a camera lens, one can simply never replicate this.

I believe, we, collectively, have work to do. To assess how AI can contribute positively to our human existence, while asserting where it cannot! To celebrate what it means to be human.

What do you think? Does this resonate? I’m curious to hear your thoughts…