Memo Akten (TR/UK)
Dance performances with AI-driven lights or drones that analyse their co-performer’s movements and respond to them; a music making Soundcloud bot; Memo Akten explores the use of technology as creative partner.
BIOGRAPHY
Memo Akten is an artist from Istanbul, based in London. His work explores the collisions between nature, science, technology and culture and uses complex algorithms and software to dramatize and mimic natural processes. He is currently doing his PhD on artificial intelligence, exploring the ways in which computers, data and algorithms can collaborate with humans in making new artistic expressions. Using technology not as a tool, but as a non-human entity that can support and work with us. Exploring the soul of the computer and the possibilities of a more poetic approach to collaboration between man and machine.
Akten received the Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica in 2013 for his collaboration with Quayola, ‘Forms’. His work has been shown among others at Royal Opera House (London UK), Garage Center for Contemporary Culture (Moscow RU), La Gaîté lyrique (Paris FR), Holon Museum (Tel Aviv IL), EYE Film Institute (Amsterdam NL) and STRP Biennial (Eindhoven NL). Akten is a strong supporter of open-source software and many of his open-source tools and libraries are used globally. He is one of the core contributors to the openFrameworks project, and he gives lectures and workshops around the world.