Experience a groundbreaking interactive performance that explores the intersection of image, poetry, and artificial intelligence (AI). The result of a collaborative project between poet Nick Flynn, media artist David Rokeby, and curator Natalie Klym, this unconventional poetry reading hosted in the Moody’s Lois Chiles Theater features a real-time voice-to-scrolling image generator developed by Rokeby at the University of Toronto’s BMO Lab. The AI program featured in this performance was fine-tuned on a dataset of writing, collages, and prompts derived from Flynn’s latest poetry collection, Low. During the performance, the program will respond to Flynn’s voice in real time by generating an ever-changing scroll of stunning and surreal images.

Following the performance, Flynn and Rokeby will be joined by Rice professor and composer Anthony Brandt for a conversation on the ethical implications and artistic possibilities of artificial intelligence. Audience members will also have an opportunity to buy a copy of Low before and after the event.

“THEY ARE FALLING ALL AROUND ME / Postcards from the Edge of Latent Space: Exploring New Sites of Creativity with Generative AI” is funded in part by the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts, with additional support from the BMO Lab for Creative Research in the Arts, Performance, Emerging Technologies & Artificial Intelligence, as well as the Moody Center of the Arts.