The Dissonance Workshop: Live Performance and Generative Friction with AI
TL;DR
This full-day workshop uses the concept of dissonance to think about and experience AI in live performance, covering visual, musical, and other creative practices, and aims to develop a shared vocabulary through hands-on, practice-based engagement.
Abstract
Generative AI is becoming increasingly present in creative work, yet its role in live, collaborative performance remains underexplored. Research has prioritised technical features and early prototypes, leaving a gap between system design and practitioners’ real-time engagement with generative technologies. This full-day workshop uses the concept of dissonance to think about and experience AI in live performance, covering visual, musical, and other creative practices. Drawing on music theory, we treat dissonance as an opportunity to explore agency, trust, and collaboration between humans and AI systems. Through rehearsal, making, and live performance, participants will explore moments of friction when their intentions diverge from machine-generated outputs. Treating performance as a mode of inquiry rather than an outcome, the workshop is open to researchers, designers, artists, and practitioners from diverse creative backgrounds and aims to develop a shared vocabulary through hands-on, practice-based engagement.
