Robo-Po / Robo-Op
Robot Opera Project
Long the domain of popular science fiction, robots increasingly permeate every aspect of society. How will this impact the creative and performing arts? This research strand, initiated by the Centre for Research in Opera and Music Theatre (CROMT) and supported by Knowledge Exchange in Media, Arts and Humanities, the Sussex Humanities Lab and the Centre for Research in the Creative and Performing Arts, explores the ramifications of robot presence through encounters with music, words, movement, image and operatic performance.
In June 2021, there will be a Cleo Mesmer robot manufactured by Engineered Arts, in residence at the SHL, and a creative team of practice based researchers, poets and scholars we will be exploring human-robot interaction, hybridity and otherness.
Robo_Po /// Robo_Op
We are creating a series of short studies exploring otherness and creative engagement with embodied AI. These events will be hybrid in SHL / on Zoom (performers in person, audience / panels on Zoom) at 4-5:30pm on the 28th and 29th of June 2021.
These events are free! Please register on Eventbrite
Robo_Po /// Robo_Op
There will be two work-in-progress performance events, each followed by a reflective panel discussion. These events will be hybrid in SHL / on Zoom (performers in person, audience / panels on Zoom).
Robo_Po:
28th June 4pm - 5:30pm (UK Time) Sussex Humanities Lab, audience to join on Zoom
a robot poetry reading / spoken word performance, followed by panel discussion. What does poetry mean from the mouth of a robot? What is explored through generative poetry? What is a reading?
Poets include, Kat Sinclair, Carol Watts, and others. Panel includes Caroline Bassett (TBC), Charlotte Geater, Sam Ladkin, Kat Sinclair and Jo Lindsay Walton. Chaired by Carol Watts.
Robo_Op:
29th June 4pm - 5:30pm (UK Time) Sussex Humanities Lab, audience to join on Zoom
a robot opera performance, a series of short studies exploring human – robot interaction and performance through music, movement and scenography, followed by a panel discussion.
Creative Team: Tim Hopkins (director); Evelyn Ficarra (composer); Janine Fletcher (choreographer / dancer); Carol Watts (words); Kat Sinclair (words); Loré Lixenberg (singer); Anton Lukoszevieze (cellist); Mike Oddhayward (programmer); Cleo Mesmer (Robot).
Panel:
Will Jackson (robot designer / CEO of Engineered Arts);
Elizabeth Jochum (Associate Professor of art and robotics, Head of Research Laboratory for Art and Technology (RELATE) Aalborg University, Denmark);
Cath James (Artistic Director, South East Dance);
Annette Mees (Director of Audience Labs, Royal Opera House);
Ron Chrisley (Reader in Philosophy, Informatics, University of Sussex); chaired by Nick Till (Professor of Opera and Music Theatre, Director of the Centre for Research in Opera and Music Theatre).
These events are free! Please register on Eventbrite
See below for ways to engage with the project!
Engage with Robo_Po:
Cleo the robot will be giving a poetry reading on Monday 28 June, at 4pm British Summer Time. Cleo is a humanoid robot, in the Mesmer range designed by Engineered Arts, with silicon skin and metallic joints.
Please write a robot poem for Cleo to read at this event. This could be a solo poem for the robot or a poetic dialogue between a robot and a human, or a poem to be spoken by a human to a robot. Or, anything. What is the inner life of the robot? What does a robot want to say to a human? What sorts of hybrid beings are we creating? Cleo invites you to send in your robot poem, and asks that you be succinct, maximum 50 words. If Cleo gets a lot of poems, they may read them really fast, or create a mash-up poem that will be all your poems and yet none of your poems.
Instructions for taking part in Robo_Po:
Send your poem (maximum 50 words) to: robotopera2021@sussex.ac.uk
Essential:
- Put ‘robot poetry’ in the subject header
- Please tell us your name.
- Send it not later than 21st June 2021
- We are also inviting children to author poems and be in the audience, therefore please banish your dark web self and evoke your family friendly self.
Optional:
- Give your poem a title, if you like.
- Tell us your age and/or occupation, if you want to.
Engage with Robo_Op:
Cleo the robot will be taking part in performing a set of robot opera studies on Tuesday 29 June at 4pm British Summer Time. Cleo is a humanoid robot, in the Mesmer range designed by Engineered Arts, with silicon skin and metallic joints. Evelyn Ficarra and Mike Oddhayward will be working to create a robot singing/speaking voice that reflects the inner life, materiality and otherness of the robot.
Cleo's voice currently comes from text-to-speech software voices provided by the Acapella GroupTo make these voices, an actor has to sit in a recording booth for many days speaking the tiny phonemes that are put together to form words and sentences, which try to communicate as clearly and sound as human as possible. By contrast, we wish to create an experimental voice that explores the otherness and materiality of the robot, which may not be readily comprehensible to our human ears. This voice could be made from a broad source of sounds - vocal, mechanical, natural, instrumental, electronic. For this we are inviting people think creatively around sound and send us your contributions to the voice.
Instructions for taking part in Robo_Op:
Send your sounds (maximum 10) to: robotopera2021@sussex.ac.uk using a file transfer service such as www.wetransfer.com (deadline: 21st June 2021)
Essential:
- Use a file transfer service such as www.wetransfer.com
- send to robotopera2021@sussex.ac.uk
- Put ‘robot opera’ in the wetransfer message
- Please tell us your name.
- Send it not later than 21st June 2021
- You may send up to 10 sounds
- Each sound can be no longer than 2 seconds. Perhaps think of very short sounds as consonants and longer sounds as vowels.
- Each sound must be edited as tightly as possible, no pauses before or after the sound begins.
- Each sound must be in MP3 or .wav format
- Each sound must be labeled using the following format: yourname_soundname (e.g. Ficarra_a1.wav)
- Sounds may be from ANY source, think creatively!
Optional:
- Tell us your age and/or occupation, if you want to.
Background to the project:
We launched the robot opera project in June 2017 with a mini-symposium featuring researchers from Sussex, and continued in 2019 with a practice based project Robot Opera – What's Next?
For further information, contact Evelyn Ficarra or robotopera2021@sussex.ac.uk