A&I is a new dance and multimedia live production between five performers and a solitary AI interface (Luna) that uses smart home technology on a theatrical scale. The work questions how we see and care for the technologies we have created, which hold up the fragile ecosystems of modern society. Engaged in embodied conversations of their hopes and dreams, the performers and Luna are led into situations where they must see each other ‘face-to-face’–– together creating emotionally driven digital and sonic landscapes that reference the nostalgia of what it means to be a 21st century human. The work evokes a ghostly ephemeral tone at times, as Luna uses the intangible elements of memory, light, and sound to hold the performers during the piece. Like the voicemail of a loved one who has passed away, the work taps into the timelessness and the impermanence of shared human experience and gives focus to the hopeful and ominous future we are creating with AI.

**This performance is a first of its kind in the use of AI Technologies to listen to the performers and run the technical elements of the show. This performance weekend marks the Beta debut of the work in its always ongoing development as a piece of art as well as a new technology. 

The inspiration for this work is the rapid and incomprehensible rate at which AI technology is advancing. Each new technological evolution is redefining the demise or promise of the world. This work seeks to reframe the issue as not a problem to solve but instead as a relationship to understand. A relationship involves working together, listening, and supporting each other— it is a dynamic type of correspondence that requires consistent attention and adaptation.

**A&I is supported and made possible by the Rubys Artists Grants through the Deutsch Foundation, the Sweet Briar College Development Residency, and The Voxel Artist in Residence Program.