This weekend the Philadelphia Orchestra will be sharing the stage with a giant computer.
At the center of Verizon Hall’s stage in the Kimmel Center stands a 40-foot tall, white monolith reaching the ceiling. It is a digital screen with 8.2 million pixels, each controlled by artificial intelligence.
As the orchestra plays Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis,” the screen comes alive with swirls and cascades of color. At times it looks like a melting cathedral; other times it appears to be an exploding woven rug. ...
“I will say, 50% of the performance is really machine serendipity, machine decisions, and the other half is human decisions,” Anadol said. “Of course, in the end the performance itself defines many things, like the speed, the feeling, the colors, and where the AI goes.” ...