The black box aesthetics: performative dynamics between artificial intelligence and human interactive staging

ABSTRACT The present paper addresses a theoretical model for human-machine interaction in intermedia performance taking as reference the author’s perspective. It is discussed the role of artificial intelligence as an autonomous, pervasive, and real-time evolving entity in dialectical relation with the performer and/or audience. The convergence of physical and virtual elements suggests the emergence of hybrid systems, insofar as digital instances manifest their own agency and humans show mechanical actions linked to information processing. Three typologies of human-machine interaction are inferred: 1) the algorithm elaborates the output through self-referential data, as in Δnfang; 2) the algorithm gathers information from performed actions, as in Convergence; 3) the algorithm processes data from the audience’s reaction, as in DoPPioGioco. As digital and analogue devices are employed, programming environments are hidden from human agents and filtered through the author’s gaze. Comparing the underlying black box rules with stage setting, it is observed to what extent algorithms are mediated and enacted. The article considers the information bias commonly attributed to artificial intelligence as rooted in the aesthetic domain, with significant dramaturgical implications.