Artwork
in
Session: Creative AI Session 4
break me, genAI
Kurt Werner · Mayank Sanganeria
East Ballroom C
"break me, genAI" is an audiovisual composition that explores the complex interplay between human perception, musical context, and AI-driven visual generation. This work challenges traditional approaches to audiovisual art by incorporating multiple layers of both human input and machine learning processes.The piece begins with manually drawn MIDI parameter curves representing abstract musical qualities like "grittiness" and "rattle," as perceived by the artist. These curves drive procedurally generated visuals inspired by the synesthetic works of Kandinsky and Klee, creating a tight coupling between audio and visual elements. This initial layer is then processed through StyleGAN and further transformed using Stable Diffusion and AnimateDiff, guided by prompts derived from the original visual inspirations.Unlike conventional Music Information Retrieval-based visualizations that respond similarly to diverse musical inputs, this work aims to capture the nuanced human experience of listening. It acknowledges how musical elements evolve in perception throughout a piece, such as the difference between a bass line's first appearance and its 50th repetition.The resulting artwork embodies ambiguity on multiple levels. It raises questions about the influence of each generative layer on the final output, the preservation of the artist's original perceptual input through AI processing, and the extent to which the AI-generated visuals reflect the aesthetic of the inspiring artists."break me, genAI" invites viewers to contemplate the nature of artistic creation in the age of AI. It challenges us to consider how machine learning can be used not just as a tool for audio-reactive visuals, but as a means to explore and express the subjective, context-dependent nature of musical perception. The work suggests that the integration of human insight with AI capabilities can lead to more nuanced and emotionally resonant audiovisual experiences.