\ Alta Tecnologia \ The result of the new artist residency of Area Science Park presented at the MEET Digital Culture Center

Regenerative Symphony, the installation created following the artist residency in Area Science Park, was presented during the fifth edition of the New Atlas of Digital Arts, an international event that took place from 20 to 21 June at the MEET Digital Culture Center in Milan, and which aims at promoting and investigating digital creativity scenarios, highlighting the potential of immersive creative experiments as possible drivers of cultural, social and economic innovation.

During the event, part of the S+T+ARTS in the City project, in addition to the presentation of the work, a series of European institutions and actors participated, offering an overview of the state-of-the-art and technological developments related to immersive experiences.

With Regenerative Symphony, the German artist Daria Jelonek, and the Englishman Perry-James Sugden, of Studio Above&Below created an interactive audiovisual installation generated by an artificial intelligence model that uses self-analysis, mineral monitoring, and market analysis of the northern region of Italy as input data to recognise, decide on, and predict the output of an immersive modular installation.

The work was created thanks to the direct involvement of Area Science Park researchers who collaborated with the artists during the weeks of residency, providing them with inspiration, materials and resources starting from their own research. In particular, the teams from the LAME Laboratory were involved; they illustrated their research results in the field of innovative materials and nanotechnologies; Francesca Cuturello and Tommaso Rodani from the LADE Data Engineering Laboratory were also involved, and along with them, the artists actually elaborated the mathematical model underlying the immersive work. Furthermore, during the weeks of residency in Area Science Park, the artists drew inspiration from a visit to the Elettra Sincrotrone laboratories, where they heard from the researchers about the Institution’s most challenging research projects in the materials sector.

“Regenerative Symphony is a work of art that explores a future (2030-2050) in which critical minerals, rare elements essential for modern technologies, are recycled instead of extracted – explain the authors – This scenario challenges current difficulties in the recycling of these minerals. The installation uses a model of artificial intelligence that works with data from synthetic and natural materials to visualize this regenerative future. The work of art manifests itself as a generative projection, which reveals the beauty of reuse through the metaphor of sound symphonies. Visitors can interact with the installation, adjusting the view through predictive data of material resources on an iPad.”

The public can, in fact, interact with the work by creating new objects, starting with the recycling of others and thanks to sustainable energy sources. The AI ​​model reacts to requests, identifying various solutions, including recycling critical materials from unused e-waste or making alternative design decisions. During computation, the digital experience in the space is rearranged, leading to a new and different immersive environment. Confirming how our every gesture can have a concrete impact on the health of our Planet.