Panel Discussion at CUNY Graduate Center

In Control: Performances Between Humans and AI
a presentation for
AI + Technology in the Arts
Hosted by CUNY Academy for the Humanities and Sciences
November 21, 2024
at CUNY Graduate Center
New York, NY
Free and open to the public

A panel discussion on interactions and emerging dialogues between AI, technology, and the arts.

As artificial intelligence (AI) permeates everyday life, artists are presented with new tools and challenges for creative expression. AI can lead to new processes and ideas, but also to philosophical questions about authenticity and the nature of art-making itself. Exploring the role of technology in the creative process, this panel of exceptional artists and CUNY faculty will examine the myriad roles of AI and technology through interdisciplinary works, concluding with Q&A and panel discussion.

Panelists: Andrew Demirjian, Allison Berkoy, Jonah Brucker Cohen, Jennifer McCoy.
Moderated by: Nazanin Hedayat Munroe.

YOU ARE PREPARED at Harvestworks, UNCA, + Online

YOU ARE PREPARED launches in October 2024, co-presented by Harvestworks Art and Technology Center (NYC) and The New Media Gallery at UNC Asheville. A series of interactive installations exploring “self-optimization strategies,” YOU ARE PREPARED was created with my students in the Emerging Media Technology Program at New York City College of Technology, City University of New York (CUNY).

Check out the project site at YouArePrepared.art, where you can learn more about the physical exhibitions (“pop-up training centers”) and interactive online performance (“exclusive AI-powered webinar”) that you can participate in from home.

YOU ARE PREPARED: Pop-up Training Center at Harvestworks
Harvestworks Art and Technology Program
Building 10a, Nolan Park,
Governors Island, NYC
October 5–27, 2024 (Saturdays + Sundays)
11 AM – 5 PM
Special Event October 26: Meet the artists + project discussion

YOU ARE PREPARED: Pop-up Training Center at UNCA (***POSTPONED***)
New Media Project Space at University of North Carolina Asheville
302 Owen Hall
Asheville, NC
October 10–24, 2024
Special Event October 10: Opening, demos, and artist talk with Allison Berkoy
***All UNCA EVENTS POSTPONED DUE TO HURRICANE HELENE***

YOU ARE PREPARED: the webinar (online)
The beta version begins to roll out in mid-October.
Sign up here to register for the webinar!

New Media Caucus Interview

You can listen to me babble about new media art, current projects, and lots of other stuff in an interview with JLS Gangwisch of the New Media Caucus. Find the transcript and audio ==> over here.

Lecture Series at NYU Tandon

Body-controlling Installations
A presentation for
2024 Integrated Design + Media Lecture Series
Sponsored by IDM + Onassis Onx
April 12, 2024
New York University,
Tandon School of Engineering
Brooklyn, NY
Free and open to the public

Presented by the Integrated Design + Media program at New York University, Tandon School of Engineering, and Onassis Onx. This one is focused on some of my body-controlled / body-controlling interactive installations over the past decade, including current works in progress. Open to the public with registration. See full speaker lineup here.

VGTVG Conference at Monmouth University

Creating a Student-centered R+D Lab for Body-Controlled Games and Interactive Media
A conference presentation for
Valid Gains Through Video Games (VGTVG) Conference
March 23, 2024
Monmouth University
Long Branch, NJ
Free and open to the public

Here is the abstract:

Since 2019, Professor Allison Berkoy has established a series of "pop up" research and development labs, focusing on interactive media and simple body-controlled games, with in-person and online teams. As part of an advanced undergraduate course in the Emerging Media Technology program at CUNY's New York City College of Technology, students, under Berkoy's guidance, have developed a variety of projects. These include an interactive lecture hosted by a talking balloon machine-sculpture, a body-controlled voting system, a computer-mediated jumping content, an augmented reality “toilet paper hoarding” game, among others. Berkoy plans to share insights into the lab's setup, its successes, obstacles encountered, and the use of accessible tools for body-tracking and machine learning, such as ml5.js.

Sunset Park Open Studios

I have been relocating my studio, and the doors pop open to the public soon….

SUNSET PARK OPEN STUDIOS
218 41st Street
Brooklyn, NY 11232
Open Saturday 10/14
+ Sunday 10/16
12-5 PM

Check out the map and programming ==> here.

Artist in Residence at NYU IDM, Brooklyn Navy Yard

I was invited to join as Artist in Residence in the program of Integrated Design + Media (IDM), Tandon School of Engineering, at New York University. Most of the time you can find me playing over at NYU Tandon’s research and production facility in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Current projects in progress include:

• Brain Yolk: a series of interactive sculptures exploring destabilized perceptual processing

• YOU ARE PREPARED: a browser-based interactive performance installation for the home environment

• A strange maze of research and experiments on the brain and perception
  

Make contact if wishing to hear more==> here.

Solo Exhibition at Sonoma State University

OK
November 3 - December 11, 2022
At University Art Gallery, Sonoma State University
1801 East Cotati Avenue
Rohnert Park, CA 94928
Open to the public
Tuesdays-Fridays 11-4 PM
+ weekends 12-4 pm
Opening reception Nov 3, 4-6 PM

OK is a solo exhibition of new works by Berkoy, exploring destabilized sensory and perceptual processing. Featuring interactive video sculptures and electronic sculptural reliefs, OK includes selections from the following three series: START, YOUR BRAIN IS AN EGG YOLK IN AN EGG SHELL, and INCUBATE. The works set up a disorienting environment of image duplication and iteration, oscillating between stillness and activation. 

Encountering the interactive video sculptures of START elicits a “micro-show” triggered by human presence, code, and randomization.  Each show displays repetitive text, symbols, and abstract images, destabilized through electromagnetic manipulation of analog video signals. The sculptural reliefs of YOUR BRAIN IS AN EGG YOLK IN AN EGG SHELL present absurd figurative portraits depicted through layers of plaster gauze, egg shells, and projection, set against backgrounds of cured egg yolk. Video loops project slowly morphing shadows, unstable video signals, and re-projections of the reliefs’ surfaces. In INCUBATE, egg shells set in plaster highlight how easily light and shadow manipulate appearance. OK asks its viewers to look, look again, and question what they are seeing.

The works in this exhibition have been supported in part by a PSC-CUNY Research Award, Harvestworks Artist Scholar Award, artist residency with Signal Culture, and Sonoma State University.

In the adjacent gallery, see Jessye McDowell: Superbia.
Both shows curated by Sena Clara Creston.

More details==> here.

New Media Caucus Symposium at Virginia Tech

YOU ARE PREPARED: A Body-Controlling Interactive Installation for the Personal Environment
A conference presentation for
New Media Caucus: Future Bodies Symposium
September 30, 2022
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA

At the New Media Caucus Symposium, hosted by Virginia Tech, I will present current work in progress for YOU ARE PREPARED….

YOU ARE PREPARED (YAP) is an interactive installation and performance designed for the personal computer and home environment. Presented as a “one-on-one webinar for self optimization,” YAP’s virtual AI host guides participants through “self-optimization training sessions” with a series of body-controlled games and absurd tasks to complete. The host becomes increasingly demanding as the experience progresses.

Needing no specialized equipment other than a standard computer webcam and microphone, YAP’s body-controlled and body-controlling interface uses ml5.js, a machine learning library built on top of TensorFlow.js, enabling skeleton tracking of participants’ bodies through a web browser in real-time. Berkoy will present on the process in creating YAP through multiple prototypes and remote testing, as well as ongoing technical and experiential research exploring the boundaries of HCI etiquette. YAP’s first prototypes were built with her students at New York City College of Technology, City University of New York (CUNY), in the program of Emerging Media Technology.

Exhibition of START with Harvestworks on Governors Island, NYC

START
Part of Fluid - an art and tech exhibition
August 27 - October 30, 2022
At Harvestworks
Building 10a, Nolan Park
Governor’s Island, NYC
Open to the public
Weekends 11am - 5pm
+ by appointment.

START is a collection of new works exploring sensory and perceptual processing following acute stress to the brain. Mixing electronic and traditional media, the exhibition features interactive video sculptures and electronic sculptural reliefs from three series: START, YOUR BRAIN IS AN EGG YOLK IN AN EGG SHELL, and INCUBATE.

The works in this exhibition have been supported in part by a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, Harvestworks Artist Scholar Residency, PSC-CUNY Research Award, and Signal Culture artist residency.

The exhibition takes over a room within Building 10a of Nolan Park, a historic house on Governors Island in NYC, occupied by Harvestworks Art and Technology Center. Throughout the house, also see works by Kristin Lucas, Eva Davidova, Viv Corringham, and Su Hyum Nam. Curated by Carol Parkinson.

More details==> here.

Presenting at FEMeeting Conference in Portugal

Prototyping a Body-Controlling Performance for Self-Optimization
A conference presentation for
FEMeeting: Women in Art, Science and Technology 2022
September 15, 2022
At Royal Palace of Évora - Palácio de Dom Manuel I
Évora, Portugal

At the third international conference of FEMeeting: Women in Art, Science, and Technology (Lisbon and Évora, Portugal), I will present current research and development for YOU ARE PREPARED, a body-controlled (and body-controlling) interactive performance with one’s personal computer. YAP explores self-optimization strategies through the use of emerging technologies, as well as the boundaries and etiquette of human-computer interaction within a browser-based performance experience. The talk will include results from recent playtests with volunteers, from YAP systems prototypes V.1 and V.2.

YAP Systems Prototype Currently Testing

YOU ARE PREPARED V.2 systems prototype is complete and currently testing with volunteers for user experience and technical usability. YAP offers an interactive performance experience for participants from the comfort of their own home, using their personal computer with a standard webcam and microphone, accessed via URL link with nothing to download or install. Using browser-based skeleton tracking and speech synthesis, all interaction with YAP is body-controlled, without the use of a keyboard or mouse.

Emanating from the 2020 lockdown, V.1 and V.2 systems prototypes have been developed by Berkoy in collaboration with her students in the Emerging Media Technology program (MTEC) at New York City College of Technology, City University of New York (CUNY). This next phase of testing is critical for understanding how well the experience works across various personal computers and operating systems.

To playtest the prototype, or for more information, drop a note==> here.