"Explorers of Unknown Planets": Practices and Politics of Artificial Intelligence in Visual Arts

International audienceAlongside recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), a new art practice has emerged in recent years that borrows and transforms these advances in the production of artworks. The actors of this emergent practice are coming from contemporary art, media and digital arts. These artists have developed an original practice of AI within their creative field. In this article, we propose a qualitative study to explore the nature of this practice. We interviewed five internationally renowned artists about how AI is integrated into their work. Through a thematic analysis of the interviews, we first find that their practice relies on crafting algorithms and data as materials. We uncover how they explicitly use this material unpredictability rather than avoid it. Secondly, we highlight the politics of their practice that consist of resisting the culture of AI research, as well as its inherent power dynamics. We also highlight how their relationship with the technology is imbued with ethics and how they rethink their role with respect to the technology. In this paper, we aim to provide the CSCW community with a way to expand the framework in which AI can be understood not only as a tool but also as cultural and political design material

Tuning In to Intangibility: Reflections from My First 3 Years of Theremin Learning

This paper presents an autoethnography of 3 years of learning to play the theremin, an instrument lacking tangible feedback. While the theremin is typically invoked in HCI to emphasize the importance of the tactile modality, we interrogate how I, the player, attained musical proficiency without touch. Through a thematic analysis of 235 journal entries, our study distills my strategies for navigating the instrument as well as my personal transformations along the way. We discover that without touch, accurate and musical playing on the theremin relies on continuous auditory feedback, proprioception, and imaginative processes. We discuss challenges and opportunities for embodied and tangible interaction in light of these findings

Assessing the reliability of the Laban Movement Analysis system

The Laban Movement Analysis system (LMA) is a widely used system for the description of human movement. Here we present results of an empirical analysis of the reliability of the LMA system. Firstly, we developed a directed graph-based representation for the formalization of LMA. Secondly, we implemented a custom video annotation tool for stimulus presentation and annotation of the formalized LMA. Using these two elements, we conducted an experimental assessment of LMA reliability. In the experimental assessment of the reliability, experts–Certified Movement Analysts (CMA)–were tasked with identifying the differences between a “neutral” movement and the same movement executed with a specific variation in one of the dimensions of the LMA parameter space. The videos represented variations on the pantomimed movement of knocking at a door or giving directions. To be as close as possible to the annotation practice of CMAs, participants were given full control over the number of times and order in which they viewed the videos. The LMA annotation was captured by means of the video annotation tool that guided the participants through the LMA graph by asking them multiple-choice questions at each node. Participants were asked to first annotate the most salient difference (round 1), and then the second most salient one (round 2) between a neutral and gesture and the variation. To quantify the overall reliability of LMA, we computed Krippendorff’s α. The quantitative data shows that the reliability, depending on how the two rounds are integrated, ranges between a weak and an acceptable reliability of LMA. The analysis of viewing behavior showed that, despite relatively large differences at the inter-individual level, there is no simple relationship between viewing behavior and individual performance (quantified as the level of agreement of the individual with the dominant rating). This research advances the state of the art in formalizing and implementing a reliability measure for the Laban Movement Analysis system. The experimental study we conducted allows identifying some of the strengths and weaknesses of the widely used movement coding system. Additionally, we have gained useful insights into the assessment procedure itself

Lymphome et grossesse: le point de vue de l’obstétricien, à propos de 2 cas

L'association lymphome et grossesse est une situation rare, mais non exceptionnelle, relevant de la coïncidence. Le lymphome vient en 4ème position des cancers rencontrés chez la femme enceinte, La clinique est trompeuse et inconstante, le diagnostic reste histologique et on distingue 2 types: lymphome malin hodgkinien (LMH) et le lymphome malin non hodgkinien (LMNH). Malgré le contexte de véritable urgence hématologique, la décision d'initier ou de différer le traitement est délicate, influencée par le type de lymphome, son extension et sa localisation, la répercussion organique, le degré de maturation f'tale, les risques obstétricaux et les valeurs éthiques, culturelles et religieuses de la patiente. Le traitement consiste essentiellement à une chimiothérapie. Le LH durant la grossesse est relativement moins agressif et d'évolution plus favorable que le LMNH

Le syndrome d’ogilvie post césarienne: une complication mystérieuse: à propos d’un cas

Le syndrome d'ogilvie ou appeler encore Pseudo-occlusion colique aiguë (acute colonic pseudo-obstruction ), décrit par Sir William Ogilvie en 1948 et correspond à une dilatation aiguë du colon antérieurement sain, survenant en l'absence d'obstruction mécanique avec un diamètre cæcal>9 cm, La symptomatologie correspond à celle d'une occlusion intestinale basse, d'installation rapide et l'imagerie fait d'ASP et de TDM abdominale permet de mettre en évidence la distension cæcale dont la mesure de son diamètre permet de prédire le risque de perforation. A travers notre cas et une revue de la littérature nous invitons les obstétriciens à ne pas méconnaitre ce syndrome car seul un diagnostic précoce permet de réduire le risque de perforation cæcale

Cancer primitif du vagin et grossesse: à propos d’un cas

Les cancers primitifs du vagin représentent 1 à 2% des tumeurs malignes gynécologiques, ils touchent surtout la femme ménopausée, donc l'association avec la grossesse est vraiment exceptionnelle. Dans la majorité des cas, il s'agit de cancers épidermoïdes. Les autres types histologiques sont plus rares. Le principal facteur de risque est une infection persistante à papillomavirus humain à l'origine des lésions de VAIN qui peuvent évoluer vers une forme invasive (5%). Le diagnostic clinique, souvent évident, doit être complété par une colposcopie, qui précisera la topographie exacte des lésions invasives mais aussi préinvasives éventuelles, et par un bilan d'extension clinique et paraclinique permettant le staging de la tumeur. Le traitement dépend du stade de la lésion, de l'âge de la patiente et du type histologique. Si le diagnostic est posé au cours du 3ème trimestre, dès la maturité foetale une extraction s'impose. Au cours du 2ème trimestre, la décision est difficile, et va être discuté au cas par cas. Par contre au cours du 1ertrimestre une interruption thérapeutique de grossesse peut être proposée. La radiothérapie est la pierre angulaire du traitement qui apporte l'assurance d'être la plus conservatrice avec le minimum de séquelle. Les indications de la chirurgie sont plus rares. Le pronostic de ces cancers primitifs du vagin dépend du stade FIGO, de l'étendue de la lésion, et de l'âge jeune. A travers notre cas colligé au sein de notre service et une revue de la littérature, nous soulignons les caractéristiques diagnostiques thérapeutiques et pronostiques de cette entité.Pan African Medical Journal 2016; 2

What Counts as ‘Creative’ Work? Articulating Four Epistemic Positions in Creativity-Oriented HCI Research

This paper examines prevailing understandings of creativity in creative computing research through the lens of feminist epistemology. We analyze “creativity support” as a construct that encodes different definitions of creative work. Drawing on existing literature and practices, the paper surfaces four views about creative work that underpin current creative technologies and HCI research: problem-solving, cognitive emergence, embodied action, and tool-mediated expert activity. Each view makes different claims about the role of computing in creative work and the creative subject assumed. We articulate the attendant politics of each view and illustrate how critical feminist epistemology can serve as an analytical tool to reason about the trade-offs of various creativity definitions. The paper concludes with recommendations for integrating feminist values into creativity-oriented HCI research

A Retrospective Autoethnography Documenting Dance Learning Through Data Physicalisations

We present a retrospective autoethnography grounded in data-driven design. The first author collected her movement data and subjective experience of learning the dance repertoire of modern dance pioneer Isadora Duncan, which together were encoded into the design of a set of plaster artefacts physicalising her embodied dance learning progression. The artefacts reflect the first author’s bodily transformation, mirroring her transition from discomfort to ease, and changes in her expressive capabilities. Our method offers an alternative to documentation of embodied learning through design. Throughout our design process we leverage on the movement data, the field notes and the first author’s memory of her journey, all of which constitute entangled and complementary input into her experience of dance learning. We show that the data physicalisations provided a gateway into the intangible experience and allowed for a deep and reflexive understanding of our dataset

The State of the (CHI)Art

We are all researchers, practitioners, and educators - but many of us are also artists, makers, curators. Our arts practice is part of what makes up our sense of self, but also influences our interests and directions in digital and technological enquiry. There exist spaces where the traditional lives alongside the computational, or where the two are blended, no less valid in purpose or value. We seek to investigate this liminal environment, and explore the current state of art in HCI, computer science and other related fields, shifting boundaries as to what "art"is in these spaces. By bringing together like-minded and creative individuals, this workshop aims to both inspire and legitimise our diverse practices, present viewpoints, create meaningful outputs, host discussions, and work toward the future of this plurality

Dance Gesture Analysis and Visual Feedback based on Physical Models : Contributions of Movement Qualities in Whole Body Interaction

La présente thèse a pour but d’approfondir l’étude du geste dans le cadre de l’interaction Homme Machine. Il s’agit de créer de nouveaux paradigmes d’interaction qui offrent à l’utilisateur de plus amples possibilités d’expression basées sur le geste. Un des vecteurs d’expression du geste, très rarement traité en Interaction Homme Machine, qui lui confère sa coloration et son aspect, est ce que les théoriciens et praticiens de la danse appellent « les qualités de mouvement ». Nous mettons à profit des collaborations avec le domaine de la danse pour étudier la notion de qualités de mouvement et l’intégrer à des paradigmes d’interaction gestuelle. Notre travail analyse les apports de l’intégration des qualités de mouvement comme modalité d’interaction, fournit les outils propices à l’élaboration de cette intégration (en termes de méthodes d’analyse, de visualisation et de contrôle gestuel), en développe et évalue certaines techniques d’interaction.Les contributions de la thèse se situent d’abord dans la formalisation de la notion de qualités de mouvement et l’évaluation de son intégration dans un dispositif interactif en termes d’expérience utilisateur. Sur le plan de la visualisation des qualités de mouvement, les travaux menés pendant la thèse ont permis de démontrer que les modèles physiques masses-ressorts offrent de grandes possibilités de simulation de comportements dynamiques et de contrôle en temps réel. Sur le plan de l’analyse, la thèse a permis de développer des approches novatrices de reconnaissance automatique des qualités de mouvement de l’utilisateur. Enfin, à partir des approches d’analyse et de visualisation des qualités de mouvement, la thèse a donné lieu à l’implémentation d’un ensemble de techniques d’interaction. Elle a appliqué et évalué ses techniques dans le contexte de la pédagogie de la danse et de la performance.The thesis studies gesture in the context of Human-Computer interaction. It aims at creating new interaction paradigms that offer the user further expressive possibilities based on gestures. The theorists and practitioners of the dance call "movement qualities” (MQ), a notion that conveys expressive content describing the way a gesture is performed. This notion has been rarely taken into consideration in the field of HCI. Our work draws on collaborations with the field of dance to explore the notion of movement qualities and to integrate it as interaction modality. \u2028\u2028The contributions of the thesis are in the formalism of the notion of movement qualities and evaluation of its integration as interaction modality in terms of user experience. \u2028\u2028We also provide computational tools for considering MQ in interactive systems in terms of analysis, representation and gesture control methods. On the representational level, our work have demonstrated that physical models based on masses and springs systems offer great opportunities for simulating dynamics related to MQs and for real-time gesture control. On the analysis level, we developed innovative approaches to automatic real time recognition of movement qualities. Finally, we implemented of a set of interaction techniques based on movement qualities that we applied and evaluated in the context of dance pedagogy and performance