Emotion blender: Exploring artificial intelligence through human expression
In a world where artificial intelligence is increasingly shaping artistic creation, Emotion Blender transforms this dialogue into a live performance, challenging our perception of emotions and technology’s role in interpreting them.
As part of the European project Theater in Palm, this performance, presented by ESPRONCEDA Institute of Art & Culture in Barcelona, invited participants into an intimate dialogue with AI. Their facial expressions became the core of the act, continuously interpreted and transformed into real-time digital art.
German artists Juliana and Andrey Vrady, renowned for their work at the intersection of technology and multimedia art, developed this piece as an experiment on emotional reading, the subjectivity of interpretation, and the role of machines in aesthetic creation. Their trajectory, with previous installations at Future Forum (DWIH NY) and Campus Germany (EXPO 2020, Dubai), is rooted in exploring the dialogue between humans and algorithmic systems.
In Emotion Blender, each participant took on the role of both performer and observer. Seated in front of a camera connected to an AI program, they reacted spontaneously to a video selected by a friend, allowing their facial expressions to be captured and interpreted in real time. Without moving their head, they became both subject and canvas, witnessing their emotional responses transformed into a unique digital composition.
This live interaction functioned as an emotional mirror, revealing the tensions between human perception and algorithmic analysis. Can a machine truly grasp the nuances of our emotions, or does it simply categorize them? What does it mean to see ourselves translated into visual code?
With Emotion Blender, Juliana and Andrey Vrady invite us to reconsider the nature of performance and creation in the digital age. As artificial intelligence redefines the boundaries of artistic expression, this piece reminds us that, ultimately, art remains a deeply human exploration.
