Goodmesh 2024 ''Echoes of a Lost Bird'' Live

"Echoes of a Lost Bird" by Apollon Kalamenios and Wisse Scheele, performed live in Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. We were fortunate enough to be awarded the «Audience Award» & the «Responsible AI Award», by Microsoft and FrieslandCampina. In our performance we tell an adaptation of the story of the "Kauaʻi ʻōʻō" bird. We open with a sequence of sound making, a ritual. In this ritual, we exclusively use the Chladni plate in many different ways to produce sounds, accompanied by dance and echoed voices. When Apollon starts to bow on the side of the chladni, sand patterns are being formed on the top of it. We view these patterns as the life and soul of the birds. The last "Kauaʻi ʻōʻō" in existence comes into the screen and starts performing its mating call on top of the sand patterns, hoping for a reply that doesn't seem to come. At this time, black bubbles start to form. Within these bubbles we can see the many different colors and shapes this beautiful bird takes on during the mating call (the bubbles are completely made with generative artificial intelligence). When the bird is about to give up, it hears a reply in the distance. Eventually another bird appears, only this bird is different, it is artificial and digital. They start to dance together, performing a duet, twirling, jumping, flying around. But unfortunately, it is already too late, the real "Kauaʻi ʻōʻō" starts to fade and disappears into the chladni patterns as glitter, its soul though lives on. Now the artificial bird is left alone, expanding and becoming more and more digital. The closing act is presented with Wisse dancing, accompanied by the poem of Emily Dickinson "Hope". With elements like sand, glitter and feathers, we try to bridge the gap between the physical and the digital world. Emily Dickinson poem "Hope" , spoken by Madeline Saputra. Many thanks to Mattias Spee, Rik Scheele, Elizabete Beāte Rudzinska and Malin Starrett for their contribution to the project. Enjoy!