Performer interaction and expectation with live algorithms: experiences withZamyatin
Oliver Bown · Digital Creativity · 2018
This paper builds on previous work into the development of a live improvising software system, Zamyatin, which is designed to perform in duets with improvising musicians. The research looks further into the issue of how performers conceptualise and approach working with the system. It takes the form of a detailed interview and analysis of the musical performance of one musician with the system, framed according to theoretical issues of the analysis and perception of agency, and the notion of how we approach different systems in the world according to Dennett's notion of ‘stances’ and principles of embodied cognition. The results of this study further support the idea that musicians maintain an ambiguous stance towards improvising software systems that do include concepts of autonomy, but do not depend on comparisons to human behaviour.