BIO
ALMA (Alexandre Saunier & Marc-André Cossette) was born and developed at a distance in endless online jams. Isolated in front of their computer screens, the duo developed an original form of
audiovisual performance that mixes
cutting-edge AI & A-Life algorithms with drum machines, analog and virtual synthesizers, photogrammetry,
procedural graphics, and video-game engines to invoke the memories of inaccessible spaces and the sensations of the material world. ALMA’s work is presented in venues such as Ars Electronica, Elektra, Mutek, and el Festival de la Imagen. Alexandre Saunier works at the intersection of light, sound, video, complex systems, and sensory perception. Marc-André Cossette explores the relation between technology and performing arts
using sound, visual, interaction design and Artificial Intelligence.
Fragments is an audiovisual performance in which ALMA acts live on Artificial Intelligence and Artificial Life algorithms to generate and modulate a poetic immersive experience. The work reflects on how data processing Artificial Intelligence systems anonymize and aestheticize both global conflicts and everyday relationships. The performance uses the concept of fragments, small elements that are transformed and reconfigured, to explore technologically mediated human connections, perceptions, and memories. These fragments consist of sounds, videos, and photogrammetric objects that are scavenged from the news, created by the artists, or generated by algorithms. During the performance, those fragments are analyzed and modulated live by a set of Markov chains and Spiking Neural Networks. In front of the audience, ALMA orchestrates the action of those algorithms and guides the public into a journey that moves from darkness and absence into a growing torrent of sonic and visual stimuli.