2020
in collaboration with Philip Glass and OpenAI
training a Neural Net to co-compose music with Philip Glass
For this project, Philip Glass and Eurypheus founder, Audrey Kim, worked with OpenAI to train a neural net on a corpus of Glass’ work. The goal is to explore the capacities of artificial intelligence as a new medium (or instrument or tool?) for art, and to create a collaborative music composition with Philip Glass and “his AI.”
While progress with the composition is stalled, a conversation Philip Glass on the project can be found at auderdy.com (in which he offers commentary on the music created by “his AI”, as well as insights on composition and creating art. We then talk about the different limitations and capacities of humans and Artificial Intelligence–if and how neural nets can help us create art, appreciate art, and find the same things humans find meaningful.)
2018
in collaboration with Philip Glass, Cole Sternberg and the Wixáritari musicians, Daniel Medina de la Rosa and Erasmo Medina Medina
Tamatz Kahullumary (in search of the Blue Deer), a breeze rippled
Tamatz Kahullumary (in search of the blue deer), a breeze rippled was created to commemorate and the US Premiere performance of Philip Glass’ new composition The Spirit of the Earth at the eighth annual Days and Nights Festival which took place on 30 September 2018, underwritten by Eurypheus.
The work is a collage which takes the form of a sculptural box when combined. A painting on the left and a record on the right lay in parallel, a Rorschach interpretation of mirrored concepts unencumbered by mirrored visuals. Each edition features a unique painting from Sternberg, made in response to the musical collaboration between Glass and the Wixáritari musicians, Daniel Medina de la Rosa & Erasmo Medina Medina, and vinyl a recording of The Spirit of the Earth US Premiere performance
Tamatz Kahullumary (in search of the blue deer), a breeze rippled was first showcased at the Henry Miller Library where Philip played his arrangements on the piano with the music and vocal accompaniment of Medina de la Rosa and Medina Medina, a father and son duo who traditionally play and sing sacred music for their village in Jalisco, Mexico. The concert was at once the homage and celebration of the relationship Philip has cultivated for almost two decades with the Wixáritari people. Not only was this the US premiere of the composition, but also the first voyage to the US (and first plane ride) for Medina de la Rosa and Medina Medina.Exclusive rights to the only twenty vinyl records that will exist of this performance were granted to Eurypheus by the Glass Center and Orange Mountain Records for this project.
A portion of the proceeds from this project is donated for future programming of The Days and Nights Festival.
