Become familiar with the tools and the theory at the intersection of machine learning, digital art and interaction design.

Workshop Dates: August 10-14, 2020 (roughly 10am-6pm CEST)

Enrol here!

Faculty: Andreas Refsgaard & Jen Sykes

What is Machine Learning?

A hands-on introduction to machine learning with a focus on creating your own artistic and interactive applications.  

When programming interactive prototypes, digital artists and interaction designers traditionally rely on their ability to formulate logical structures and explicit relationships between inputs and outputs through code that executes in a predictable way.

Machine Learning suggests a different kind of logic. Instead of relying on explicit sets of rules to determine a system’s behavior, machine learning models learn by example, by looking for patterns within a set of examples or training data from a designer or performer, and make the rules autonomously so as to conform to the performer’s expectation. This pattern recognition process is somewhat like our own mental processes for learning about the world around us, and provides a lot of new opportunities for interaction designers, especially when dealing with input data too complex to account for via coding.

The workshop will introduce the basics of machine learning in a way that is tailored to artists, interaction designers and other participants with no prior experience in machine learning. The workshops especially focus on how supervised learning can enable participants to train their own models to act upon custom inputs and assign output behaviours to them.

What will you learn?

The participants will be provided with a set of easy out-of-the-box tools for training their own machine learning models or using pretrained models through the javaScript library ml5js or the machine learning software RunwayML. Because machine learning allows the participants to handle really complex input data and easily map it to desired outputs, this workshop will:

• Provide participants with lesser coding skills an alternative approach for making interactive tools and demos.


• Be a hands-on approach to getting familiar with a complex, but increasingly important field.


• Teach participants how to use neural networks to create real-time, cross-modal interactions for use in video, installation, live music performance or physical computing.

How will you learn it?

Through:

• Lectures


• Small assignments + explorations


• Group project with supervision

Please note: This workshop is currently undergoing changes in order to be held via remote learning. Please check back soon for a more up-to-date description of the workshop’s activities.

Is this for you?

Yes, if you are interested in exploring the world of Machine Learning and how to use these techniques to create digital art. Anyone can join – prior coding experience (especially in creative coding frameworks like Processing, p5js, Arduino or OpenFrameworks) would be helpful, but is not necessary to get the most out of the workshop.

What do you need to bring to the workshop?

• A computer


• OPTIONAL: Any sensors, webcams, microphones, etc. you might want to use as an input

Enrol now: There is a maximum number of 20 places available for each workshop, first come first served. Enrolment will be closed when the workshops are full.